The Sushi Economy tells the story behind the scenes of how the sushi we see at our plates gets there. It talks about the history of sushi, and how people from all around the world love sushi. Almost anywhere you go in the modern world, there is a sushi bar there. The Sushi Economy explores the booming businesses, cultures, and cuisine of raw fish and examines how the integration of seafood economies through trade works.

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Not so long ago, fresh tuna was next to worthless in most parts of the world. Trophy fishermen who caught Atlantic bluefin off the north American coast would actually pay someone to throw it in the dump since the fish was so heavy. Before ww2, tuna was considered low grade fish. But later, after the american occupation of Japan, Japanese people got introduced to steaks that were greasy. They fatty things became tasty to the japanese such as the fat in tuna. It was essentially America that raised the price of tuna if you think about it. In the early 1970s, people figured out how to preserve and ship tuna from one side of the world to the other. Japan Airlines had long been flying around goods by transportation of airplanes to all corners of the globe but flying back empty. On august 14 1972, Canadian bluefin tuna was about to be sold at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market. The auctioneer bought it for 1,200 yen per kg, and the cost of shipping was 800 yen per kg. That day became known as “the day of the flying fish” and a new global industry was born.

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Sasha Issenberg focuses mostly on Tuna because it is delicious and probably the most popular fish in the world to be eaten. Tuna is unusual because it is difficult to catch and loses its value at a really fast speed as its freshness gets worse if not kept cold. Tuna demands keep getting higher and higher due to so many people all around the world wanting to eat it. Therefore tuna is becoming more rare and endangered. The number of tunas has decreased by 90 percent since the beginning of the 20th century. Even though tunas are listed as endangered species, fishermen across the world still hunt them persistently.

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