Hundreds of pallets of fish are rumbled across the wet concrete floor. The auctioneer moves quickly down the rows of 'ahi, mahimahi and 'opakapaka surrounded by a huddle of buyers who battle one another for the best prices and quality fish. Once sold, the fish are quickly removed and replaced by others.

The auction continues until all the fish are sold, with most destined for Hawai'i grocery stores, restaurants and mom-and-pop shops. Up to 160,000 pounds of fish can be auctioned in a day in the nondescript, concrete, two-story walkup on 'Ahui Street.

But within two weeks, United Fishing Agency, operator of the auction, will move from its Kaka'ako home of 25 years, marking the end of an era for the fishing-centered neighborhood and the start of a revitalized waterfront.

Guy Tamashiro, a second-generation fish buyer with Tamashiro Market in Kalihi, said it's not the Kaka'ako building that is important, but the system and the people who make it work.

"The place doesn't matter much," Tamashiro said. "The auction plays a very important role in terms of making the fish accessible to a lot of people. If there was no auction, I would have to buy a whole boat load or pay more and go through a wholesaler. I just want to buy a little bit every day; what I'm going to sell. A fresh, constant supply every day."

A new Kaka'ako is rising to replace the old fishing community with a planned mix of residential, commercial and recreational uses being developed by the Hawaii Community Development Authority. The University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine now under construction is part of that plan.

When the agency moves this month from its old office and warehouse to its new headquarters at the state's new commercial fishing village at Pier 38 a couple of miles away, it will get a much larger, modern building, convenient dock space right outside its warehouse and a new bell to mark the transition.

While fishing fleets elsewhere operate by selling their fish almost entirely through wholesalers and large corporations that own their vessels, United Fishing adopted a rare — and many say better — way to allow fishermen to sell their catch and buyers to get the freshest fish and only what they need.

It's the only fish auction between Tokyo and Maine, said fisherman Jim Cook, and it is the primary place where Hawai'i's fleet sells its catch.

"The best way to describe what longliners think of the auction is that 100 percent of them deliver their fish there," Cook said. "They pay you the day you deliver the fish, which brings great joy. The typical Mainland situation is the fisherman has to be holding on for 45 days."

Agency manager Frank Goto has been with United Fishing since it was formed on Aug. 5, 1952, and has held almost every position in the company.

"I started driving truck, auctioneer, everything," Goto said. "At that time it was so small, one had to do everything."

"I'll look after the grandkids, and great-grandkids hopefully," Goto said. "I don't go to karaoke bars, I don't golf. All I do is work. But, I'd love to travel with the grandkids."

At the auction, Goto stands on the third step of a metal interior stairway and leans on the handrail, watching the goings-on.

The auction floor is kept at a cool 60 degrees, and the smell of fresh fish fills the air. The fish are displayed so buyers can look into their eyes — the clearer the eye, the fresher the fish. Tuna buyers check texture and firmness by cutting an incision in the tail and feeling a plug.

Activity actually begins as fishing boats dock in the middle of night. They call United Fishing Agency to let them know they have a catch, and trucks are sent to pick up fish from the boats. The fish are iced down, weighed and tagged with the boat's name.

The Honolulu Fish Auction was founded by Japanese immigrant Matsujiro Otani, who started out as a fish peddler and became a millionaire. Otani's United Fishing Agency operated out of a building on Nimitz Highway across from'A'ala Park until it was torn down in the '70s.

"I knew him well," said Hawai'i fisherman Louis "Buzzy" Agard, 79, who has sold fish through Otani's businesses all his life. "He was a gentleman. He had a sharp business acumen, and he built it up from scratch."

Otani died in 1972. His son, Akira Otani, is president of the company.

"I tip my hat to the original founders," said Brooks Takenaka, who runs the auction floor. "The auction has stood the test of time."

Takenaka said the auction is based on the Tokyo auction, where large fish are sold individually rather than by the boatload to a wholesaler. The auction takes 10 percent of the sale price and pays the fishermen that day for their catch, a system that has kept the industry working together for more than 50 years.

United Fishing Agency's new fish auction facility is one of two anchor tenants at the state's long-stalled commercial fishing village at Honolulu Harbor's Pier 38, about two miles from the Kaka'ako site. The project had been championed by former Gov. Ben Cayetano as Hawai'i's version of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf or Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market.

Cayetano said the vision for Kaka'ako was to develop a gathering place where people could play, teach and learn centered around an aquarium, parks and the medical school.

"The fishing companies did not fit into this vision," Cayetano said. "And so we developed another vision for the fishing village in Honolulu Harbor. Here, commercial fishing companies would be centered with an eye to selling fish products and also creating an attraction for local people and tourists — much like the world-famous Toyko Fish Market in Japan."

The 16.5-acre, $17 million village was originally expected to be finished in late 2000. The entire project was put on hold three years ago because of concerns about potentially explosive methane in the soil below. The state spent $1.57 million to remove contaminated soil and take other measures to ensure the methane concerns are addressed.

The fish auction's new 18,000-square-foot building is expected to open in the middle of this month and will more than triple the 5,000-square-foot facility at Kewalo Basin. Fishing boats will dock right outside the business to unload their catch.

Cook, vice president of Pacific Ocean Producers, the largest fishing vessel handler in the state and the second anchor tenant at the fishing village, said Hawai'i's fishermen have always been concerned with the quality of their catch, and the new fishing village will make it even better.

"This means being able to take the fish right from boat side and 100 feet you are at the auction," Cook said. "It's going to mean a higher-quality product. With any produce, the fewer times you can move the product, the better off you are."

Takenaka said the plan for the new auction is to expand on outreach programs including cooking classes, ocean-related art shows and tours of the facility.

The old Kaka'ako auction will soon be gone but not forgotten, he said. Photos taken by a University of Hawai'i student will be displayed, and he is putting together an exhibit of Hawai'i fishing memorabilia centered around the auction's old bell.