Bye-Bye, Bluefin?

More fallout from Japan's particularly conspicuous brand of conspicuous consumption: The bluefin tuna might vanish within three years thanks to it being "such a sought-after delicacy in the Far East," as the Times of London puts it.

So sought-after that a single Mediterranean fish can go for hundreds of dollars in Japan. Nonetheless, sushi-eaters there continue to scarf it up at increasing rates.

Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, where fishing season opened on Wednesday, industrial-scale fishing operations are depleting stocks so quickly that the average bluefin is getting smaller all the time, according to the WWF. "Its demise is blamed on the introduction of fishing vessels in the 1990s that can round up 3,000 bluefin in one go," the Times reports.

The WWF is calling for an outright ban on fishing for bluefin in the Mediterranean until stocks recover.