Last prawns for Christmas shoppers at the old Sydney Fish Market

For the past 35 years, Carmelo Lombardo has never missed a Christmas working in the same stand at the Sydney Fish Market.

But this year, the last Christmas at the cornflower blue concrete structure before the new fish market opens next year, the 36-hour trading blitz feels bittersweet.

“I’m definitely going to miss it,” the Get Fish general manager said. “You get emotional because it is the last Christmas, but you also are passionate because you know that the next chapter is ahead.”

Only a hundred metres down Bridge Road sits the market’s $836 million shiny – its roof is scaled like a fish – replacement. It is slated to open on January 19.

“We’re actually overwhelmed that we’re going to a new site. It’s a bigger and better premises – a state-of-the-art building like that is only going to benefit us over time,” Lombardo said.

The fish market frenzy is a hallmark of a Sydney Christmas, but people come from far and wide. Infrastructure NSW chief executive Tom Gellibrand expects the new site to attract six million visitors annually.

On Tuesday, Lachlan O’Keeffe and his daughter, Lucy, travelled from Orange, in central NSW, to buy their Christmas seafood, as they have for the past five years. For them, the appeal of the new site is more practical.

“It’ll be really good,” Lachlan said. “Hopefully, the parking is a bit better.”

As families stock up on seafood for Christmas, NSW Police have urged consumers to purchase only from reputable sellers amid concern about the oyster black market.

Police inspected 13 leases following oyster thefts in a four-day operation in the South Coast, ending on Monday.

Rural Crime Prevention Team Coordinator Detective Sergeant Michael Calleja said cheap seafood was “not worth the risk”.

“Illegal sellers are not bound by strict health requirements, making the oysters potentially unsafe to consume,” he said.

What’s open – and what’s not – on Christmas Day

The Sydney Fish Market will close on Christmas Day, as will Woolworths, Coles and Aldi stores statewide.

McDonald’s and some KFC and Pizza Hut locations will be open for those in need of a last-minute feast.

Despite furious locals, Bronte Beach will also be open. Thousands of backpackers and expats have converged on the beach to drink, swim and celebrate with techno music on impromptu dance floors on December 25.

Waverley Council said it will heighten police patrols and set up checkpoints after some 15,000 revellers attended last year, leaving a sea of rubbish the following day.

Mayor Will Nemesh said there would be increased enforcement of alcohol and glass bans after the 2024 crowd surged 20 per cent on the previous year.

“What we saw last year, particularly the mess our community was confronted with on Boxing Day morning, was unacceptable,” Nemesh said.

Residents have long derided the party, largely due to the rubbish left for the council to clean up on Boxing Day morning. At a community forum, one resident said partygoers treated the park as a “mass urinal”.

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