Custom has fish flying out of stores | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Customers lined up to select their fish, then to pay for it as Tamashiro Market in Kalihi was inundated with shoppers buying sashimi and other delicacies for their New Year's celebrations.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / crussell@staradvertiser.com

Tamashiro Market's premium blue fin ahi -- at $36.95 a pound --?was sold out by 1 p.m. That left buyers with choices of premium bigeye for $34.95 per pound and lesser grades at $16.95 a pound.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Jaegan Jegstach helped a customer buying the premium-grade toro ahi at Tamashiro Market on Tuesday. With him behind the counter were employees Denzel Corpuz, left, and Edmund Lawrence.

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While Tuesday was New Year’s Eve, for many fish markets across Oahu, the day was more like Christmas.

Neighborhood seafood stores around the island did their best to keep up with the relentless demand for new-year ahi — a Hawaii tradition — as customers poured through their doors.

At Tamashiro Market in Kalihi, it was an all-hands-on-deck operation for the store’s busiest day of the year. Outside, about five employees were needed just to help drivers park safely after they turned off King Street. Inside, the checkout lines often stretched to the back of the store.

Lines at Tanioka’s Seafood and Catering were out the door until about 2 p.m., with staff distributing cookies to customers while they waited, store management said.

Both establishments’ market prices were about the same as last New Year’s Eve, they reported, in part because local fishing fleets had not reached their quotas for the year and more fish came in toward the end of the year, helping to keep prices down.

"We were lucky. We had quite a bit of fish this year," Tamashiro Vice President Guy Tamashiro said Tuesday.

By 12:30 p.m. the store had sold out of its premium-grade blue fin ahi — priced at $36.95 a pound, Tamashiro said. Its remaining selections ranged from the premium-grade bigeye tuna, at $34.95 per pound, to lower grades at $16.95.

Tanioka’s also offered premium-grade ahi at $34.95 a pound, general manager Justin Tanioka said. His family business sold 480 pickup orders through the day, 750 pounds of sashimi and up to 600 pounds of poke, Tanioka added.

Meanwhile, managers at Yama’s Fish Market in Moiliili were unavailable Tuesday to weigh in on their ahi prices — they were too busy keeping pace with customers.

Tamashiro Market was so busy that one of the store’s fish cutters opted to return after having to visit a local emergency room to treat a hand he accidentally cut at work, Tamashiro said.

Once back on the job, the cutter told Tamashiro that there were "two other guys" at the emergency room for the same reason — fish-cutting mishaps.