High-End CA Restaurant Admits It Lied To Customers About Fish

LOS ANGELES — Dudley Market, a high-end restaurant and fish business in Venice, repeatedly violated state and federal commercial fishing laws, an investigation revealed, leaving the restaurant and its managers with over $100,000 in civil penalties, officials said.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers investigated the violations, which occurred in 2020 and 2021, according to the agency, which noted the fishing vessel owners and operators involved have been prohibited from continuing to own or operate a commercial fishing vessel in the state.

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“These businesses lured the public into thinking they were caring for our precious resources, when in reality, their fish was unlawfully sourced,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a department news release dated June 1. “Sustainability was the bait, but fraud was the hook. The message is clear; this kind of deception will not be tolerated.”

Conner Mitchell, 37, of Venice, and Taylor Grant, 41, of Santa Monica, managed Dudley Market in 2020, according to the department, which noted Grant later ended her association with the business, while Mitchell continued overseeing daily operations and seafood procurement. Mitchell ran the commercial fishing vessel Jamaica Day, which he and Grant used to catch fish for the restaurant, authorities said. Cody Martin, 30, of El Segundo, operated the commercial fishing vessel Predator and also supplied fish to Dudley Market, according to the department.

The investigation revealed numerous state violations, including the unlawful purchase, possession and sale of sport-caught fish such as rockfish, bluefin tuna and yellowtail; commercial fishing without required licenses; failure to document federally managed species brought to shore; illegal harvest of rockfish in restricted conservation and state marine protected areas; and marketing unlawfully sourced seafood as sustainable, traceable and lawfully procured, authorities said.

Gilmer Grant, owner of Jamaica Day in 2020, was ordered to pay $10,000 in civil penalties and $5,000 to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and is prohibited from owning or operating a commercial fishing vessel in California, authorities said.

On its website, Dudley Market now discloses details of the case.

“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,” the website says.

“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 we have ceased all such false advertising.”