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Historic Fish Market Returns to South Street Seaport

By Julie Shapiro | December 15, 2011 7:21am

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — A fish market is coming back to the South Street Seaport — at least for a day.

On Sunday, New Amsterdam Market will host its first-ever "A Gathering of Fisheries," a celebration of locally sourced, sustainable seafood right near the old Fulton Fish Market stalls — the most extensive display of fresh seafood at the site since the historic former market moved to the Bronx in 2005.

Robert LaValva, founder of New Amsterdam Market, said he was thrilled to bring the sight, taste and smell of freshly caught fish back to the spot where fishermen hawked their wares for more than 180 years.

"Bringing them all together at the front porch of the old Fulton Fish Market is very exciting," LaValva said.

"It's kind of a rebirth of that market."

More than 10 East Coast fisheries, seaweed farms and sustainable purveyors will haul their latest catches to the market, including New England Clam Products which will sell fresh Wellfleet oysters, clams and scallops, and Karen Ann Fisheries, which will offer New York fish including blackfish, striped bass and eel.

Chef David Pasternack of ESCA restaurant on West 43rd Street will serve a local striped-bass chowder, while Holden Seafood and Luke's Lobster will offer lobster rolls along with Maine lobster and crab cooked to order.

The idea for a one-day fish market grew out of LaValva's conversations with Paul Greenberg, author of "Four Fish," a book on sustainable fishing. At first they were thinking of doing a roundtable talk about how to revive the local fish trade in Lower Manhattan.

"Then we thought, 'Why not actually have a special market?'" LaValva said.

Matthew Parent, owner of New England Clam Products, which is based on Cape Cod, said he is looking forward to connecting with his customers, who he rarely meets when he sells to large buyers at the fish market in the Bronx.

"There's something to be said about growing a product and seeing the final end customer consuming it and enjoying it," said Parent, 29, who started his company 10 years ago.

Parent supplies seafood directly to Pasternack and other city chefs, sometimes keeping the shellfish alive on the ride down to New York so it's even fresher when it reaches fine-dining tables.

Parent said he hopes the idea of a new fish market at South Street will catch on because he wants to have a chance to experience the mingling of fishers, wholesalers, chefs and regular customers that characterized the Fulton Fish Market in its heyday.

This Sunday also marks New Amsterdam Market's annual Wintermarket and is the 50th gathering of local farmers and purveyors that LaValva has organized in an otherwise unused lot along South Street under the FDR Drive.

The market started as a one-time celebration of local food in 2007 and gradually became a weekly event. LaValva sees the 50th market milestone as just one more step toward his goal of a daily, year-round market in the vacant fish buildings.

New Amsterdam Market recently received a $250,000 grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to expand the number of vendors and customers the market serves.

After Sunday's Wintermarket, New Amsterdam Market will shut down for the season, but the weekly markets will return at the end of April or the beginning of May, LaValva said.

Wintermarket and A Gathering of Fisheries, with about 70 vendors in all, will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 18 on South Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip.