{"id":407034,"date":"2026-07-21T21:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407034\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:08:10","slug":"greenling-fish-market-champions-local-seafood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407034\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenling Fish Market champions local seafood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since last fall\u2019s crabbing season, Greenling Fish Market has sold locally caught fish\u2014halibut, cod, rockfish and salmon\u2014at the South Berkeley Farmers\u2019 Market. The Greenling setup has a completely different backdrop at Fisherman\u2019s Wharf in the city. I walked up to the solitary stand there as a seal with speckled skin drifted by on the surface of the water.<\/p>\n

Planted on a short wooden pier off the main tourist drag, the stand itself is rudimentary. Just a couple of folding tables sheltering large coolers filled with fish and ice. The informality extends to the team. In between sales I met with Ruby Zalduondo who defined her role at Greenling as, \u201cManager or coordinator. I guess \u2018manager\u2019 might be the right word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zalduondo formed Greenling with Sarah Bates, a commercial fishing captain whose primary catch is salmon. Bates reached out to her last year with the idea to start a local fish market, along the lines of the Monterey and Tokyo Fish Markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were working with the boats selling crab right here off the dock, and we were boiling crab for customers,\u201d Zalduondo said. \u201cWe were also selling filets to people.\u201d Bates is one of many local fishermen supplying Greenling with fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Zalduondo and I talked, a couple approached the stand and purchased a whole salmon. Filets are processed in the buildings Zalduondo pointed out directly behind us across the harbor. TwoXSea is one of the nearby companies Greenling uses; it prepares fish for restaurants and markets alike. \u201cBecause we\u2019re a pop-up here we have to sell either whole or vacuum-packed, and they help us with their master filleters,\u201d Zalduondo said.<\/p>\n

She also showed me where Bates\u2019 boat, the Bounty, is docked. Bates, who\u2019s also the president of the Institute for Fisheries Resources, spoke with me on the phone a few days earlier. \u201cOur two main fisheries in San Francisco have been salmon and crab for the past 20 years,\u201d she said. \u201cThose have been the primary drivers of our entire fleet and our entire seafood market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenling, Bates said, \u201cis still very much a baby, but this fish market is an effort to teach both visitors and locals in San Francisco, first of all, how delicious our local seafood is.\u201d Tourists visit Fisherman\u2019s Wharf with the preconceived idea that the boats are all historic. \u201cBut that\u2019s not at all true. San Francisco is still the largest fishing port in California,\u201d she said. Bay Area locals, Bates added, also don\u2019t understand \u201cour fishing fleet, our fisheries, and the species that are available here and how delicious and nutritious and sustainable they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zalduondo noted that Bates has been the key figure, \u201cthe brains and the logistics,\u201d to get Greenling off the ground. \u201cShe\u2019s been working here in the wharf for many years, and she\u2019s got all the relationships with the port and the fishermen,\u201d Zalduondo said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>GREENLING CO-FOUNDER Sarah Bates is a commercial fishing captain whose primary catch is salmon. She\u2019s also the president of the Institute for Fisheries Resources. (Photo by Josh Felise)<\/p>\n

Even though Greenling operates as a pop-up, the market is trying to gain some momentum to encourage the Bay Area to buy fish caught here. \u201cThis is primarily a tourist destination,\u201d Zalduondo said. \u201cGetting more residents here at the wharf will help not just the city, but it will also support the local fishermen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The profession faces a number of imposing challenges including the environment, the economy and regulation. \u201cFewer young people who have the pathway in front of them want to become commercial fishing captains,\u201d Zalduondo said.<\/p>\n

Both she and Bates also described some of the more dangerous aspects of fishing. \u201cThere\u2019s a physical cost\u2014not all of us have all of our fingers,\u201d Bates said. \u201cWe lose people every year, and it\u2019s tragic and heartbreaking.\u201d At the same time, fishermen have access to some of the most beautiful places in the world, \u201cwhich I think is good for everybody\u2019s mental health,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cWe have access to some of the best protein in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a deckhand, Zalduondo described the work as a marathon. \u201cYou\u2019re out on the sea in the sunshine, and you\u2019re catching fish and pulling them up on the boat,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to have the energy and stamina for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there are also moments of awe. This past winter on the crab boat, she and David, the boat captain, saw orca whales a few feet away. David told her that over the course of his decades-long career he\u2019s only seen orcas twice. \u201cSo you see these awesome things, and you get to be on the sea,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get to be in the sunshine\u2014for some of it at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenling Fish Market, Tuesdays at Adeline and 63rd streets, Berkeley; Saturdays at 101 Al Scoma Way, San Francisco. greenlingfish.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since last fall\u2019s crabbing season, Greenling Fish Market has sold locally caught fish\u2014halibut, cod, rockfish and salmon\u2014at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[26180,101,103,102,14494,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-407034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-pop-up","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-seafood","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}