Many fresh food markets, such as wholesale fish markets, wet markets, and farmers’ markets, serve different clientele in various countries around the globe. Seafood markets are especially popular in coastal cities such as Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Tokyo, Seattle, and Sydney. Fish markets benefit their locales because they provide large- or small-scale fishers with a venue to sell their fresh catch to locals, they boost tourism, and they offer access to locally harvested or imported seafood. Over the last few decades, modernization and globalization have shifted consumers’ shopping preferences towards supermarkets offering “one-stop” shopping.

More recently, however, a resurgence of loyalty to seafood markets and farmers’ markets is developing, thanks to the growing local food movement. Let’s explore the unique features of some world-renowned seafood markets, and look at the ways in which this trend may increase sustainability and equity in the fishing industry.

Innovative Market Models

Abu Dhabi’s popular wholesale fresh market includes a section where fresh raw and cooked food is sold to retail customers. The design of the market is particularly interesting: A large assortment of kitchen units can be attached to it, and these kitchens generally host chefs who cook authentic ethnic cuisines. Customers can buy seafood from their favourite vendor, then take it to a kitchen of their choice which will prepare that seafood according to a traditional recipe from Morocco, Alexandria, or whatever that particular chef chooses to offer. Customers can also call to ask their preferred authentic kitchens to purchase and cook fresh seafood to their liking, and then deliver it to their homes.

A similar concept exists in the less developed coastal areas of Hong Kong, where seafood markets are placed in front of restaurants. Locals and tourists can handpick seafood from a wide selection of fish and shellfish before entering the dining room where these fresh selections are then prepared and served. Diners can choose how their seafood is cooked, and can specify the ingredients to be used- possibly lobster braised in a creamy cheese sauce, or shellfish stir-fried with garlic, scallions and the restaurant’s signature sauces. Many people are not familiar with how to prepare seafood, or they do not want to risk preparing it incorrectly because it is often more costly than other foods. Markets that combine seafood vendors and restaurants allow such consumers to select fresh local food without then having to make the meal themselves.

Another innovative market, the Sydney Fish Market, began in 1945 and now trades more than 14,500 tonnes of seafood annually.1 The market attributes most of its success to a blooming local fishery, the Sydney fishing fleet and the Sydney Seafood School (SSS). The SSS was originally established in 1989 to create more demand for the unusual species that were trawled up by the Sydney fishing fleet along with their intended catch. The nets caught plenty of snapper and flathead as intended, but also pulled out octopus, squid, sea snail, mussels and abalone as bycatch. These species were not popular with consumers in Australia back in the 80s, so the bycatch was sold as bait for next to nothing. The cooking school slowly broadened the locals’ taste, and fostered an increased interest in cooking a wider range of seafood. The SSS is now a leading cooking school in Australia, with 13,000 guests attending classes each year to cook with respected Australian chefs.2 Now, Australian “foodies” frequent the market and the SSS for the freshest catch and latest recipes.

Tourism Favourites

Many iconic markets have become popular tourist attractions where colourful seafood is filleted and displayed beautifully, and fruits and vegetables are constructed into impressive mosaics or sculptures. For instance, the Granville Island Farmer’s Market in Vancouver, Mercamadrid in Madrid and Pike Market in Seattle are almost always filled with tourists seeking a taste of local culture. These markets are “show-stoppers” because the vendors are accustomed to catering to a multitude of ethnicities, the stalls are always well-stocked with vibrantly colourful products, vendors offer a very wide selection of fresh and cooked foods, and the facilities are cleaner than typical Asian wet markets. In general, vendors at these “touristy”, higher-end markets put more effort into packaging and presenting their products to draw attention, and prices are higher than at a supermarket. Fish and chips, antipasti with mussels and squid, freshly-made sushi, salt-cured fish, freshly shucked oysters, seafood bisque, and a variety of seafood packed in olive oil are common items that tourists can sample and take back home.

Wholesale Seafood Markets

The freshest seafood is found at wholesale fish markets such as Tsukiji market in Tokyo, Billingsgate Fish Market in London, or Busan International Fish Market in South Korea. The Tsukiji market is a food and cultural hub in Tokyo. One of its main attractions takes place at around six o’clock each morning, when 200 kg tuna are auctioned off to wholesalers from the retail and restaurant sectors.3 Tourists can sometimes watch the noisy auction unfold as bidders yell and aim hand gestures at the auctioneer to purchase the best tuna they can afford. The largest seafood marketplace in the world, Tsukuji attracts over 50,000 people daily, and its 56 square acres host 1677 food stalls. 4

In 2008, Busan in South Korea took advantage of its port and its geographical proximity to the world’s largest seafood consumers, China and Japan, by opening the Busan International Fish Market.5 This is one of the largest wholesale seafood markets in Asia; it cost US $2 million to build, and it can handle 600,000 tons of seafood annually.6 Over 30 percent of Korea’s fish production passes through Busan, and the country plans to become a key player in the global seafood trade. We can predict that Busan and the new Tsukiji market, opening soon in Toyosu, will compete fiercely to be the centre of the seafood industry of Asia.

While some other fresh markets are adapting to the demands of modernization, Billingsgate Fish Market works to maintain its historic appeal. The Billingsgate wholesale market in London is Britain’s oldest seafood market, in operation since the sixteenth century.

The market still follows 400 year-old Victorian regulations which firmly state that stock cannot be moved before 5:00 a.m.7 Merchants and traders begin to arrive for work at 2:00 a.m. and only registered porters are allowed to cart seafood around the market. Billingsgate is open to the public as well, and offers the largest selection of seafood in all of the United Kingdom. Trade peaks early in the morning, and the market is closed for business by 9:30 a.m. A delivery service is not only offered to London, but to most other parts of England as well.

Seafood Markets Offer Fishermen Equity in the Supply Chain

Local seafood markets are essential to supporting fisheries and coastal communities because they provide opportunities for communities and businesses to boost the local economy.

Seafood markets attract tourism, which increases demand and can help fishers obtain better prices for their catch. These markets can benefit small-scale fishers even if they do not eliminate the middlemen. They can help fishers obtain higher prices, especially if an element of auction is incorporated into the market structure. For example, fishers in the Tsukiji market sell seafood to auction houses, who in turn sell it to retailers’ agents “on the spot”; this process, if implemented correctly, can improve the earnings of small-scale fishers. Other market structures do not achieve this. In Nova Scotia, for example, many farmer’s markets do not have seafood retailers or their intermediaries. Thus, small-scale fishers end up selling their catch dockside, at prices far below the retail value – often accepting whatever the wholesalers offer them.

Although many of the fish and shellfish species offered in these markets may have been caught in distant oceans, consumers are increasingly interested in locally harvested seafood.

Some consumers will pay higher prices for fair-trade, sustainable seafood that supports local economies, small-scale fisheries and community resilience. Many distributors and wholesalers in the seafood industry are too focused on exporting commodities abroad, and consequently neglect opportunities to market seafood locally.8 To fill in the gap, local seafood markets are necessary to meet consumer demand.

Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) are a new trend that is fulfilling the demand for high-quality, local, sustainable seafood. A CSF, usually a not-for-profit organization, purchases fresh local catch from fishermen at fair prices, then distributes it directly to consumers
at competitive prices. CSFs help responsible fishers receive fair prices by creating access to markets, equalizing market power among individual companies at each stage of the value chain, and enabling all traders to have transparent, accurate, and timely information about price and product quality.9 One of the successful strategies that CSFs have used to increase profits for small-scale fisheries consists of differentiating their products and marketing them regionally as sustainable seafood which supports low-impact, owner-operator fishers.10 CSFs can further expand their market reach by becoming a vender at popular seafood markets, to help convert more consumers to buying equitable and local seafood.