The fish market received the Community Champion - Local award from the Marine Stewardship Council.

For Grant Logue, owner of Harley & Johns, the award is recognition for their hard work and reflects the interest he saw from suppliers at the awards.

"It's our customers knowing that, look, the difference between us and buying somewhere else is making it as sure that what we're doing is sustainable," Mr Logue said.

"They're interested in what we're doing down here ... the little fish market in Wollongong."

The Sustainable Seafood Awards "recognise organisations and individuals who contribute significantly to ensure we have fish forever through their commitment to ASC and MSC programs".

MSC, an international non-profit focused on ending overfishing and restoring fish stocks, partnered with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council for the awards.

According to the MSC 2022-23 report, more than 15 million tonnes of fish were caught under the MSC guidelines.

Mr Logue says the industry has been impacted by a number of factors over recent years, most notably supermarket dominance and also the difficulty in finding staff.

"There's not many fish markets around anymore," Mr Logue said. "It is a very hard industry, it's up early, long days.

"So in the lead up to Easter it's gonna be crazy, Easter's easy in the sense it's a week.

"No sleep for a week, and then it's over."

In a statement sent to the Mercury, MSC program director for Oceania and Singapore, Anne Gabriel, said stories similar to Harley & John's are "not celebrated enough".

"Their stories of passion and commitment are not told far and wide enough," Ms Gabriel said.

"We hope more independent retailers in Australia are inspired by Grant and join the movement."

Aldi won the award for Best Responsible Seafood Retailer while Coles won the Best Sustainable Seafood Supermarket at the awards.