Fish market, India
Howrah wholesale fish market
A huge wholesale fish market across the river from Kolkata, where carps arrive overnight by truck and rail.
Howrah, across the Hooghly from Kolkata, has one of the largest wholesale fish markets in eastern India. Through the night, trucks and trains bring in rohu, catla and pangas from the ponds of Andhra Pradesh, hilsa and sea fish from Odisha and the coast, and freshwater fish from across Bengal. By early morning the catch has been auctioned and is on its way to markets across Kolkata and beyond.
Fish from far away
West Bengal eats more fish than it produces, and the gap is filled from other states. Andhra Pradesh, India's leading fish-farming state, sends large volumes of farmed rohu and catla, packed in ice. Pangas, the iridescent shark catfish farmed in Andhra Pradesh, has become a cheap everyday fish. Hilsa arrive from the Hooghly and Odisha, and in some years from Myanmar and Gujarat. The market has long been a barometer of Bengal's fish supply.
Ice, crates and auctions
Fish are graded by size and freshness, and wholesalers sell to retailers who carry them by hand cart, van and train to the city's bazaars. Bengali buyers judge a rohu by the red of its gills, the clear eyes and the firmness of the flesh. Debates about formalin used to preserve fish on long journeys come up from time to time, and food safety officials carry out checks.
Fish of Howrah wholesale fish market
Still to be written: Catla, Iridescent shark, Ilish, Barramundi.