Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market handling a lot less fish these days

TOKYO - Marine products handled at the Tsukiji fish market here have hit a record low for a 14th straight year, with volume falling 6 per cent in 2016.

Volume totalled 409,823 tons, according to figures compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government - the lowest in statistics going back to 1967. The tally was down 49.7 per cent from the high set in 1987.

The market's woes are blamed on poor catches of Japanese common squid and Pacific saury, both typically handled in large volumes.

Frozen squid slumped 23 per cent. Japanese common squid harvests at major ports nationwide fell by half in 2016, according to the Japan Fisheries Information Service Center. The Hokkaido and Tohoku regions both suffered poor harvests, and changing water temperatures could be having an effect. Other types of squid were also in short supply.

Saury volume dropped 15 per cent. Catches were reportedly down 2 per cent following a decline in 2015 as well.

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