Panama’s historic seafood market endures squalid conditions, faces uncertain future

Produced by Sophia Paffenroth

PANAMA CITY, Panama – The Mercado de Mariscos, Panama City’s famous seafood market, has been a cultural landmark since it was gifted to the city by the Japanese Embassy in 1995. At the time, the building was an enormous improvement from the previous reality of selling fish straight off the boats.

But today, the market remains without air conditioning, without refrigeration and without a proper drainage system. Birds, flies, cats and dogs enter the open-air market throughout the day.

Mayor José Luis Fábrega has proposed a $43 million plan to repurpose the building and to build a new seafood market and road behind the current one. Seafood vendors are in favor of the much-needed upgrades and improvements to the current working conditions that a new market would bring.

But similar promises from previous administrations leave merchants wary of the multi-million dollar plan. Distrust in the city government’s large-scale initiatives pervades the market community.