The Sydney Fish Market is a wonderful place to visit. Just 2km from the city centre it's easy to get to by car or train (with it's own station!). Visiting during the day is great for checking out the fishing boats in the port and sampling some of Sydney's freshest fish and crustaceans.
But the best thing about the Sydney Fish Market is the tour, behind the scenes on the auction floor. Something we'd been meaning to do for some time and now finally have!
2 things you should know before it starts. You'll need to be there 6:50am sharp! And if you don't like fish, this probably isn't for you! But everyone likes fish right?! So set your alarm early and make sure you know how long it'll take you to get there.
It's worth the early start though as tour groups are limited to around 10. The tour starts up on the balcony overlooking the auction floor.Thousands of crates stacked up, full of freshly caught fish that arrived in the early ours of the morning. The whole place is alive with the movement of inspectors, buyers, sellers and staff moving the crates to lorries and vans waiting outside.
The auctions at the Sydney Fish Market work on the Dutch auction method also known as an "open descending price auction". The price starts at a fixed amount and drops 1 dollar per second. A buyer hits a button at his seat marked "bid". The auction stops and the buyer has 3 seconds to decide how many crates he wants to purchase. A dollar is then added to the remaining bid price and the auction starts again. This continues until the stock has gone. The Dutch Auction style certainly adds to the frenetic pace of the action here.
The tour then moves to the Auction floor where you get to walk among boxes and crates of freshly caught fish, crabs, lobsters and eel. It's amazing walking among such a vast quantity of aquatic life just moments from being shipped off to the buyer's restaurant or supermarket. One area of note is [
](http://www.flickr.com/photos/30551394@N04/4556344975/)the Sushi section where massive Tuna fish fill the room, each ranked according to quality. From something served in such small portions it's amazing to see such a big fish!
It's amazing to see such a wide range of marine life as well as the process behind getting it from the boat to your plate. Before most people have even woken from their slumber these men and women are hard at work rush ice filled crates of fish to their correct destination.
[
](http://www.flickr.com/photos/30551394@N04/4556346193/)The tour moves on to a quick look at the port where a handful of fishing boats are moored up. The rest are out on 2 day fishing excursions and often return home in the early hour of the morning ready for the next auction. Most of the boats are owned by one family or people indirectly related to them. Such is the nature of the family run fishing businesses.
We ended the Sydney Fish Market tour at the cafes that, at this time of day, are being rapidly stocked with fish purchased moments before from the Auction floor. Fish doesn't get fresher than this so we took the opportunity to purchase 3 [
](http://www.flickr.com/photos/30551394@N04/4556974204/)Blue Swimmer Crabs for dinner. Having learnt to cook them at Sydney Fish Market's wonderful Seafood Cooking School just a month or so before.
Despite the early start The Sydney Fish Market Tour is a unique and interesting tour of a place you wouldn't normally get to see. Definitely worth a visit. The tour runs every Monday, Thursday and Friday. Call (02) 9004 1143 to book or check out the Sydney Fish Market website.
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