Sassoon Docks at Dawn: Mumbai's Oldest Fish Auction and the Colaba Murals

Set an alarm for 4:30 am, because Sassoon Docks does its real work in the dark. By the time most of Colaba is stirring, the oldest working dock in the city has already landed a night’s catch, argued over the price of it, and started loading tempos bound for markets across Mumbai. This is not a manicured attraction. It is a loud, wet, fish-smelling harbour that happens to be open to anyone willing to turn up early, stand out of the way, and pay attention. For early risers and street photographers, there is nothing else in the city quite like it.

Why this particular dock

Sassoon Docks sits at the southern tip of Colaba, built in 1875 by Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, of the Baghdadi Jewish trading family who had settled in Bombay a generation earlier. It was among the first wet docks constructed in India, put up to handle the cotton trade, and over the decades it became the city’s great fish landing point instead. Unlike almost every other port facility in Mumbai, it is accessible to the general public and there is no entry fee. You simply walk in past the old clock tower gate.

What keeps it worth the early start is that it is still a genuine place of work, not a heritage set. Boat owners auction their stock, wholesalers and export agents bid, and an army of headload carriers, ice-crushers and prawn-shellers keeps the whole thing moving. An estimated 1,50,000 people depend on the dock directly and indirectly, with a daily turnover that runs into crores. You are a guest in someone’s workplace, and the visit is better for remembering that.

Sassoon Docks, Colaba

Area: Southern Colaba, off Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg (Colaba Causeway), a few minutes past the Gateway of India end. Why it’s worth it: Mumbai’s oldest fish dock, a working Koli auction, and a wall of street art, all in one compact, free-to-enter site. Practical tip: Wear closed shoes you don’t mind ruining. The floor is a slurry of melted ice, fish water and worse; sandals are a mistake you make only once.

Getting the timing right

The dock’s rhythm runs roughly from 3:30 am to about 10 am, with online auctions kicking off as early as 1 am and boats drifting in from around 3 am. The sweet spot for a visitor is 5:30 to 7 am: there is enough light to see and shoot by, the boats are in, and the auction floor is at full tilt. Arrive at nine and you get the aftermath, hosepipes and empty crates, which has its own melancholy but misses the drama.

One important caveat: the annual monsoon fishing ban. Fishing along this coast pauses from around 1 June until Narali Purnima in August, when the Koli community makes its offering to the sea. During those weeks the dock is quiet and there is little auction to see, so plan for the drier months. The fishing seasons proper run roughly March to May and August to November.

The fish, and how the auction works

The variety on the floor is the first thing that hits you after the smell. Depending on the season you might see pomfret (increasingly scarce and pricey), surmai (kingfish), silvery bombil (Bombay duck) laid out in fans, mounds of prawns, tiny jawla and karandi shrimp, red snapper, tuna, cuttlefish, octopus, blue crabs and the occasional stingray or baby shark.

Mechanically, the dock splits into two. One side, under the tin sheds, handles the local wholesale trade; the other processes fish for export. Boat owners auction their catch to vendors, retail sellers and export companies in fast, shouted bursts. Once a lot is sold, the paati kamgars, the headload carriers, ferry it on their heads or by handcart to the tempos waiting to distribute it across the city. Prices at the source are a fraction of what you would pay in a neighbourhood market, and while the auction itself is a wholesale business, persistent visitors can sometimes buy a small quantity directly. Look for clear, glossy eyes, red gills and firm flesh if you do.

The Koli women who run the floor

Do not mistake the shouting men for the whole picture. The retail and domestic side of Sassoon Docks is overwhelmingly a women’s world, run by the Koli community, the original inhabitants of the islands that became Mumbai. Koli women here own boats, work the auction, sort and shell, and carry the trade forward across four generations. Much of the labour is brutally hard: women working as paati kamgars and prawn-shellers earn in the region of Rs 300 to 400 for a full morning, a few rupees per trip.

Watching them shell prawns at speed, or haggle a wholesaler down without breaking stride, is the most memorable part of the dock for many visitors, more so than any single photograph. Their nine-yard saris, hitched for work, and their gold, are the living version of the Koli identity that the murals a few metres away celebrate.

The murals: the Sassoon Dock Art Project

In November 2017, St+Art India, the collective behind much of the country’s public-art movement, turned the dock into an open-air gallery for the Sassoon Dock Art Project, part of the St+art Mumbai Urban Art Festival. Some thirty Indian and international artists made site-specific murals and installations that spoke directly to the fishing community. The best-known survivor is Australian artist Guido van Helten’s enormous, weathered portrait of local faces on a warehouse wall, alongside work like Hanif Kureshi’s fishing nets printed with words gathered on walks around the dock.

The festival returned to the dock in December 2022 with a second edition, “Between the sea and the city,” part of the Mumbai Urban Art Festival, adding pieces such as the Vayeda Brothers’ Warli-style “Ways of Water.” Worth knowing before you go: the big ticketed indoor installations appear only during festival editions, while the outdoor murals are what you will find on an ordinary morning. Salt air and time have faded some of them, so treat the art as a bonus to the working dock, not the main event, and check whether a festival edition is running if that is your reason for coming.

Photography etiquette (read this bit)

This is the part people get wrong. Technically, Sassoon Docks falls under Mumbai Port and its ISPS security rules, and organised or commercial shoots require permission; the official position is that general photography of the port is restricted. In practice, plenty of people photograph freely on the fish-market side and are left alone. The sensible way to navigate the gap:

• Keep your lens on the fish, the murals and the market bustle, not on ships, gates or anything that looks like security infrastructure.
• Ask before you take close portraits of people at work. A smile, a nod, and showing them the picture goes a long way; many will happily oblige, some won’t, and that is their call.
• Do not treat anyone as a prop or block a working lane for your shot. If a guard asks you to stop, stop.
• Leave the tripod and the drone at home; both invite trouble and neither is necessary in that light.

Getting there, and where to eat after

The dock is at the far southern end of Colaba, reached by taxi, bus or on foot from the Causeway. The nearest Metro is Cuffe Parade on the Aqua Line (Line 3), fully operational since October 2025, a short taxi ride away; the nearest suburban stations, Churchgate and CSMT, are a taxi or bus hop north. A black-and-yellow cab from anywhere in town will know Sassoon Dock without explanation.

Olympia Coffee House

Area: Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Colaba Causeway, a few minutes’ walk or a very short ride from the dock. Why it’s worth it: A century-old Irani café (running since 1918) that opens at 7 am, which is exactly when you will crawl off the dock hungry. The kheema pav and bun maska with cutting chai are the reward for the early alarm. Practical tip: Kheema is a breakfast-only affair, generally served 7 to 11 am, and the place is cash only. Two can eat very well for around Rs 300 to 400.

FAQ

What time should I actually arrive? Between 5:30 and 7 am for the auction in full swing. The dock works from about 3:30 am to 10 am, but earlier than 5:30 is dark and later than 8 is winding down.

Is there an entry fee? No. Unusually for a Mumbai port, Sassoon Docks is open to the public with no ticket, except during ticketed St+Art festival editions when the indoor installations run.

Can I take photographs? On the market side, generally yes, and discreetly. But it is a port under security rules, so avoid shooting ships and gates, always ask before close portraits, and stop if a guard tells you to.

Is it safe and suitable for families? It is safe but not gentle: slippery floors, strong smells, crowds and constant movement. Fine for older children who can watch their footing; not ideal for toddlers or anyone squeamish about blood and guts.

When is it closed? The trade largely pauses during the monsoon fishing ban, roughly 1 June to Narali Purnima in August. Come outside those weeks for a proper auction.

Will the murals still be there? The main outdoor murals from the 2017 and 2022 editions remain, though weathered. The large indoor installations only appear when a St+Art festival edition is on, so check ahead if that is your draw.

The bottom line

Sassoon Docks is not a place you tick off; it is a place you witness. Go for the fish and you will stay for the Koli women, the shouted arithmetic of the auction, the egrets stealing scraps and the faded giants painted on the warehouse walls. Come early, wear the wrong-shoes-you-can-lose, keep your camera respectful and your feet out of the way, and end the morning with kheema and chai a short walk away. Do that, and you will have seen a Mumbai that runs entirely before the rest of the city has had its first cup of tea.