On Christmas Eve fishmonger Steve Kable of Western Connection Seafood arrived at his selling point in Peisley Street to a line up already out on to the street.

“I think the popularity is because people just don’t want to cook at Christmas - they want to relax,” Mr Kable said.

Prawns and oysters are the two top sellers according to Mr Kable who had already taken hundreds of pre-orders for the Christmas season.

However Mr Kable and his family will now take a break and won’t be selling for the New Year period.

“Many of the fisherman I like to source my fish from are quite religious and so they like to take a break from fishing over the Christmas/New Year period,” he said.

The price of the biggest selling prawns varies according to size says Mr Kable.

“The smaller cocktail prawns we sell in the low 20s ($20) a kilo but the king prawns are up to $37 a kg,” he said.

Coming in behind prawns as the second seafood of choice are oysters which were selling on Christmas Eve for  $17 for a dozen.

But when it comes to the luxury in seafood, the lobster, you can expect to pay up to $78 a kilo.

Mr Kable said while imported oysters can be purchased much cheaper, he goes for the source he knows is the freshest of the east coast of Australia.

“Wholesale I paid $78 a kilogram this week for east coast lobsters,” he said.