{"id":470475,"date":"2025-08-11T11:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalinaop.com\/?page_id=470475"},"modified":"2025-08-13T15:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T15:38:25","slug":"our-sustainability-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/catalinaop.com\/our-sustainability-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Sustainability Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The finest seafood from San Diego, Baja & beyond\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We\u2019re divers first<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catalina Offshore Products surfaced in the late \u201870s when owner Dave Rudie spent his days diving for sea urchins and seaweed in the kelp beds of Catalina Island and selling his harvest off his boat. Today we are celebrated as one of Southern California\u2019s premier purveyors of fresh and frozen seafood. We\u2019ve grown from our humble beginnings, but we\u2019re still family-owned and Dave still goes \u201csearchin\u2019 for urchin\u201d every chance he gets.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>

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California gold<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the \u201860s, the sea urchin was declared a menace that needed to be destroyed. Urchins feed on kelp and can decimate an entire kelp forest in record time. Kelp companies worked to eradicate the pests until the formation California\u2019s commercial sea urchin fishery in the early \u201870s. Unregulated at the time, the new fishery sparked a \u201cgold rush\u201d by hundreds of fishermen hoping to crack into a burgeoning culinary market. By the mid-\u201980s, uni had put Catalina Offshore Products on the map and it remains one of the world\u2019s finest delicacies!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fish know no boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our strategic location in \u201cAmerica\u2019s Finest City,\u201d just a few hours\u2019 drive from Baja California, gives us direct access to a bounty of seafood from the U.S. West Coast and both sides of the Baja Peninsula. Life is slower in Baja. Much of the fishing is still done by fishing villages, or cooperativos, using traditional hand lines and low-impact nets from day boats, or pangas. Our longstanding relationships in this region enable us to provide a world of fish not widely available beyond San Diego.


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Creating a sustainable legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our reputation as a trusted seafood source allows for unique collaborative opportunities. In 2019 we teamed up with NOAA Fisheries and local fishermen and chefs on an initiative to celebrate the full culinary potential of San Diego\u2019s seafood. Our mission \u2013 to increase the value of landed catch by broadening your seafood palate. Opah, an incidental catch that wasn\u2019t getting used to its fullest, inspired chefs to think outside the center cut fillet. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Opah Makes A Splash<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Opah are colorful, delicious fish that are making waves in both the culinary and scientific worlds, with San Diego serving as the center of the action.

Explore this page to discover more about this catch and our culinary engineering approach to it!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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