The sale is sold in an order governed by type of vessel and species, the orders are listed below. This is done so if a buyer wants a certain quality or species they have a rough idea when the item they are wanting to bid on will come up in the auction. Again this is only a guide and could differ slightly but in general this is the format of the auction.
Listed below is the order of sale by vessel type and species.
Tripping trawlers are usually the larger trawlers that spend up to six days at sea most of these have their own ice plant and refrigerated fish rooms so the quality is still very good.
Trawler groups consist of smaller trawlers going to sea for a maximum of 48 hours, they are grouped together in groups of up to 20 boats, this is because they quite often catch small amounts of different species and grouping them together make the lot a more desirable amount for bigger buyers whilst the smaller buyers still have the chance to choose smaller amounts within that lot providing they bid before the bigger buyers.
Squid and cuttle are sold by species as they can often be large amounts and the price can vary too much over a long period of time during the morning.
Next sold are the beamers and larger netters by vessel followed by pelagic fish either by vessel or group. then small inshore netters and groups and finally any "A" grade fish and scallop by-catch.
The species order is always the same whether being sold in "groups" or by "vessel" squid and cuttle are usually the only lots sold by species per vessel.