Sydney Fish Market

File:Sydney fish market sign.jpgThe Sydney Fish Market is a fish market in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The market sits on the Blackwattle Bay foreshore in Pyrmont, 2 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. It is the world's third largest fish market.

Features

File:Sydney fish market.JPGSydney 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 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.

History

= Earlier fish markets in Sydney =

File:SydFishMarkets.jpg

The original Fish Market was established, in 1871, at Woolloomooloo, then and for many years later the mooring site of the local Sydney fishing fleet.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147082736|title=First blessing of fishing fleet|date=1952-04-24|work=Catholic Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1942 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=2}} It expanded over time to occupy the block bounded by Bourke, Plunkett, Forbes and Wilson Streets, Woolloomooloo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-items/fish-market-woolloomooloo-sydney|title=Fish Market Woolloomooloo - Sydney|last=State Library of New South Wales|first=Sydney|date=2016-06-27|website=State Library of NSW|access-date=2020-02-06}}

Unhygienic conditions at the Woolloomooloo market and the extension of railways to the coastal areas to the north of Sydney led to the formation, in 1891, of a second, more modern, privately owned fish market{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111995992|title=City of Sydney Improvements|date=21 Nov 1891|work=Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931)}}—known as the 'Southern Fish Market'{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111991662|title=New fish Markets.|date=1891-11-20|work=Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=4}}—located at Redfern Street, Redfern.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14994798|title=NOTES AND COMMENTS.|date=1908-11-06|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=9}} In 1892, the Woolloomooloo market was expanded for the last time, then becoming known as the 'Eastern Market'. The Sydney City Council had passed a bylaw requiring that any fish sold in Sydney was first inspected at the Woolloomooloo market,{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239453580|title=REDFERN FISH MARKET.|date=1898-10-29|work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=14}} jeopardising the railway-based business model of the Redfern market and its ability to directly market fish from Botany.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14557905|title=A NEW FISH MARKET OPENED.|date=1903-04-06|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=4}} In 1897, the 'Southern Market' buildings were for sale at auction{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14121968|title=Advertising|date=15 May 1897|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=14|accessdate=7 February 2020}} but the market operations continued, opening a new building in 1903. Around 1907–1908, the Woolloomooloo market was taken over by the Sydney City Council, without compensation; that led to the exodus of some agents to the 'Southern Market',{{Cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16003322|title=FISH SALES. - MUNICIPAL v. PRIVATE MARKETS. THE CASE FOR REDFERN. - The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) - 20 May 1922|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=20 May 1922 |page=14|language=en|access-date=2020-02-10}} which was further expanded in 1910{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238010486|title=COMPANY MEETING.|date=1910-08-20|work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=18}} after being incorporated as Commonwealth Cooperative Fish Exchange Limited in 1908.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114768164|title=COOPERATIVE FISH EXCHANGE|date=1909-08-17|work=Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=8}}

A newer Municipal Fish Market, opened in 1911, at the corner of Thomas and Engine Streets in the Haymarket area; it was also known as the 'City Fish Market'. It was a part of the produce market complex that the Sydney City Council had constructed in the Haymarket. The original market at Woolloomooloo continued to operate, but in a greatly diminished form.{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229334018|title=NOT A FISH MARKET - Woolloomooloo Depot|date=28 May 1915|work=The Sun (Sydney, NSW)}}

For a time, Sydney had three separate 'fish markets'; the privately owned market at Redfern was in open conflict with the City Council,{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223956411|title=FISH FIGHT|date=1922-05-03|work=Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=8}} owner of the 'City' and old Woolloomooloo markets. The Council had the backing of the N.S.W. State Government, which passed an Act—The Sydney Corporation (Fish Markets) Act, 1922 (Act No. 39, 1922)—that empowered the City Council to acquire the assets of Commonwealth Cooperative Fish Exchange Limited and to centralise fish marketing operations in Sydney at the Municipal Market.{{Cite Legislation AU|NSW|num_act|scma1922n39385|Sydney Corporations (Fish Market) Act, 1922}}

The end of the 'Southern Market' came in early 1923.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224164131|title=REDFERN FISH EXCHANGE|date=1922-12-29|work=Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=5}} The Colonial Secretary of NSW, Charles Oakes, had refused to renew licences of fish agents who operated at the Redfern market{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223446189|title=CITY FISH MARKET|date=1923-01-28|work=Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=5}} and the Fisherman's Union agreed to only supply fish to the 'City Fish Market', which subsequently became a profitable monopoly;{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16104522|title=FISH MARKET.|date=1923-11-07|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=12}} that forced the Redfern agents to move to Haymarket and the City Council purchased the disused Redfern market building.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223445480|title=REDFERN FISH MARKETS|date=1923-01-31|work=Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=7}} The Redfern market building became a hostel for the unemployed during the Great Depression.{{Cite web|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-160088849|title=Beds in the Redfern fish markets during the Great Depression, Sydney, 29 May 1932 [picture].|website=nla.gov.au|language=en|access-date=2020-02-07}} The dormant 'Eastern Market' site at Woolloomooloo was sold to John Wren in 1926.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245915370|title=REAL ESTATE|date=1926-12-04|work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930)|access-date=2020-02-07|pages=10}}

The Fish Market remained in Haymarket, until it relocated to its current location at Blackwattle Bay in 1966.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/History/Market-History|title=Market History|website=sydneyfishmarket.com.au|access-date=10 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110032339/https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/History/Market-History|url-status=live|archive-date=10 January 2025}}

= Current market at Blackwattle Bay =

File:Sydney Fish Market view from Glebe.JPG|260x260px]]The wholesale marketing of fish in Sydney originally was in the hands of licensed agents at Haymarket. At places other than Sydney, unlicensed operators—most typically fishermen's cooperatives—marketed fish. The Fish Marketing Authority was established in 1964, by the NSW State Government, and it established a regulated wholesale market. The new organisation relocated the Fish Market to Blackwattle Bay in 1966.

During the 1980s, new buildings were erected. These both provided an improved auction floor and expanded the secondary role of the Sydney Fish Market as a visitor attraction and retail venue.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Until 1989, fish was sold under a traditional 'voice' auction, to the highest bidder. A computerised Dutch auction system was introduced in October 1989, greatly increasing the efficiency of the sale process.

The Sydney Fish Market was privatised in 1994 as Sydney Fish Market Pty Ltd. This company is owned in equal parts by the harvesting and marketing sectors of the N.S.W. seafood industry—the Catchers Trust of N.S.W. and the Sydney Fish Market Tenants and Merchants Pty Ltd.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/Company-Overview/Our-Company|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110032347/https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/Company-Overview/Our-Company|archive-date=10 January 2025|url-status=live|title=Our Company|website=sydneyfishmarket.com.au|access-date=2020-03-27}}

Between 1997 and 1999, fish marketing was deregulated in stages and the Sydney Fish Market lost its monopoly in Sydney. However, the efficiency and scale of the auctioning operations at Blackwattle Bay means that a large amount of seafood still goes through the Sydney Fish Market.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

=Crash=

In September 2023, a crane crashed into the market. One person was injured.{{cite web | url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-news-crane-collapses-at-fish-markets/40f830b9-b69f-4abc-86cf-0c90f76ba883 |archive-date=10 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110035237/https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-news-crane-collapses-at-fish-markets/40f830b9-b69f-4abc-86cf-0c90f76ba883 |first=Lucy |url-status=live |last=Slade | title=Worker injured after crane collapse at new Sydney Fish Market site | date=28 September 2023 }}

Future planned redevelopment

{{mapbox|from=Bays Precinct districts.map|zoom=15|text=The current and future sites of the Sydney Fish Market are located in the Bays Market District - one of the Bays Precinct's "destinations" used by UrbanGrowth NSW planners.}}On 7 November 2016, the New South Wales Government announced the market would move to a new 35,000 square metres complex on an adjacent site. The new complex will include 15,500 square metres of seafood retail space – compared with 6582 square metres of space for the existing site.{{cite news|last1=Tan|first1=Su-Lin|title=NSW government announces $250 million Sydney Fish Market|url=http://www.afr.com/real-estate/nsw-government-announces-250-million-sydney-fish-market-20161107-gsjpa1|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-date=30 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930161857/https://www.afr.com/property/nsw-government-announces-250-million-sydney-fish-market-20161107-gsjpa1|work=The Australian Financial Review|date=7 November 2016}}{{cite web|title=Here's the final design for the massive new fish market planned for Sydney|url=https://www.businessinsider.com.au/heres-the-final-design-for-the-massive-new-fish-market-planned-for-sydney-2018-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203221401/https://www.businessinsider.com.au/heres-the-final-design-for-the-massive-new-fish-market-planned-for-sydney-2018-12|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 December 2018|publisher=Business Insider Australia|first=Simon|last=Thomsen|date=2 December 2018}} On 17 June 2020, the New South Wales Government approved the final plans for the new markets.{{cite press release|url-status=live|archive-date=10 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110031842/https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/news/planning-approval-granted-for-new-sydney-fish-market/|url=https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/news/planning-approval-granted-for-new-sydney-fish-market/|access-date=10 January 2025|website=infrastructure.nsw.gov.au|title=Planning approval granted for new Sydney Fish Market|date=17 June 2020}} Completion is scheduled for 2025.{{Cite web|title=The New Sydney Fish Market|website=sydneyfishmarket.com.au|url=https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/Redevelopment|url-status=live|archive-date=10 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110032213/https://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Corporate/The-New-Sydney-Fish-Market/Project|access-date=2022-02-02}}

The redevelopment forms part of the New South Wales Government's Bays Precinct urban renewal program.{{cite web|url=https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/state-significant-precincts/the-bays|access-date=10 January 2025|at=Sydney Fish Market|website=planning.nsw.gov.au|title=The Bays|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110032658/https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/state-significant-precincts/the-bays|archive-date=10 January 2025}}

File:Sydney fish market sites.jpg

Mural

The mural inside Sydney Fish Market was designed by Australian artist Keith Howland. It is made up of about 400 individually glazed ceramic tiles and measures eight metres long and four metres wide and was installed in 1990. It took the artist about 12 months to complete and it depicts the fishing industry in New South Wales from Yamba on the Far North Coast to Sydney.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Transport

The Fish Market tram stop on the L1 Dulwich Hill Line is located nearby.{{cite web|url=https://transportnsw.info/stop?q=200952#/|access-date=18 August 2019|website=transportnsw.info|title=Fish Market Light Rail|url-status=live|archive-date=10 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110033739/https://transportnsw.info/stop?q=200952#/|location=Miller St, Pyrmont}} The market is also served by the 501 bus route.{{Cite New South Wales transport timetables|b501}}

External links

S. Colley and R. Brownlee 2010 [https://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.29.2 'Archaeological Fish Bones Online: a digital archive of Sydney fishes'], Internet Archaeology 29. {{doi|10.11141/ia.29.2}}
[http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/ Sydney Fish Market]