Sideburnz and I woke up at 4:45am today. It was FAF Monday. FAF stands for Fish Auction Fun. It was fun, indeed. The Honolulu Fish Auction is well documented on the linked website, so I won't retell its history.
We watch the fish get weighed and tagged, and then they were loaded on to pallets with ice (see above and below) for display. The display aspect of this auction is very unique- I think the only other display auction for tuna is in Japan. Then, a bunch of prospective buyers from restaurants and fish markets browse the selection. The auctioneer moves through the fish one by one, selling the fish to the highest bidder. All of the prices are per pound. We saw fish ranging from 10 cents to 6 dollars per pound. We learned about long-line fishing and how to judge a high quality tuna from a low quality tuna. Today's catch was 58,000 pounds- big eye tuna, yellow fin tuna, skipjack tuna (aku), moonfish (opah), red snapper (onaga), shark, striped marlin- Yowzers!
Above is a photo showing the sections of fish that are judged for quality- a slice from the tail lengthwise, crosswise, and a core sample.
Here's Sideburnz listening intently to the Assistant Manager of the fish auction.
And the kids.
Here's an Opah and one of the kids (can you guess which is which?)
Sideburnz, Dr J, Dr T, Dr S, and some shark. Opah at the very bottom.The early wakeup time was rough, really rough. I've since recovered and think the fish auction was fantastic. Maybe we'll have fish for dinner tonight.
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