[dschleef]

It's hilarious that people believe there was an actual, unstaged market transaction selling a fish for $3k/pound.

[brazzy]

Sure there was, it just sold a lot of publicity and prestige along with the fish.

"Staged" to me implies that the price was not actually paid, and if you have any information that indicates this was the case, please cite it.

[epipsychidion]

They were paying for the honor (and publicity) that comes with buying the first fish of the season. Seems pretty routine to me.