Upscale California seafood joint Dudley Fish Market admits to lying to customers

A high-end Southern California fish restaurant and market admitted it lied to customers about the seafood on the menu being “traceable, sustainable and lawfully sourced.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the managers of the upscale Dudley Fish Market in Venice and those who provided them fish repeatedly violated “state and federal commercial fishing laws in 2020 and 2021,” per the release.

“Evidence obtained during the investigation revealed repeated violations of laws governing California’s commercial fishing and seafood industry,” the report read.

Officials said the managers of Dudley Market at the time, Conner Mitchell and Taylor Grant, used a commercial fishing vessel to “catch fish for the restaurant.” The two operated the market through Dudley Street Oyster Bar and Shark Bite Fish Co., while Cody Martin operated a commercial fishing vessel that “supplied fish to Dudley Market.”

During the investigation, officials found numerous violations including that they had “unlawfully purchased and sold sport-caught fish such as rockfish, bluefin tuna and yellowtail.”

It found that “commercial fishing activity” had been conducted without required licenses and that violators also marketed “unlawfully sourced seafood as sustainable, traceable and lawfully procured.”

State law makes it illegal to “sell sport-caught fish commercially.” If a fish is caught by a commercial vessel it must be “lawfully brought to port and documented on an electronic fish ticket before being removed from the vessel.”

Owners have even admitted publicly to what they did, lying to customers about the seafood that was on the menu.

“Pursuant to the terms of a recently entered Los Angeles Superior Court Order, we are required to provide you with notice that throughout the years 2020 and 2021, we violated California and federal laws applicable to commercial fishermen and fish businesses in California,” a statement on the company website read.

“Simultaneously therewith, we falsely advertised the Dudley Market as source of fully sustainable, transparent, and lawfully procured fish. We now comply with California and federal law and have ceased all such false advertising. “

As part of the settlement, the restaurant and its managers were ordered to pay more than “$100,000 in penalties.” In addition, the fishing vessel owners and operators involved are “prohibited from owning or operating a commercial fishing vessel in California,” per the release.

“Commercial fishing laws exist to protect our oceans and preserve marine ecosystems,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in the press release.

“These businesses lured the public into thinking they were caring for our precious resources, when in reality, their fish was unlawfully sourced.”

Hochman added, “Sustainability was the bait, but fraud was the hook. The message is clear; this kind of deception will not be tolerated.” 

Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch said, “Violating fishing regulations that are intended to preserve Marine Protected Areas threatens the environment and the fishing industry that depends on sustainable fish stocks in the future.”

Mitchell said the violations were handled and they have been in good standing with the CDFW ever since. 

“When those issues were brought to our attention, we worked cooperatively with regulators, corrected them promptly, and have operated in compliance ever since,” Mitchell told SF Gate.

The Post reached out to the restaurant and market for further comment.

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