Fulton Fish Market

The Fulton Fish Market in New York City opens for business in the dark at 4:30 in the morning, and the two main open air sheds on South Street are active until about 9 a.m. Buyers move through the market to find the best prices for 50- and 125-lb. lots. For retail markets and restaurant owners, filleters break up the lots to order.

In 1976, Fulton Fish Market moved over 119 million lbs. of fresh fish. Most of the catch is salt water fish trucked in from along the Eastern Seaboard. Fresh water fish such as brook trout comes in from Idaho, Wisconsin and Ontario. Only one boat-a sea scalloper--comes into the market with any regularity. Men warm themselves by fires on the street corners and early risers pick their way around puddles and stacks of cartons, and stuff fish scraps into brown shopping bags. Strings of lights outline the Brooklyn Bridge until the sun rises and the surrounding skyscrapers emerge by degrees from the darkness.