the world is paying top dollar for the gold they're producing and those dollars are helping to fund the deadliest war since world war ii. >> he is a local inhabitant and a surfer. he leads a group of concerned citizens who believe that chum makemakes sharks associate people with food. he thinks that may be why a shark attacked him three years ago. he remembers it every time he looks at his hands. >> and i can't describe the fear that went through me then pimean it's everyone's worstphyte merand it was happening to me.

>> the king of sushi is no longer treated like royalty. it is scraped and plained and then cut up into blocks. the industry's ability to supply the global market with inexpensive sushi has stoked demand and that's created a mediterranean gold rush. welcome to "60 minutes" on cbs. rare, valuable and in high demand and very often they're located in places that are difficult to reach and sometimes dangerous. this edition features stories that take us down into the world of sharks, deep into the heart of africa, and onto the high seas for a look at the dark side of big-time commercial fishing. by begin with gold. there's a demand for gold for investments, for the circuits and cell phones and computers, and of course for jewelry, and mining it often comes at a huge

cost. one of which you probably haven't heard very much about. in the democratic republic of congo, gold and other minerals are fueling the deadliest conflict since world war ii. in november of 2009, scott pelley went to the heart of central africa and found a campaign of rape and murder, being largely funned by gold that's exported to the world. >> this is a gold mine in eastern congo, dug from the site of a mountain by the bare hands and stooped backs of 100 men. they've lifted tons of dirt one pan at a time. building tearises as they descend. the hunger of gold drives men into the earth so that could men can kill. >> you good? >> thank you. >> annika van woodenberg has spent ten years in kong pope she investigated the mines for human rights watch and wrote one the most respected studies on the trade. >> you then is a little bit

dangerous business especially for those guys? >> it is particularly for those guys and are there regular mudslides, rock falls, you know the death rate is extraordinarily high in these mines. >> tell me what the life of a congolese goal mine serlike? >> you make maybe if you're lucky $1 or $2 a day. you have no health care, no social insurance. you have nothing. and people do it because they hope they hope to become rich, but very few do. >> the people are destitute but congo is the saudi arabia of minerals. in addition to gold, the earth is loaded with metals such as tin, copper and something called cole tan is essential to the circuits in computers and cell phones. our journey started in boukavu, it is spectacular, remote and lawless. to get to the gold fields, we traveled through territory

controlled by one militia and then another. we found this gold mine on the mawana river in the province of south kievo. first thing you notice are the children. families sent them to work with early and for many it is the only life they will know. their method is at least 2,000 years old. they lay blankets in the river bed and let the sediment collect in the fibers. the blankets are wrung out. and somewhere in all of that mud is treasure. they mix mercury in the sediment which chemicalicly binds the gold together and burn the mercury away. no one worries too much about the toxic fumes, the neurological damage from mercury may not show up for queers. >> you pour that out there? >> there it is. >> there it is. about a quarter the size of a pencil eraser, but it's gold.

how much is this worth? >> this can be maybe $5. >> this could be worth $5? that's a sound behind what is now the deadliest war on earth. in 1996 uganda and rwanda invaded congo. seven more countries joined in and started to steal congo's resources. the invasion ended, but ever since rebel militias and government forces have fought over local power, ethnic hatred and control of the minerals. >> translator: we heard it -- >> we heard it first fland former rebel soldiers. this school teaches guerrilla rebel fighters who laid down their guns how to be civilians again. this former major told us when his troops controlled a territory, he demanded gold from every miner, every day.

>> translator: we collected gold and then we went to buy medicines. we went to buy ammunition. we went to buy guns. >> who sold you the ammunition and the guns? >> translator: we would buy those things from congolese army soldiers. >> he's saying that government troops sold weapons to him, the enemy. congo is so destitute that even its army goes without pay and becomes just another predator among the villages. john pender grast worked on president clinton's white house and runs a group called the enough project that exposes war crimes. what keeps this war going. >> it is good, old-fashioned greed. kings have been doing it for version and todays version of armed groups, rebel and militia groups, government army are all fronts for mafia organizations

basically that extract these minerals and profit from the their smuggling and export back to the united states and to europe for our jewelry, our cell phones and our laptops. >> mafia organizations, what do you mean by that? >> they don't have an ideology. they are not trying to build a government institution. they are rebels aren't fighting for a particular cause. they are extracting these minerals like gold, tsunsten. >> it spikes and comes in phases and it is localized. >> one recent spike centered on a village called congabyata. we went there and find many lash charade advilage and burned 70 homes. why attack the civilian population? >> it is an effective strath strategy. it scares the people and terrorizes them in to compliance. >> it is chaos.

>> chaos organized in order to exploit gold and other minerals for the enrichment of armed groups and it keeps the cycle going and going until we break the cycle and address the root issue, which is the gold and other metals. coming up, the atrocities of gold trafficking. >> one of my children was 15, another one 7, another one 6. >> they were shot to death by the soldiers? >> translator: yes. they were shot to death. >> gold's terrifying toll when "60 minutes on cnbc returns".

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>> villagers caught in the combat pour into camps like the one we visited in the province of north kivu. it's a desperate place where villagers caught in the combat pour in to camps like the one we visited in north kievo.

a fist of flour in the moment can be as precious as gold. fidel is a relief work for a global charity that brings water and health care to the camps. how many camps are there like this? the eastern congo? how many people are displaced. >> oh, my god. oh, my god. so far 1 million individuals displaced individuals. and to name specific camps here, i think we have over 100 camps within this country. >> translator: one of my children was 15, another one 7, another one 6. >> they were shot to death by the soldiers? >> translator: yes. they were shot to death. >> the story of just one woman captures congo. we found her in the camp. we won't use her name. but she asked us to show her face. her village was destroyed by a

militia, burned in 2007. in addition to the three children, she lost her husband and her parents. >> your mother and your father were burned alive in their house? >> translator: it wasn't only my family. there were about 280 people burned alive in their homes. >> she ran with three surviving children to a makeshift ka camp for the homeless, but then the camp was attacked and there was a second massacre. when that round of the killing began, the people fled to the rel relative safety of this united nations post. now this has grown in to a camp of more than 13,000 people. in terms of food, they are lrchly fending for themselves. today the united nations was distributing flour and beans and cooking oil, but the last time this happened was five months ago. most of the time they foreij for food out of the camp and that's where she fell victim to the other atrocity of congo, rape.

>> translator: we went to look for food but also firewood mostly and that's where we got raped by people in uniform. >> so these were soldiers who raped you? >> translator: very hard to tell whether they were soldiers or rebels. all we knew and all we saw is they were in uniforms and armed with machine guns. >> it's estimated 200,000 women have been raped in eastern congo. rape is a weapon here. and often a lethal one. but of the suffering the u.n. has tried to stop the trafficking and congo's ill louis it is sold but the found the gold is being smuggled in to world trade. all of those nuggets are combined in border towns and it is slipped over the border to uganda. they are next to each other but uganda has almost no gold

production of its own. in 2007, uganda produced about $500 worth. but in the same year, it exported $75 million in gold. almost all of that is coming from the war zone. >> how much? >> maximum 35. >> we took a hidden camera to a trader called jit. we offered gold for sale and we were clear it came from congo. >> you know the rebels -- >> he bought our gold and we got ahold of internal ugandan records that list 228 international shipments by jit and many others. u.n. investigators say most of it is gold from congo, relabelled as a product of uganda. after campela it heads to refiners in dubai and then out in the world. no one can say how much of the world market is fed by congo gold. the best estimates are around

1%. so it is not likely any particular watch or wedding ring contributed to rape or murder but we wondered how a consumer would know. the head of jewellers of america and the responsible jewelry council. >> reporter: does your certification mean the gold didn't come from congo? >> source of origin is not yet a part of the council's framework. >> how do you keep that gold out of american jewelry stores? >> one needs to know where the sources of controversy are if one is to try to prevent those sources from getting in to the legitimate supply string. >> it has been known a long time where the sources of controversy are in congo. >> the eastern province, yes, it has. >> jewellers know about the tragedy in con go, but it has never been standard industry the practice to trace gold to the source. jewellers buy gold from middlemen and don't ask where it comes from the. seven years ago the industry

banned so-called blood diamonds from west africa but up until now it hadn't done the same for gold. >> banning the gold is a noble goal but one that requires, i think, some thoughtful consideration and a positive engagement between stakeholders, governments and industry to bring to achievement. the industry stands ready to work with stakeholders and with government to achieve that end. >> what's to talk about? why can't the industry cut off the supply from congo and strangle the civil war there? >> there's absolutely no place and no need for debate on the question of whether any illegally sourced mineral ought to be part of the industry supply chain. it should not be. >> walle mart is the largest gold retailer in america. >> i believe that's correct, yes. >> what affect would it have if wal-mart declared that it would demand traceability all the way

to the mine for all the gold it sells? >> there's no question in my mind that commercial pressure can and should and must be brought to bear. >> why isn't it done? >> i don't think the question has been put to them, frankly. >> we put the question to them. and of the major jewellers we talked to, only tiffanys said it traces nearly all of its gold to a particular mine and that is in utah and the responsible jewelry council says it is developing a temperature for the industry that will one day trace gold to its source. if congo's gold is less than 1% of world supply, that still comes to more than $300 million a year. more than enough to keep the war going on forever, mining an inexhaustibilityable wealth of /* /--inexhaustible wealth of misery. >> the gold mines in condo

continue to fund war in the region but increasingly the world is taking notice and is trying to do something about it. here in the united states, in july of twen 2010, congress passed the dodd frank act. it contains a provision that requires companies that file reports with the sec to conduct due diligence on their supply chain to determine whether any products contain conflict minerals, such as gold from the congo or a surrounding country. coming up, bob simon goes swimming with sharks. >> are you clear with everything i said so far? >> yeah. how do i get out. >> that's next when 60 minutes on cnbc continues " continues [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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>> there may be no single fear as intense and as widespread as the fear of confronting a shark. they even inhabit the nightmares there may be no single fear as intense and widespread as the fear of confronting a shark. they even inhabit the nightmares of people that don't swim. it comes as a surprise that more and more people these days are seeking out sharks and paying millions of dollars a year to get as close to them as they possibly can. here's the rub. the place where sharks are most visible are the places where the sharks are becoming the most dangerous. bob simon reported in august of 2009, shark attacks are on the rise. many blame these attacks on shark tourism, in a place which is called "shark central." >> reporter: more than 35,000 tourists, americans and europeans mainly come here every year to the tip of south africa where two oceans meet with the hope of seeing what we were

lucky enough to see. >> whoa! >> great white going after a seal. exploding out of the ocean like a cruise missile. >> whoa! >> reporter: take another look. as two tons of fish, 20 feet long getting air. >> this is the best place in the world to learn about the secret life of these animals. that's what attracts me. >> reporter: the secret life. >> so secret. >> reporter: so secret says aden martin that we know little about great white sharks. we don't know how many there are or how long they live. we have never seen them mate or give birth. >> fantastic. look at that. such an enormous guy gets so far out of the water. >> it is essentially profile and sacrificed mobility for speed. it is like having a truck

running on the bicycle current. >> for it is a remarkable sight. seals are their favorite food. >> oh! that was fantastic. it came out upside down. >> we are next to seal island here. population 50,000. when you see a shark coming for the seal, who are you rooting for? >> i root for the seals. >> this man is a shark tourism operator. >> i think we can relate to the situation of the seals. they are at home, sitting in the sun, happy, safe, having a wonderful time and everything is great but when they get hungry, they have to go out in the street and in the street there are a lot of rough characters. >> it is a catch 22. unfortunately for the seals they need to go out and feed. at this island they have a good chance of being eaten by a shark. >> after watching a shark have a meal, a lot of tourists do the

same, go back to shore but some stick around, tempted to leave our world ever so briefly and go down to theirs, under water. it's the thing to do these days for seekers of adventure and adrenaline. you do it, of course, from the safety of a cage. safety? this happened to tourists not far from where we were. a shark got in to the cage. if he hadn't lost his bearings and ended upside down the tourists would have been toast. but they assured us this hardly happens. that thousands have gone down in cages and lived to talk about it. so we decided to give it a try. >> very large shark. >> are you clear with everything i have said so far. >> yeah. how do i get out? it isn't quite as frightening as you think. it could be because the white

white is a fascinating creature that you feel more wonder than fear. >> the closer it comes the more awesome it becomes. unbelievable. such a big fish. suddenly and quietly a seal came by. >> i will never know whether it was trying to escape the shark or just liked me. >> is this something i should worry about. >> when the sharks came out 30 years ago now it had such an impact that a lot of people stopped going to the beaches. they were so scared of sharks. think of what has changed. now shark tourism has become big business, a lot of people are spending a lot of money to do

what i'm doing right now, which is just to sit under water in a cage and hope to get a good look at a shark. but shark tourism has its critics. they are convinced that shark attacks are on the rise because tour operators attract them with bait and fish blood known as chum to make sure clients get what they paid for. >> when you go cage diving, yeah. you don't necessarily put yourself at risk as a tourist but you might be putting the local inhabitants a t risk. >> reporter: craig is a local inhabitant and surfer. he leads a group of concerned citizens that believe that chum makes sharks associate people with food. and that may be why a shark attacked him three years ago. he remembers it every time he looks at his hands. >> i can't believe the feeling. it is everybody's worst nightmare and it was happening

to me. >> reporter: he was diving for cray fish when a white shark came up beside him, disappeared and returned. >> all i saw was this thing coming toward me at speeded he just clamped down hard on both of my forearms with a crunching sound and then his body landed on me. i knew i had been eaten or bitten. >> you had been bitten, you were being eaten. >> i didn't know if he was going to try to swallow me. >> he wasn't letting go. >> no. i was stuck. i knew i was going to die. i basically gave up. i just laid there and he started swimming, slowly, with me in his mouth, presumably out to sea. >> with your arms in his mouth. >> like this. i was hanging underneath his belly. and it took a while for me to react properly and it was thought of my children and of basically dying and saying

good-bye and i said no, i want to see my kids so i reacted a bit and pulled as hard as i could on my right arm and it seemed to -- all that came out appeared to be the stump of my forearm because i looked down and saw this gushing stump with arteries exposed and bones and all sorts of things and i thought i left my hand inside of his stomach. but i said i can deal with that. >> eventually he managed to pull that hand out, too and the shark swam away. exhausted and losing blood fast, he somehow managed to swim 70 yards to shore. doctors managed to save not only his life but some use of his hands. now he devotes himself to campaigning against the way most tour operators conduct their business. you would have no problem, i take it, from going out in a boat and if you see a shark, you see a shark. your problem is with putting bait in the water, chum as it is called, kanls and stuff like

that. >> it is do midwesty kating a wild animal. >> coming up, why humans fear sharks. nothing comes close it to. you can die in other ways, now being eaten means i might be alive and feel what is going to happen to me. that's ahead on "60 minutes on cnbc." can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

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>> shark attacks used to be virtually unheard of here. but there have been six in the past two years. three people have died, shark attacks used to be virtually unheard of here but there have been six in the past two years. three people have died. two of them swallowed whole

which is unusual. shark spotters have been hired to maintain a constant village and many have joined the campaign to ban baiting, legislation which exists already in florida and hawaii. tour operators claim linking what they do to shark attacks is ridiculous. >> as you can see here i have two small tuna and a couple of sardines. any commercial fishing boat that is going out on any given day is putting fish in to the water to attract fish to the surface to catch them. nothing different for us. >> a lot of people say this is like putting meat in front of a lion. >> it is inevitability of going in to the ocean and when you have millions of people going this to the sea there are instances where people will be attacked. it is as simple as that. >> it wasn't as simple as that to the people who burned kris fellows boat in what was seen as a protest against shark tourism. others are directing their anger

at sharks themselves. vigilantes are vowing to take out boats and shoot sharks, any sharks whether or not they were the actual killers. university of capetown psychologist and surfer treats people with shark phobia or tries to. >> there are so many ways you can get killed. so many horrible ways you can get killed. you can get murdered, mugged, die in a war. why is it that getting eaten, bitten by a shark carries a terror with it that other ones don't. >> nothing comes close to it. you mentioned being eaten. you can die in other ways. being eaten that means i might be live and feel what is going to happen to me. >> but in fact sharks have more to fear from us humans and our industrial fishing fleet that bring in 100 million sharks a year. in some regions, shark populations are down 90%. and some species are approaching extinction. why is this happening?

the answer boils down literally to soup, shrk fin soup. in china, it's been an expensive status symbol for millennium. chefs were at one time beheaded if they cooked it incorrectly. people will pay $100 for a bowl. feeding sharks is a billion dollar business and it is not a pretty shark. as soon as a shark is caught his fins are caught cut off and he is thrown overboard, alive to sink to the bottom and drown. in south africa and a few other countries it's a crime to do that. given the high price of soup it is a common crime. what's a fin worth? a large one can cost thousands of dollars. and the black market in fins is tough to police because most of the sharks are caught in international waters where there's no law against finning. on hand, laws can be enforced in

capetown recently authorities raided several processing plants owned by hong kong chinese, seven tons of fins were confiscated. this is only a small fraction of the haul. and after you have seen those fins laid out, have another look, as we did, at sharks doing what sharks do. a shark weaving through an underwater forest. at the perfect gee yom tri and grace of a blue shark in cold clear water. it's not the shark's fault that we demonized him for so long. besides we need our demons. they have been with us in our minds as long as gods. the next time you are in a chinese restaurant and feel like some soup, why not stick to the egg drop or the won on the. give the shark a break. since our report first aired the worldwide shark tourism business has continued to thrive. there is good news for the

sharks. in january of 2011, president obama signed in to law the shark conservation act. it outlaws shark finning by requiring that all sharks caught in u.s. waters be landed with their fins attached. coming up -- >> this place is the nerve center of a global fishing industry. >> sort of like a walt of fish. >> yeah, it is. it is. there's no futures market, no derivatives but other than that it is like the wall street of fesh. >> the king of sushi when "60 minutes on cnbc" returns. fesh. >> the king of sushi when "60 minutes on cnbc" returns. isfesh. >> the king of sushi when "60 minutes on cnbc" returns. hfesh. >> the king of sushi when "60 minutes on cnbc" returns. . >> the king of sushi when "60 minutes on cnbc" returns. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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[ticking] >> sushi is becoming so popular these days, you can find it in grocery stores all over america. but it's a distinctly japanese sushi is becoming so popular these days you can fine it in grocery stores all over america but it is distinctly a japanese business and they have turned it in to a multibillion dollar international enterprise. sushi wouldn't be sushi without tuna, particularly blue fin tuna. it is so revered in japan they call it the king of sushi. as bob simon found out in january of 2008, the blue fin is in deep trouble. >> reporter: fresh blue fin tuna arrives in style at the tokyo airport every day from all over the world. they are carefully packed in crate and unloaded on to pallets, often less than 24

hours after being caught. it is delivered on ice in custom-made wooden boxes called coffin, delivered to the tokyo fish market which is skulled skiji, which is the place where the world's top sushi chefs get their fish. more fish flow through skij sirks than any other market on earth . more money, too, $4 billion a year. in today's global economy, fishermen from around the world watch the prices set here at skiji which enables them to figure out what their catch is worth. harvard anthrolpology professor understands the movement of money and tuna. >> this place is the nerve center of a global fishing industry. >> sort of like a wall street of fish. >> yeah. yeah. it is. it is. there's no futures market, no derivatives but other than that it is like the wall street of fish.

all blue fin tuna. all fresh and all expensive. >> at 4:00 every morning, six days a week, the buyers arrive at the market's fresh tuna home to check out what is offered. >> how do the buyers know what is good and not so good? >> if you look you can see them rolling the tuna over on its side. looking at the belly. they are looking for the fat content and color of their meat. they are essentially x-raying the fish and you will see they will take a piece and rub it between their thumb and forefinger and that is a sense of oil content. >> these guys must be the toughest customers in the world. >> absolutely. they know the fish inside and out. >> literally know the fish inside and out. >> they know the market inside and out and they are prepared to pay the highest price in the world. >> the price of a single blue fin tuna is between 2,000 and $20,000. it all depends on the size, the

season and the fat content. the fattier the better. this man is one of the most respected buyers in the market. his family has been bidding on top quality blue fin here for seven generations. he's well versed in the auction near's lingo. he knows the signal. within seconds, he's bid for and bought the most expensive tuna at today's auction, a 450 pounder for $8500. he is the master of the house at a wholesaler supplying tokyo's most exclusive sushi restaurants. he wields his blades like a latter day samurai. >> maestro at work. >> like everything in japan it is a ceremony. the fresh blue fin is massaged and stroked as befitting a king. the masters even have

conversations with the tuna. he appeals to the fish to make him proud and give him their best. the demand for the freshest blue fin tuna from the world's most exclusive restaurants is insatiable. how is this global yen for blue fin satisfied? well, globally. from the coast of japan, the gulf of maine, mexico or the mediterranean. here in the mediterranean, the tuna come every springtime to spawn and here that fishermen have been lying in wait for them for millennia. the blue fin tuna provided protein for all the great civilizations that spring up on the shores. we are on an island off the coast of italy and the fishermen go after the blue fin much the way their ancestors did in the

days of the roman empire. fishermen from a village take nets to the ocean floor, trapping the migrating blue fin in giant chambers. we went out with divers to check on their trap. we had no idea what to expect. floating walls of net, stretching six stories high. there's no escape here for these juggernauts that can cross the atlantic at 70 miles an hour. the only sound the bubbles from the oxygen tanks. then, a truly exceptional sight. seeing tuna on a plate is one thing and seeing them down here is something else entirely. within a few hours the tuna and fishermen will be face to face, locked in an ancient ritual, the slaughter. it begins with a small armada,

old boats with husty hulls are brought out in position surrounding the nets. over the course of the next two hours, the fishermen close in on their prey. bringing their boats and their nets closer and closer to each other. it's a life and death struggle for the giant blue fin. the smaller fish are wrestled on board. the larger ones have to be winched. the churning waters and the decks of the boat run red. in the end it is hand-to-hand combat and think of it, this bloody battle is all in the service of sushi. this may seem like an norrous catch and it is terribly impressive but the fishermen insist they are catching fewer

and smaller fish than in previous years, and the situation is so bad, they say that they don't know how long they will be able to stay in business. to stay afloat, this ancient ritual has been putting the service a of a mod everyone corporate culture. all of the tuna is take on the a factory ship, moored a short distance away. japanese buyers from mitsubishi, yes, that mitsubishi are on board, too. they paid big bucks for blue fin and they'd like to buy the whole catch, 600 in all. the fish are weighed and measured and most are simply not big enough. only 54 will make the trip to toke dwroe. -- tokyo. coming up the new blue fin tuna killing fields. >> if this trend continues? >> all i can say if we carry on like this we are bound to catastrophe. i mean it's as simple as that.

normal fish, norm -- no more fish, no more industry, no more culture. >> the king of sushi continues when 60 minutes on cnbc returns. ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen let's get a recap, merv.ack to the cleaning games. [ merv ] thanks, other merv. mr. clean magic eraser extra power

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[ticking] >> in the 1990s, a new vessel

started fishing for tuna in the mediterranean. it was called a purse seiner, and it brought on a revolution in tuna fishing. each of these vessels can encircle and trap some 3,000 bluefin. that's in one go, one toss of the net. each of these vessels can encircle and trap some 3,000 blue fin. that's in one go, one toss of the net. before long, there are more than 300 working here and the new method of fishing proved so efficient it made them look like an old rel i leftover from the middle ables. it is high-tech fishing on an industrial scale. they prowl the mediterranean grounds waiting for word from if planes that are patrolinging overhead. when schools of bluefin come to the surface they relay the coordinates to them who rush to encircle them. it is something that roberto has seen firsthand.

he was around when they first started to fish for tuna in the mediterranean. >> how many of these vessels are there in the mediterranean right now. >> 39 french, 60 tunisians, 120 turks, 92 italians. >> an enormous business. >> this is huge business, yes. the stakes are very high. >> he has seen as many as 300 tons of blue fin tuna, worth as much as $2 million, trapped inside of one of these nets. divers open a gap and count them as they are transferred in to pens the size of a football field. tug boats drag the pens with the live tuna inside to tuna ranches. tuna ranches? >> to me, the word ranches refers to cattle. >> yes. but you do not breed the blue fin tuna at the ranch.

you fatten the fish to gain up to 20% in weight. >> reporter: they feed their sardines and mackerel. they control the color, the flavor. in three to six months the tuna will be big and fat enough to harvest, 90% of them will go to japan, which imports as much tuna as it can, any tuna, half a million tons a year. most of it is flash frozen on these ships that arrive in japanese ports every day. they are stored in giant freezer rooms at a bone-chilling, minus 75 degrees fahrenheit. at any given time, there are over 60,000 tune tons of frozen tuna stockpiled in what some call japan's strategic reserve. that is 60,000 tons of frozen fish and one frozen correspondent. freezing tuna at such low temperatures has trons formed what was once a fresh delicacy

in to a commodity with virtually no expiration date. the king of sushi is no longer treated like royalty. it is scraped and planed and cut in to blocks. this tuna will make its way to supermarkets and thousands of low-end sushi restaurants where you can eat a piece of blue fin for as little as 50 cents. the industry's ability to supply the global market with inexpensive sushi has stoked demand and that created a mediterranean gold rush. >> so, what game is being played here? >> it's the wild west. >> these days, roberto spends his time tracking fishing boats and monitoring catches and he's found that the international quo toes, which limit tuna fishing are not being enforced and those spotter planes, they are officially banned, but are still hunting tuna. illegal fishing is rampant.

>> if this trend continues? >> all i can say is that if we carry on like this we are bound to catastrophe. i mean, it's as simple as that no more fish, no more industry, no more culture. and no more matunza. this maybe the last year that the weary fishermen raise their who are in a race to catch the last tuna. [saw buzzing] >> back in tokyo's tsukiji fish market, a new record auction price was set for one bluefin tuna. in january of 2011, a single king-sized 700-pound specimen of the king of sushi sold for $400,000. that's roughly $42 for every slice of sashimi. that's this edition of 60 minutes on cnbc.