Being a seafood nut and an avid fisherman, I know and can share the best ways to get the freshest seafood on your plate. On top of that, it is fun to get the stories behind the meals you are taking home.

No way around it, the freshest fish is what you catch yourself from the surf, pier, jetty or boat.

Besides the taste of fresh fish, stories of the adventure and the catch are told around the dinner table. This joy goes as far back as our caveman days around a cook fire.

While not everyone has the option to go fishing regularly enough to keep fresh fish dinners going, what we do have in Santa Barbara is a fun and interesting weekly local seafood shopping opportunity.

From 6-11 a.m., every Saturday (rain or shine), our local commercial anglers set up and sell their catch or harvest on the Santa Barbara Harbor pier, just a stone’s throw from Brophy Bros.

These guys and gals are all part of the well-organized Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara (CFSB) organization, which promotes the weekly event and advocates for our commercial fisherfolk. These are the people who go out and catch the fish, keep them fresh on the way back in, and sell them direct to you, the public.

Want some salty sea stories with your fresh seafood? These are fascinating and colorful folks to talk to, and they have more sea stories than big pharm has pills. And the stories are better for you than big pharm pills.

Ava Shulenberg, program specialist for CFSB, sends out a weekly list of what the fisherfolk have caught or grown and will be selling. If you want to receive that list for your shopping planning, visit Saturday Fisherman’s Market.

Here is an excerpt from one of Shulenberg’s weekly lists of available seafood, and her list includes some yummy seafood:

Paul Teall:
o   Variety of Rockfish including Vermillion
o   Lingcod
o   Ocean Whitefish
o   Rock Crab

Harry Liquornik/JJ Johnson:
o   Purple/red sea urchin – cleaned & cracked or whole

Garrett Rose:
o   Variety of Rockfish
o   Blackcod
o   Lingcod
o   Spider Crab
o   Rock Crab
o   Pacific Gold Oysters

Cultured Abalone Farm:
o   Live abalone – regular and demi 1/2-lb. size available

While this is a good representative sample of Schulenberg’s weekly list, additional commercial fishfolk are often included along with what they have caught fresh for your dinner table.

It is fascinating to meet and talk with these commercial anglers, hear their stories and their perspective on ocean and wildlife management. They are rock-solid members of our local community, and seafood lovers have reason to love our commercial Fishers.