Feeling crabby? SLO County fishermen are selling fresh seafood right off local pier
If you’ve got a hankering for fresh seafood, look no further than the Harford Pier.
The Port San Luis Harbor District recently launched a Fishermen’s Market Pilot Program, allowing local fishermen to sell their wares fresh from their boats at the end of the pier near Avila Beach.
On Saturday, people lined up outside and around the building to buy fresh, locally caught fish and crabs.
“We heard they were selling halibut, lingcod, and the halibut and lingcod were really cheap,” Escobar said. “We like the drive here.”
Customers can buy both fish and crabs at the market, now that the Dungeness crab season is fully underway after a brief delay in recent weeks.
“We fish the first half of the year in Bodega Bay,” said Ethan Suprinski of Arroyo Grande, a fisherman on a local commercial fishing boat, the Eleanor Marie, owned by Tom Capen.
“We fish for rockfish” in local waters, Suprinski added.
On Saturday, he said, “we brought back 600 pounds (of Dungeness and red crab) and the way it’s going, we’re going to sell it all.”
Karen Buccat, a local fisherman, attended Saturday’s market with her brother, commercial fisherman Chris Buccat.
“People are loving it. We opened at 11 a.m. and we sold out (at) about 12:30 p.m,” Karen Buccat said. “We’re waiting for another boat to come in. We sold mostly rockfish (such as) lingcod, vermillion, ocean white and blues and blacks.”
The market takes place every Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Payment is by either Venmo or cash, and the fish is subject to availability so would-be buyers should get there early to get the freshest picks.
On Saturday, the market ran out of everything except for crab in an hour and a half.
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