Local Spills Guts on His Fishy Business

Fishmonger Darren Gorksi has been buying fish for The Fish Market in Del Mar/Solana Beach for more than 24 years. He's seen prices fluctuate and fishing regulations change. Patch had the opportunity to ask Gorski about his fish-friendly job.

Patch: What does a fishmonger do?

Darren Gorski: I handle the quality control of all wholesale Fish Market companies. We don’t just accept any product. We have relationships and purchase right off of the boats, keeping costs down for the consumers. There are about 15-20 wholesale companies that we buy from, and we work with them to find special products for customers.

Patch: Is it a messy job? 

Gorski: Messy goes hand-in-hand with being a fishmonger, but you make it as messy as you want it to be. I like to clean up as I go along. Fresh fish does not have a bad smell. I usually change before I go home or my wife would kill me! 

Patch: How did you become a fishmonger?

Gorski: I grew up around fish, so I learned all about the different fish from a very young age. It’s not like one day you wake up and you’re a fishmonger; I was brought into it with a fishing family. Now, it’s keeping up-to-date on the seasons and having the knowledge and the background.

Patch: Tell us a little bit about your background?

Gorski: When I was a young kid, 11-years old, I worked on fishing boats along the New Jersey coast. The Piper was the first boat I ever worked on, then it was The Shamrock. I’d go out on both boats, either commercially or fishing with the family. As a kid, I’d hang out at fishing docks, putting rods away; and then as I grew up, they gave me more responsibility, picking lobster pots every summer. I spent 25 years fishing on the East Coast. When I got older, I realized I needed to pick a coast and made my way to the west. In 1988, I started at the Fish Market, after working at a few fish wholesale companies and on charter boats.
 
Patch: What is your most memorable fishing story?

Gorski: There’s one fishing trip in particular that is one of my favorites – yes, I spend my vacations fishing! We were on the East Coast with my brother and five friends, about 100-plus miles off shore, catching yellow fin tuna. I caught over 35 fish, including a lot of mahi. I’ve got tons of stories, usually very memorable ones, because I love fishing!

Path: What is your favorite fish to eat and how do you prepare it?

Gorski: Tuna in general is my favorite, especially yellow fin. I like to prepare it with sesame seed oil and soy sauce, seared, sliced paper thin and adding a little wasabi. Or sword fish – mesquite grilled at the restaurant. I really love it all! 

Patch: What are some of the challenges facing the fishing industry in Southern California and beyond?

Gorski: Regulations for rockfish and groundfish quotas really need to be set. They should have been regulated harder earlier. We need to protect the environment. There are a lot of challenges out there with what we do. 

Patch: Do you get to travel a lot, where?

Gorski: Yes, somewhat. There’s a Boston Seafood Show in March and a crab broker show. Then, we visit some of the processing plants that we purchase from in San Francisco, Alaska and Mexico. There’s a lot of research in being a fishmonger; we like to make sure the people that we’re buying from are sending quality product.

Patch: What advice to you have for young boys and girls wanting to be a fishmonger when they grow up?

Gorski: You need to love the environment and have a lot of interest in what you’re doing. Then, never stop learning with research. A lot of education comes from catching the fish. 

And, fish is in the eye of the beholder. Don’t buy what’s endangered or on its way out. Look at sources. We’re trying to protect and conserve – so we can’t take what we don’t really have. It’s not just about purchasing fish, but it’s about conserving and protecting too. Sustainable means conservation and preservation.