SEOUL, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Fishermen in South Korea have been hauling in unusual numbers of large blue-fin tuna, a phenomenon that may be linked to global warming.
Three blue-fin more than six feet long and weighing between 500 and 600 pounds were auctioned Thursday at the fish market in Busan, The Korea Times reported. They were sold for around $3,000 each.
While those three were unusually big, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute says the average size of tuna caught off South Korea has increased considerably. The average used to run 1.5 to 2 feet, which has jumped to 2 to 4.5 feet.
"Korea had tuna before, but numbers are growing and they are appearing more frequently as the temperature of seas off the south coast and around Jeju has risen by about 2 degrees Celsius from 30 years ago and the warm current there is strong," researcher Choi Young-min said.
