San Diego’s Latest Attraction: Tuna Harbor Dockside Market

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market is the place to go Saturdays from 8am to 1pm for outstanding fresh, local, sustainably caught seafood. Fishermen setup in the morning and sell their goods until they run out. Plans are in the works to expand hours.

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market
Yellow Fin Tuna

Located on a pier just North of hugely popular Seaport Village, the open-air fish market provides an opportunity for the San Diego public and tourists alike to buy direct from fishermen at rock bottom prices. For example, supreme quality yellowfin tuna runs around $3.50 a pound.

The selection is incredible including sea urchin from Market Director Peter Halmay, octopus from Richard Yoder and box crabs from Dan Major.

Fisherman Richard Yoder
Fisherman Richard Yoder
Fish Being Fileted

There’s even a vendor that will filet your fish onsite for a nominal charge. Plus select restaurants at the nearby Seaport Village will cook freshly bought fish to order. And there are market vendors that sell prepared food such as yummy grilled fish sandwiches.

It’s interesting to meet the industrious San Diego fishermen in person and to see the tremendous variety of seafood that they sell. There are items at the market that you will never see at a grocery store such as whole halibut, 100+ pound Bluefin tunas and live mackerels.

Fisherman Dan Major Holds Spot Prawn
Fisherman Dan Major Holds Spot Prawn
Spot Prawns - Tuna Harbor Dockside Market
Rockfish - Tuna Harbor Dockside Market featuring sustainably caught seafood

The market is easily accessible via public transportation and there’s plenty of parking at Seaport Village. The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market is a San Diego treasure for chefs, locals and tourists. The goals of the market are to connect San Diego commercial fishermen to the public, educate the community about sustainable fishing methods and provide a dynamic supply of locally sustainably caught seafood.

Oysters at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market

Sustainable methods used to catch the seafood sold at the market include hook and line, trolling, pot and traps and diving. For easy to follow recipes and more information, please visit Tuna Harbor Dockside Market.

Jolee Pink
Jolee Pink

Jolee Pink is a California-based writer, designer, artist, super foodie and avid traveler. She views travel as an unrivaled experience and has visited nearly 50 countries. As the author of Living Coastal: Inspirations for Entertaining, Decorating and Cooking California Style, Jolee brought together artists and chefs to capture the spirit of San Diego influenced by the Pacific Ocean. She writes a monthly food and art/culture post for Visit Oceanside and founded the Eat Drink SD Facebook Group to share news about what's happening in the San Diego culinary scene and beyond.

Jolee’s Wabisabi Green lifestyle blog focuses on art, design, food and travel. Her colorful ceramic sculpture has received national recognition and is on permanent display at Rady Children’s Hospital. She also designs and markets a boutique eco-friendly textile line featuring bold modern motifs based on nature, world travels and the southern California coastal lifestyle. Finally, Jolee organizes and produces the annual Foodie Festival event featuring the best culinary talent of North County San Diego and
benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

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