From Coastal Waters to the World Market... 



Jnder Ughts at Famed 



FULTON FISH MARKET 



ANN 



GREEN 



A, 



i Eric Voliva rolls a Wanchese Fish 

 Company, Inc., truck into the streets of lower 

 Manhattan, the sky is pitch black except for the 

 lights of the Brooklyn Bridge and skyscrapers. 



Voliva stops the mauve 1 8-wheeler at the 

 entrance of the famed Fulton Fish Market. A 

 supervisor, bundled in a dark jacket, waves for 

 him to go ahead. 



"Pull in straight," yells the man. 

 Immediately, Voliva maneuvers the truck 

 behind another 1 8-wheeler. Then he rolls down 

 the window and hands the supervisor 22 tickets 

 for orders for North Carolina and Virginia seafood. 



"This is real slow," says David Woolard, who 

 shares driving with Voliva. "A lot of times, you 

 have 1 to 1 2 trucks in line. Usually the forklifts 

 are flying left and right. Most of the time, you 

 can't stand here because you might get run over." 



As soon as the truck in front moves, 

 Voliva turns a corner and parks across from men 

 huddled around wood crates burning in a metal 

 barrel. 



Although it seems slow to Woolard, there is 

 still much activity at 1 :45 a.m. Dealers with fish 

 hooks on their shoulders bark orders. Men crack 

 crates with hand axes. Drivers dart in and out 

 with orange and black forklifts as if in a demolition 

 derby. 



As soon as Voliva parks the truck, both he 

 and Woolard hop out and unlock the back. 

 Immediately, a young man jumps into the trailer 

 and begins moving pallets of oysters and jimmy 

 crabs toward the front. 



A man in a wool cap lifts one pallet 

 of jimmy crabs from North Carolina waters 

 onto the forklift and then speeds away to a 

 wholesale dealer. 



Within 30 minutes, the truck is 

 unloaded and on its way to JFK Airport, a 

 Brooklyn seafood market and then Boston. 



For Voliva, the hustle and bustle of the 

 Fulton Fish Market is a familiar site. 



"I have made this trip several hundred 

 times," he says. "Wanchese has four trucks. 

 At least one or two trucks go to the Fulton Fish 

 Market Sunday through Thursday." 



As the largest fish market on the East 

 Coast, the Fulton Fish Market is a key distributor 

 for North Carolina seafood. 



"I have been dealing with Wanchese 

 Fish Company for 27 years," says Patty Duke 

 of Caleb Haley & Co. LLC. "I get 1 to 1 5 

 percent of croaker, bluefish and mackerel 

 from North Carolina." 



EARLY MORNING MARKET 



The busiest time at the New York 

 City market is from 2 a.m. until sunrise. 

 "The real quality guys come early and buy 

 before the market is established," says Capt. 

 Mieschberger, a New York restaurant supplier. 



Most restaurant chefs or seafood dealers ar- 

 rive in trucks. A few pedal their bikes through the 

 open markets. While looking at the fish, custom- 

 ers have to side-step puddles of melted ice and 



Continued 



