New York’s New Fulton Fish Market

For more than 170 years, lovers of seafood have converged on New York City’s Fulton Fish Market.  Once located in Manhattan, the aging facility now has a new home in a brand new facility in the Bronx. What’s it like to be there?

Well, it’s 1AM and the lights are still bright New York’s Times Square. But as the city heads for bed, the day is just starting across east river at America’s Biggest Seafood Market…a spot in the Bronx that’s just waking up when everyone else is going to sleep. This is the new Fulton Fish Market.

Mike Grazidei works the floor calling out, “You need filet? Anthony, Filet? We have swordfish, tuna, halibut, oysters, clams, mussels, flatfish, Salmon, Yellowtail, we sell shellfish. Throw in fluke and flounder.”

It all adds up to 2-hundred million pounds of seafood a year.  That’s worth more than a half a billion dollars.  This is where New York City gets its fish. The fish is either trucked in or flown in. They’ll pick up from the airport, or they’ll drive up from Florida or Louisiana.  Mike says, “We sell to restaurants, retailers purveyors, wholesalers, General public  And as you go from stand to stand, you wonder, what part of that Business am I getting. You know, am I getting any of it? It’s all supply and demand.

Some 3-dozen seafood wholesalers work in this new 4-hundred-thousand square foot, 86 million dollar facility.  Seafood buyer Joe Catalano says, “It’s all competing for the same customers. It’s all relationships; I mean anything you do in life is Relationships. So you develop a rapport with these people, they know what you need and hopefully you’ll always get what you need.”

It’s a chilly 40 degrees on the sales floor…year round…. …so it’s hats and coats for the entire shift.  Work starts at midnight…and the pace picks up from there.  It’s big…you can unload 30 semi trailer trucks at the same time. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the slowest days of the whole week and then towards Thursday and Friday business picks up for the weekend.

Joe Polizzi is one of the salesmen on the floor. He says, “I been down here since I was a kid, my father was down here, my uncle was down here basically all my family.” Pointing out his wears tonight, Joe says, “This is halibut, Alaskan halibut, west coast fish these are king salmon. They’re hatchery fish they’re not Trolled.  Most of this stuff is from Alaska from anchorage. I have a small guy out there that owns his own boat and throughout the season, I just tell him whatever you get in weekly, just send to me. “

Hundreds of buyers will pass through the market each night. And when the sun comes up, tons and tons of fresh and frozen fish from the market will be making their way to markets and restaurants all across the eastern half of the United States.

Fun Fish Fact
Aquaculture - farm raised fish - is becoming more and more important as a source for outlets like New York’s Fulton Fish Market. Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. agricultural economy…accounting for one point one billion dollars a year in production