With restaurants across San Diego, California, shuttered and distributors at a standstill in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the city’s seafood marketplaces and businesses have had to adjust the ways in which they operate in order to stay above water.
Tuna Harbor Dockside Market is among these Southern California seafood dealers shifting its operations to cater to the safety protocols of the moment. Deemed an essential business, the weekly market is permitted to open on Saturdays to provide fresh seafood to San Diegans. As a means to make transactions safer and more efficient, the market rolled out a new online store on 9 April through which consumers can pre-order fresh seafood for store pick-up.
Lists of the fresh seafood items available for weekend pickup are being posted by the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market on its Instagram and Facebook pages on Thursdays, with those species available for online purchase via the portal from 5 p.m. on Thursday until 5 p.m. Friday. For the initial rollout, the market limited its online offerings to finfish, such as ahi tuna and opah, as well as sea urchins, crabs, and spot prawns, Eater San Diego reported.
“The commercial fishing fleet has always provided food for people and we’re still here,” commercial fisherman Kelly Fukushima, who provides catch to the local marketplace, told Eater San Diego. “We want them to know they can rely on us to put food on people’s tables.”
Consumers who arrive at the market for seafood pickup will have to adhere to an extended 12-foot social distancing designation, and a strict limit on the number of people (including staff) allowed on the pier at one time will be enforced, Eater San Diego noted. It is also requested that consumers wear a face mask while shopping there.
San Diego-based Catalina Offshore Products has also started reconfiguring its operations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become the company’s biggest challenge yet, according to founder Dave Rudie.
Catalina Offshore Products has seen its sales plummet by more than half, Rudie told KGTV News, due to many of its foodservice and wholesale provider being in lockdown. Not even several El Niño weather events have impacted his business to the extent that the current COVID-19 pandemic has, Rudie said.
“This is the biggest storm I’ve been through,” Rudie, who founded the business 43 years ago, told the San Diego news station.
“We got hit by the El Niño in 2016,” he added. “We were just recovering from that, now we get this monster storm of coronavirus.”
Although 90 percent of the company’s business typically comes from selling wholesale fish, Catalina is shifting gears to highlight its direct-to-consumer retail division during the pandemic, Rudie explained. The firm has been offering curbside delivery for San Diego customers, and is in the process of adding home delivery options in the near future.
Catalina and Rudie have also been making concerted efforts to remind consumers of the wellness benefits associated with eating seafood and the importance of supporting local businesses in times of strife.
“Please support local business ... these times we need healthy food,” he told KGTV News.
Rudie founded Catalina Offshore Products in 1977 after finding success selling his catch of sea urchins and seaweed from his boat to local patrons. The company has since become one of the California’s premier seafood purveyors and one of the largest seafood buyers in San Diego. In 2012, the company opened its Seafood Education and Nutrition Center, which houses its fish market. Catalina’s product portfolio includes tuna, yellowtail, salmon, uni, crab, caviar, and more.
Photo courtesy of Spearhead Media LLC/Shutterstock
