Mark S. Danley

Artist Statement

In January 2019 Kiyoshi Kimura of Tokyo paid $3.1 million for a 613-pound bluefin tuna (kuromaguro in Japanese), or about $4,900 a pound. His purchase underscored the Japanese obsession with kuromaguro, considered unsurpassed for sushi and sashimi. Fishermen, driven by its high price, are pushing bluefin fishing stocks toward collapse. International efforts to curb bluefin fishing have been largely ignored by the Japanese. In 2020, the Japanese proposed a 20 percent increase in the allowable bluefin catch, even though current stocks are less than 5 percent of their historical numbers.

South of Osaka on Japan’s central coast, the small fishing village of Kii-Katsuura lands and auctions thousands of pounds of kuromaguro daily. The fishing boats arrive in the early morning; the fish are laid out in neat rows on the concrete floor; silent bidding takes an hour or so. After bidding is complete, the fish are boxed, iced, and hauled to market. The activity occurs in almost complete silence save for the sounds of footsteps and the swish of water. It is as if the fishermen and auctioneers are sworn to secrecy.

These photographs were taken over a two-day period in March 2019 at Kii-Katsuura’s waterfront auction house. I was captivated by the efficiency and repulsed by the sterility and apparent disregard for environmental implications. My eye focused on the collective mass of silver fish against the dark gray concrete, as well as the gruesome beauty of individual fish outlined in the strong light coming from the open sides of the enormous building. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Japanese consumers devour kuromaguro in a seemingly naïve act of unbridled consumption-an example of reality taking a back seat to desire while the underlying brutality of the industrial fishing process continues unabated.

Mark S. Danley | Portland, OR

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