The pre-dawn blaze in May devastated an 85,000-square-foot warehouse at the end of Pier 45 in Fisherman’s Wharf. Fishers, who lease space from the port to store their equipment, say the port knew but did not stop homeless people from entering and setting camping and cooking fires within the building, which contained flammable materials and lacked automatic sprinklers and fire extinguishers. Many businesses were forced to acquire new gear for this month’s Dungeness crab season while some remain shut out altogether, they say. >click to read< 08:31
Tag Archives: SAN FRANCISCO
SF firm specializes in the freshest California fish caught via small boats
The recent postponing of the 2024 commercial crab season off the central California coast, now set to open with catch restrictions on Jan. 5, highlighted anew how vital it has been for the Water2Table Fish Co. on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf to remain flexible. Being adaptable is essential given Water2Table’s mission of buying seasonal, sustainably harvested fish pulled from the waters off the California coast by a stable of 15 to 20 small-boat operators, said Joe Conte, who founded the business with his wife in 2011. “It’s a very dynamic business,” Conte said. “We’re dealing with a wild product and getting it into people’s homes and restaurants. It’d be like somebody placing a meat order, and the vendor has to go out and shoot it.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:40
People We Meet: Frankie Gaetano Balistreri, owner of Portofino’s in North Beach
Frankie is short and barrel-chested, with powerful forearms and a charming, lopsided grin. He talks fast, his deep brown eyes glint with humor, and he often cracks himself up. Under his big apron, his T-shirt reads: When You See Frankie, Call the Cops. The 64-year-old proprietor (with his wife, Evelyn) of the popular Portofino’s Restaurant on Grant Avenue is beloved in his North Beach community where everyone assumes he was born. But he was born in Rosarito Beach, Tijuana, Mexico, where his Sicilian father fled after getting in trouble over contraband at the port of Palermo. Frankie’s mother found his father 13 years later on the streets in Mexico City, he said. “She forgave a lot!” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:38
The Iconic Dungeness Crab
In November 2014, I began to research a California cultural ritual, the famous Dungeness Crab. Icon of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, paired with the Wharf’s incredible sour dough, tourist and native alike used to flock there for a very special treat. When I was a kid, we dressed up to go to the city, to visit both my grandfather and the Wharf. It was part of being a Northern Californian. No more. Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey, Bodega Bay and the Marine Lab, Moss Landing: I drove all over doing my favorite thing, talking to people and learning about California’s delicate balances. The first fisherman. Captain Frank Terlouw prepares the Barbara J, a classic wooden fishing trawler, for a 4 a.m. departure to check and unload his 260 crab pots, no matter the weather. He and one crewmember will head north toward Anchor Bay and return 38 hours later with Dungeness crabs destined for holiday meals, a Northern California tradition. Video, Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:25
Wild-Caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish Phenomenon Booming: Thank Goodness
Buena Vista Seafood in San Francisco deals in high-end seafood from all around the world. European blue lobsters, Kambatia Reef Fish from Kenya, California Purple Urchins, and Icelandic Arctic Cod, to name a few. Now, the company has added wild-caught Chesapeake Blue Catfish to its list of offerings. “Chesapeake blue catfish check all the boxes,” says Polly Legendre,,, Legendre said the blue cats check the sustainability box because they’re an invasive species,” insanely prolific in terms of reproduction. Targeting them for harvest will help ease the toll they’re taking on the rockfish and blue crab populations, both iconic value species that have built the Chesapeake reputation. Tilghman Island Seafood’s processing capacity and dedication to quality control give their filets a long shelf life and are the reason we can get them from the East Coast to the West Coast in great condition. So they’re a sustainable and reliable fishery. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:16
‘It’s really scary’: The existential crisis of a Bay Area crabber
On a cloudy January evening, just as the sun lowered in the sky creating a sliver of orange along the horizon, John Mellor pulled his boat into the dock at Fisherman’s Wharf. Mellor’s 40-foot boat has been out at sea for more than 30 hours. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation as two crew members lift a cover, unveiling thousands of crabs in a container. Bucket by bucket, clawing crustaceans are weighed on a giant scale. The haul is a good one, and the success of each outing has become more crucial since the Dungeness crab season is half as long as it used to be. He waited through several anxious months of delays for the season to start. Mellor, 60, grew up in Oakland and began fishing as a teen. He is one of a few hundred commercial Dungeness crabbers in the state who have reluctantly adapted to shorter crabbing seasons. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 16:44
Dungeness Crab Season Delayed Again, SF Crabbers Miss Holiday Haul
For decades, fishers have earned a living selling Dungeness crab out of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. But many, like Shawn Chen Flading, have struggled over the last five years as the state has consecutively delayed the commercial season. “Every delay is difficult. Right now, I have zero income as a fisherman,” Flading said. The season, which has historically started on Nov. 15, is delayed until at least New Year’s Day to protect migrating humpback whales. Crabbers like Flading hope to catch the tail end of the holidays to recoup what they’ve lost. “It’s something people like to splurge on to create a feast,” Flading said. “But with the delay, we’ve lost all the holiday markets.” Photos, more, >>click to read<< 13:37
Coast Guard Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 23 miles off the coast of San Francisco
The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 63-year-old male off the fishing vessel F/V New Huck Finn approximately 23 miles southwest of Point Reyes, Friday. (Video, click the image) Crewmembers from the fishing vessel F/V New Huck Finn contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders around 10:15 a.m., reporting a crew member was in need of medical assistance due to symptoms relating to a cardiac event. Video, >click to read/watch< 21:23
SF fishermen say Bay Area crab season may never again start before Thanksgiving
It’s going to be harder to find local crab this Thanksgiving, and possibly for many Thanksgivings to come. For the fourth year in a row, the start of San Francisco’s Dungeness crab season has been delayed, and local fishermen say a later crab season may now have shifted for good. “I think it is the new normal,” Max Boland, the vice president of sales at Safecoast Seafoods, a wholesale fishing company on Fisherman’s Wharf, John Barnett, a commercial crab fisherman and the president of the San Francisco Boat Owners Association, agrees. Video, >click to read<16:39
Coast Guard, partner agencies continue salvage operations for grounded boat on Kehoe Beach
The Coast Guard and partner agencies are continuing salvage operations Tuesday that began Saturday for the grounded 42-foot commercial fishing boat F/V Seastar on Kehoe Beach. Contractors removed all fuel and hazardous materials from the F/V Seastar Saturday afternoon before commencing salvage operations. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders received reports of the unmanned boat F/V Seastar adrift just North of Point Reyes around 9:20 a.m. Friday. The boat crew arrived on scene around 10:15 a.m., boarded the F/V Seastar, which was on the rocks, and did not attempt to tow the boat due to pollution and boat damage concerns. The boat crew confirmed the Seastar was unmanned, reported the captain missing and immediately began searching,,, photos, >click to read< 20:14
Finally! Commercial Dungeness Crab Season opens in the Bay Area
“We’ve been delayed here because of the whales being present,” said John Barnett who owns the crabbing boat, The F/V Amigo, docked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. California Fish and Wildlife pushed the Dungeness crab season back to December 29th to give whales in the area more time to leave the fishing grounds, and now they’re gone. “We’re ready to go fishing,” >video, >click to read< 07:40
Is the Port of San Francisco trying to put an 80-year-old crab company out of business?
The Alioto-Lazio Fish Company, opened in the 1940s on San Francisco’s iconic Fisherman’s Wharf, is the last of five fishing businesses started by Tom Lazio. Opened with relatives Frank Alioto and Sal Tarantino, it was a beacon to local fishermen who unloaded fresh fish and crab, sold directly to the public at wholesale prices. Granddaughters Annette and Angela started helping out in their teens, mostly in the back office. When Lazio passed away in 1998 at the age of 92, wife Annetta Alioto Lazio took over and, when she passed away in 2003 at age 98, “the girls,” as they’re known on the wharf, took over the day-to-day operations. >click to read< 09:50
Captain Frank Gee remembered as a caring, and meticulous fisherman
If anyone was prepared for the dangers of the ocean, it was San Francisco resident and local fisherman Frank Gee. But earlier this month, his body was found washed ashore in Moss Beach. It was a shock to his family and the local fishing community who remembered a meticulous fisherman and caring brother who had survived the dangers of the sea before.,, He was no different as a fisherman and captain. Just years earlier, Gee, Erica Clarkson and Joshua “Aubri” Gift had survived the burning of his beloved boat, the F/V Ocean Gale, after an engine fire consumed the craft in just minutes. The details of the story are harrowing,,, “When they heard it was the Ocean Gale, everyone came running,” Clarkson said. “He loved that boat and when it burned it devastated all of us.” >click to read< 13:37
Fisherman’s Wharf Pier 45: City commission to approve loan program for crab trap replacement
San Francisco is expected to begin demolition next week on the remains of the large Pier 45 shed in Fisherman’s Wharf that was destroyed by a May fire along with the thousands of fishers’ crab traps stored inside.,, Meanwhile, the Port Commission is preparing to finally approve a loan program using $1 million in Port funds to help fishers replace destroyed traps. Under the Port’s loan program, fishers can apply for $100 per replacement trap 
for the first 200 they buy and then “all remaining funds will be allocated proportionally based on the outstanding debts of each applicant,”,, John Mellor told the commission he has fished out of Fisherman’s Wharf for more than 40 years. The fire destroyed his crab gear, which is “essential for making a living as a fulltime fisherman.” “It’s a very desperate situation for the San Francisco fishing community and I can’t emphasize enough that we really need your help.” >click to read< 08:18
Please, Donate if You Can to the San Francisco fishing fleet fire recovery fund
An early morning fire destroyed Pier 45, Shed C on May 23. While we were fortunate not to lose any lives in this tragedy, San Francisco fishing men & women have lost millions of dollars in fishing gear. We are asking for any help you can give at this time. Donated funds will be used to reequip fishing businesses with the gear necessary to continue working and bringing fresh seafood to San Francisco. As a community, we have lost approximately 2/3 of the capacity to harvest the fresh seafood that is delivered to San Francisco and the essence of our livelihoods. Crab traps and salmon tanks and hydraulic blocks and herring nets and buoys and black cod traps and shrimp traps and replacement transmissions and spare parts and tools and extra propellers and forklifts and and… and… please, >click to read<, and donate if you can! The Crab Boat Owners Association is organizing this fundraiser. 23:30
Dramatic footage reveals full extent of damage from massive fire that tore through warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf
Dramatic photos have revealed the full extent of damage from a fire that engulfed a warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf early Saturday morning. Pictures taken after the blaze was extinguished show the structure destroyed by the fire, with its walls and roof collapsed. The blaze broke out shortly before dawn, sending a thick plume of orange smoke out across San Francisco Bay. Later in the morning, dozens of firefighters were seen surveying the smoldering building as smoke continued to billow across the city. lots of photos, video, >click to read< 13:52
Fire Tears Through San Francisco’s Pier 45 Fishing Offices, Equipment at Fisherman’s Wharf
The four-alarm fire at San Francisco’s Pier 45 will put a real strain on the fish and crab industry that’s an important part of Fisherman’s Wharf. Several dozen fishing businesses are located on the rear of the pier, including offices, vehicles and equipment. Hundreds of thousands of crab pots were lost at a cost of more than $300 apiece, leading to a burned plastic smell in the area. The fishermen and crab fleet keeps most of their gear at Pier 45. “It’s a complete wipeout for the majority of the crab fleet there,” California Coast Crab Association President Ben Platt told KCBS Radio. >click to read or listen< 22:31
BREAKING: Crews battle 4-alarm fire at San Francisco’s Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf
Crews are battling an enormous fire a San Francisco warehouse on the city’s iconic Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf Saturday morning. Firefighters told our sister station KGO-TV that additional structures and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien ship are threatened. The ship is one of two remaining fully functioning Liberty ships launched during World War II. It’s unclear what ignited the flames. Crews say no one has been hurt. The fire was first reported around 4:40 a.m. local time. As of 5:49 a.m., the fire department said crews were making progress on the flames. >click to read< 09:22
Start of salmon season gives hope to fishing industry crushed by Coronavirus pandemic
The Bay Area’s fishing industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. But, local fishing companies are hoping salmon season will help change their fortunes. The fishing industry says the closure of restaurants has been devastating. Now, they’re hoping they’ve weathered the brunt of the economic storms. The fishing industry’s fates have always been ruled by nature, but long time fishermen and distributors say there’s no way they could have seen the economic blow the coronavirus pandemic would land on their industry. video, >click to read< 14:02
‘Codfish Fever’ – Hungry Gold Miners Craved the Salted Fish, so a Ragtag Fleet Set Off for Alaska
Codfish fever got its start in the years following the discovery of gold in central California in 1848, when San Francisco grew quickly from a sleepy hamlet into a thriving commercial center. Many of those who migrated to California during the Gold Rush were from western Europe. For them, salted cod was a dietary staple.,, Initially, East Coast merchants supplied Californians with salted Atlantic cod shipped via the Isthmus of Panama or Cape Horn. But this was a long, expensive journey for the fish, and California entrepreneurs recognized an opportunity to replace Atlantic cod with Pacific cod. It was one Captain Mathew Turner, an opportunistic merchant, who pioneered the U.S. Pacific cod fishery. >click to read< 08:43
Astoria, San Francisco were once the Detroit of the marine-engine industry
Between 1908 and 1911, something happened that almost certainly saved hundreds of men from drowning on the Columbia River Bar. The salmon canneries in Astoria started fitting their gillnet fishing fleets with small gasoline engines. At the time, the mainstay of the Astoria gill-net fishing fleet was a picturesque double-ended lapstrake design, developed by a California man named J.J. Griffin in 1866 for use on the Sacramento River. >click to read< 15:40
Pilot Program – Port allows fish sales from boats at Fisherman’s Wharf
Fishermen have been granted the legal right to sell fish from their boats at Fisherman’s Wharf for the first time in nearly two decades. The pilot program, approved by the Port Commission on Tuesday afternoon, will last for one year, at which time the Port will consider making it permanent. The effort is meant to help fishermen survive in the rocky fishing industry. “We’re struggling just to keep our boat here,” said Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi, who captains the fishing boat “Pioneer” out of San Francisco. click here to read the story 11:37
The History Of Dungeness Crab Season In San Francisco
Dungeness crab season is back and in full effect! After a lengthy ban on commercial fishing of the delectable little crustaceans in California, dungeness crab season got back underway this week and restored a cherished San Francisco tradition of chowing down locally caught crab for Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Okay, so there’s a little toxic acid in their guts. The government says the crabs are safe to eat now To celebrate the return of this outrageously delicious seafood that it is outrageously hard to dig out of its shell, the Broke-Ass Fish, Game and Wildlife Commission looks back with fondness on the 170-year history of dungeness crab season in San Francisco. 1848 – CRAB FISHING TAKES OFF! Read the rest here 14:09
Fishermen Who Fled Slavery in San Francisco Sue Boat Owner
Two Indonesian fishermen who escaped slavery aboard a Honolulu-based tuna and swordfish vessel when it docked at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf are suing the boat’s owner for tricking them into accepting dangerous jobs they say they weren’t allowed to leave. Attorneys for Abdul Fatah and Sorihin, who uses one name, say in a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday that they were recruited in Indonesia seven years ago to work in Hawaii’s commercial fishing fleet without realizing they would never be allowed onshore. They have since been issued visas for victims of human trafficking and are living in the San Francisco area. The lawsuit alleges that San Jose, California, resident Thoai Nguyen, owner and captain of the Sea Queen II, forced Sorihin and Fatah to work up to 20-hour shifts, denied them medical treatment and demanded thousands of dollars if they wanted to leave before their contracts expired. Nguyen did not return calls seeking comment. Read the story here 15:05
More than a ton of illegal shark fins seized in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Officials say over a ton of illegal shark fins was seized from a San Francisco business owner involved in challenging a shark fin ban late last month, prompting the group to drop its suit. Michael Kwong, 42, of San Francisco was found to be selling Read [email protected] 03:08
SAN FRANCISCO: Fishermen enjoy plentiful herring season -Video
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Herring boats stretched across the Bay near the San Rafael Bridge Friday morning, the scene attracted thousands of birds and even some seals got into the act, diving and jumping to catch a fish. Watch @ktvu 18:07
