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bridges vol. 16, December 2007 / Pielke's Perspective by Roger Pielke, Jr. mp3 download 
Fresh sushi, it seems, can be found almost everywhere. Such casual observations of contemporary trends in the globalization of food are backed up by data. Our insatiable appetite for fresh fish has had a profound effect on world fish stocks. In 2006 a study published in Science estimated that 29 percent of all fished ocean species were being harvested unsustainably. As the world struggles to cope with the many challenges of globalization, which include protecting fish populations in the face of enormous demand, it is of particular importance to understand the role of technology in globalization and the role of technology assessment in our efforts to manage the effects of globalization.According to Sasha Issenberg's fascinating exploration of the global sushi industry, The Sushi Economy, the main people interested in catching mature western Atlantic bluefin tuna in the 1960s and early 1970s were sport fishermen looking for trophies. After documenting their catch they would dispose of the worthless fish, or if they were lucky, sell it for about five cents per pound to be processed into pet food. But everything changed in the early 1970s when Japan Airlines sought to fill the empty cargo holds of its jumbo passenger jets returning to Japan after bringing full shipments of electronics and other consumer goods to North America. A JAL employee named Akira Okazaki was given the challenge of finding appropriate goods to ship back to Japan, and he quickly zeroed in on the bluefin tuna found off the northeast shores of the United States and Canada. There was one big technological obstacle to overcome: Tuna was valuable in Japan when fresh, but shipping the large fish packed in ice was prohibitively expensive due to the weight. But with necessity the mother of invention, it was not long before innovations in freezing, packing, and shipping technologies enabled a new market opportunity in the trade of bluefin tuna from the North Atlantic. The first North Atlantic tuna sold in Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market on August 14, 1972, were purchased for $18 per pound, 50 percent higher than the shipping costs. In 2001, a 444-pound North Atlantic tuna sold for $175,000, or close to $400 per pound, an 800,000 percent price increase from the five cents per pound paid in the 1960s. Tuna would be pet food no more. Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges. |
