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Japan heatwave threatens famed tuna auction
TOKYO, Aug 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Fishmongers at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji tuna
auction are feeling the heat as the ageing market’s air conditioners struggle
to keep up with a heatwave blanketing the country.
The dilapidated market is due to close later this year, and will relocate
to a new, modern site.
But in the meantime wholesalers have been forced to take measures including
keeping their pricey produce in cool trucks until moments before auction.
“We can’t replace the ageing air conditioners as we’re relocating very
soon, and it’s been so hot that it’s hard to get the temperature down,” an
official at the market told AFP.
The auction space is usually kept at 15 degrees Celsius to keep the
treasured tuna cool, but an “unprecedented” heatwave meant the mercury hit as
high as 20 degrees in July, the official said.
To keep their fish fresh, wholesalers are keeping the shutters in the
auction warehouse sealed, leaving tuna inside cool trucks until shortly
before auction and covering fish with tarps as soon as they are sold.
“Wholesalers are doing their best to keep the tuna from thawing,” the
official said.
After more than 80 years in operation, Tsukiji is scheduled to move to
Toyosu, the site of a former gas plant, on October 11.
The current site is the world’s biggest fish market and a popular tourist
attraction in an area packed with restaurants and shops.
Plans to move the market have been in the works for years, and the
relocation was originally scheduled for 2016.
But myriad delays have set back the timeline, including the discovery of
soil contamination at Toyosu.
Tsukiji opened in 1935 and is famed for its pre-dawn tuna auctions, with
one fish going for more than $320,000 at the market’s final New Year’s
auction last year.
Japan has been struggling with a nationwide heatwave that killed 119 people
and hospitalised nearly 50,000 others last month.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1102 hrs