STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
Ten-year-old Dustin Pacheco struggled in April to
help his grandfather Douglas Sakoda hold up a
37-pound ono. Sakoda's vessel, Iwalani, had just
pulled into Suisan Fish Market with 8,000 pounds
of fish. The market will close Saturday.

FDA inspection
prompts closure
of fish auction

Local fishermen worry about
the effect of the Hilo market's
demise on their livelihood

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

After 94 years of business, the Fish Auction Market of Suisan Co. Ltd. is shutting down indefinitely.

The Hilo auction market plans to close Saturday, a decision prompted by a recent inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Suisan General Manager Glenn Hashimoto said in a written statement.

Local fishermen were notified Friday of the fish auction's imminent closure.

"This is sad," said Hilo Mayor Harry Kim. "We as government, we've got to see what we can do to make sure that it can be kept open."

Kim said his staff will seek more information today on the closing.

Shell Restine, owner of Pahoa's Fresh Fish on Old Government Road, was worried the closure may force him out of business.

"I did all my business with Suisan," said Restine, who buys at least 300 to 400 pounds of fresh fish at Suisan each week. "It's just a big shock to everybody."

The FDA "Imposed a tremendous record-keeping burden that unreasonably increased the cost of operating the Fish Auction Market," Hashimoto said in his statement. Hashimoto said the decision to close the fish auction was to protect the long-standing integrity of the company and its employees.

Officials who oversee the fish auction were cited for seven violations, including one for improper record keeping of information such as time of death, time of landing and cooling rate of the fish.

"We would like to keep it open," said Rex Matsuno, president of Suisan. But "because of the citation, we are concerned it's going to affect us."

The Suisan Auction is one of two open auctions in the state. The other is United Fishing Agency in Honolulu.

Stan Shimizu, owner of Kona Seafood Inc., said he was concerned about the fishermen.

"They have hundreds of fishermen that depend on the auction," said Shimizu, 73. "It's a very sad thing for Suisan to close after so many years."

Though the auction market will close, officials of Suisan said its Fish Wholesale & Retail Sales operation on 85 Lihiwai St. will remain open.

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Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Thompson contributed to this report.