Platform attendant William Bulosan trundles a pallet of 'ahi through the United Fishing Agency auction. Today's auction of tuna will determine the price of sashimi — the traditional Japanese good-fortune food — for New Year's Day. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

That's good news for shoppers who crave the traditional New Year's Day delicacy.

At Garden and Valley Isle Seafood's retail store, blocks of sashimi-grade tuna today ranged in price from $21.95 for the brilliant red, fatty tuna from larger bigeye, to $17.99 for a good grade from a smaller fish.

President Bob Fram said the market has moved from pre-sliced sashimi to the slice-your-own, pre-trimmed blocks.

The fair grades of 'ahi ­suitable for poke and seared dishes ­ were expected to start at about $4 a pound, ratcheting up to just over $20 for shoyu-wasabi sashimi grades.

The highest-quality sashimi, marbled with fat and sweet enough to eat without adornment, is scarce. And $30 a pound retail may be the basement price.

At 3 a.m. yesterday, the daily 'ahi games were under way in the noisy, frigid warehouse of the United Fishing Agency on 'Ahui Street, the only fish auction house left in the Islands, and one of only two in the country.

The factors that determine the price of your New Year's sashimi platter are concentrated in this room: the chalkboard displaying the number of boats in port and the amount of fish they bring; the hundreds of tuna laid on square pallets on the wet concrete floor; the jostling buyers from wholesalers, fish shops and restaurants, responding to the auctioneer with a yelp, a nod, a wave or a fixed stare.

Offstage, but central to the drama, are the longline ships juggling two goals: searching out the best fish and reaching port in time to cash in on the New Year's rush.

Yesterday morning, eight boats offloaded 101,000 pounds of fish, most of it 'ahi, which at this time of year means bigeye tuna. This is up from five boats and 55,000 pounds a week ago and it's good news for those who will serve the traditional Japanese good-fortune food tomorrow and New Year's Day. The auction's assistant general manager, Brooks Takenaka, expected another good haul today.

The perfect sashimi fish has all this: maximum freshness, red color, buttery flesh, firm texture.

"I'm seeing maybe one fish like that a day," said Cliff Yamauchi of Garden & Valley Isle Seafood, Inc., a major player at the auction, buying for local and Mainland retail and wholesale operations. There's lots of good, red tuna, he said, but almost no fatty tuna.

Indeed, there was but one such fish sold yesterday: a 167-pound monster whose tail section displayed the milky pink layer of fatty flesh for which sashimi connoisseurs pay top dollar. Guy Tamashiro of Tamashiro Market, who had been literally running from fish to fish for several hours looking for such a prize, landed this one at a little after 10 a.m., from the very last boat of the day. "Nothing like that came through all day," he said. "But I need more!"

There wasn't any more: The fish's nearest competitor, only mildly fatty, sold for $9 a pound. Average prices were between $2 and $5 a pound for tuna of acceptable color and texture.