Opah, looking at you

Two friends from the mainland are visiting.  We decided to take them to the fish auction at the pier.   Open 6-days a week, starts at 5:30 AM, it is always an interesting experience.  The opah (moonfish) is a flat, beautifully coloured fish, delicious eating.    Further info here.

Extra shows the deals being done.  Each fish on the pallet has the name & tag of the boat that caught it.  To that will be stapled the name of the purchaser (mostly restaurants/bars) and the price/pound.  A notch is cut out by the tail section and displayed to show the quality of fish, which buyers can smell and squish and check colour.  Sometimes a small core sample will also be displayed.   The buyers cluster and walk along the rows of fish on pallets and bid.  Winning bid is noted and guy comes along to scan the fish tag and mark the deal.  The guy in the dayglow vest with bucket to the far left gathers back the samples on the fishes after they are sold.  As the buyers move down the row, small rolling lifts take each pallet into a storage room, segregating the fish for various buyers.   Sometimes the fish is cut in half or thirds, depending on its size, pallets are all one size. 
The fleet offloads at dockside into large carts, each fish labeled with the name of the boat that caught it.  Then carts are moved the short distance to the loading dock at one end of the building, where they are washed and sorted onto smaller pallets.   Pallets are then organized into long rows with walking space inbetween.  
Anyone can come watch, must wear closed- toed shoes, and not get in the way.   If you plan to buy, you must register at the office first and it's cash only.  We stayed for about 2 hours and then walked over for a fresh fish breakfast at Nico's.  Then, home for a nap!