A Japanese sushi entrepreneur paid a record ?510.3 million ($3.2 million) for a giant bluefin tuna Monday at an annual prestigious new year auction in Tokyo¡¯s main fish market, smashing the previous all-time high.

Dave Gershman at the Pew Charitable Trusts¡¯ international fisheries team used news of the auction to highlight that stocks of Pacific bluefin tuna were improving after being ¡°near collapse.¡±

Self-styled ¡°Tuna King¡± Kiyoshi Kimura¡¯s sushi restaurant chain, Sushizanmai, paid the top price for the 243-kilogram fish that was caught off Japan¡¯s northern coast.

¡°I¡¯d thought we would be able to buy a little cheaper, but the price soared before you knew it,¡± Kimura said after the predawn auction at Tokyo¡¯s main fish market.

¡°I was surprised at the price ... I hope that by eating auspicious tuna, as many people as possible will feel energized,¡± he told reporters.

The ?510.3 million price at the new year¡¯s auction was the highest since comparable data started being collected in 1999.

The previous high was ?333.6 million for a 278-kg bluefin in 2019, after the fish market moved from its traditional Tsukiji area in central Tokyo to a more modern facility in Toyosu.

The top bidder last year paid ?207 million for a 276-kg bluefin.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the new year tunas commanded only a fraction of their usual top prices as restaurants scaled back operations.

Gershman said in an emailed statement that a 2017 recovery plan ¡°is working, and if decision makers take further action in 2026, the future for Pacific bluefin will be bright.¡±

¡°This year, fisheries managers from Japan, the United States, Korea, and other countries from across the Pacific who target bluefin should agree on a long-term, sustainable management plan that would lock in a healthy population and ensure that the species never again faces the overfishing of the past,¡± he added.