He started catching them, moved on to processing them, so selling fish seemed the next logical step.
And the residents of the Upper Mountains and Central West are ever grateful for the unearthly hours that are a daily ritual for the fishman, Marc Robinson and his partner, Danielle.
The pair take to the road in the wee small hours, collecting fresh prawns, oysters, barramundi, salmon and the like from their Wollongong home, before heading west.
Every Thursday morning, they are parked near the New Ivanhoe Hotel in Blackheath, offering locals a fresh seafood experience.
Robinson started on fishing trawlers “when I was a young fella”.
“First I worked my way up to a leading deck hand... Being on sea-going trawlers gave me a thorough knowledge of fish species, their habitat and particularly culinary delights with an Italian flavour.”
He then spent four years in the processing sector at Better Choice Fisheries in Wollongong.
Finally, he turned to retail. He started his Central West runs about three years ago and still goes to Lithgow and Portland (on Saturdays), Bathurst (Fridays) and Wallerawang (Thursday afternoons).
He added Blackheath to the run after requests from locals who had seen him drive through.
He loves his work, particularly giving advice on how to cook the fish.
“Just don’t freeze it whatever you do because that’s why we do this, to bring it to you fresh,” he said.
