Fish market

A fish market is a marketplace used for marketing fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet market, often sell street food as well.

Fish markets range in size from small fish stalls, such as the one in the photo at the right, to the great Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, turning over about 660,000 tonnes a year.

The term fish market can refer to the process of fish marketing in general, but this article is concerned with physical marketplaces.

History and development

Fish markets were known in antiquity. They served as a public space where large numbers of people could gather and discuss current events and local politics.

Because seafood is quick to spoil, fish markets are historically most often found in seaside towns. Once ice or other simple cooling methods became available, some were also established in large inland cities that had good trade routes to the coast.

Fish market (Nouakchott)

The fish market on the coast in the western part of Nouakchott, Mauritania is a bustling centre. It is described by Lonely Planet as "incredibly lively and extremely colorful" and having "teams of men, mostly Wolof and Fula, dragging in heavy hand-knotted fishing nets and small boys hurrying back and forth with trays of fish".

References

Coordinates: 18°6′12″N 16°1′34″W / 18.10333°N 16.02611°W / 18.10333; -16.02611

Sydney Fish Market

The Sydney Fish Market is a commercial enterprise in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Fish Market is located on Blackwattle Bay, in the Inner West suburb of Pyrmont. It is 2 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Sydney Fish Market was established in 1945 by the state government and was privatized in 1994. It is the world's third largest fish market.

Sydney Fish Market incorporates a working fishing port, wholesale fish market, fresh seafood retail market, a delicatessen, a sushi bar, a bakery, a gift shop, a fruit and vegetable market, a florist, a new meat deli, a beverage outlet, a seafood cooking school, indoor seating and an outdoor promenade for visitors. There are daily wholesale auctions for Sydney's seafood retailers.

Transport

The Inner West Light Rail service runs from Central railway station to Lilyfield, via the Fish Market station.

See also

Sydney

Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds the world's largest natural harbour, and sprawls towards the Blue Mountains to the west. Residents of Sydney are known as "Sydneysiders". Sydney is the second official seat and second official residence of the Governor-General of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia and the Cabinet of Australia.

The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians since the Upper Paleolithic period. The first British settlers arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the mid-19th century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre.

The population of Sydney at the time of the 2011 census was 4.39 million, 1.5 million of which were born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home.

Fish

A fish is any member of a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups. Most fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), allowing their body temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change, though some of the large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams (e.g., char and gudgeon) to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish). With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any other group of vertebrates.

Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food. Commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries (see fishing) or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean (see aquaculture). They are also caught by recreational fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers, and exhibited in public aquaria. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, and as the subjects of art, books and movies.