A Hong Kong sushi restaurant owner paid a record $63,000 for a massive bluefin tuna in the first auction of the year

- caught off Japan's northern region of Aomori sold for about $231 per kilo

Japan says it is premature to respond to allegations of over-fishing of southern blue fin tuna.

He says Japan has illegally taken $2 billion worth of southern blue fin tuna worldwide over the past 20 years.

Japan had exceeded its 2005 quota by 25 per cent.

Australia's fishing industry is hoping to sell more bluefin tuna to Japan

[Europe] for example market about 20,000 tonnes a year and us about 10,000 tonnes and you can imagine that them ceasing to catch this year, and their catch was already at a lower level as well, has very strong positive impacts for South Australia

Environmentalists have warned that tuna face eventual extinction if fishing continues at current rates to feed a worldwide fad for Japanese food such as sushi.

Japan, which eats a quarter of the world's tuna,