Last week Gov. Jerry Brown signed the so-called “Pacific to Plate” bill making it easier for commercial fishermen to sell their catch directly to consumers by streamlining permits and other requirements to create local fishermen’s markets.

Sponsored by Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), AB 226 “allows fishermen’s markets to operate as food facilities, vendors to clean their fish for direct sale, and multiple fishermen to organize a market under a single permit,” according to a press release from California Sea Grant, a partnership between federal fisheries managers, the state of California and state universities, that spearheaded the “Pacific to Plate” bill.

Previously, fishermen could sell their catch directly off their boat or at local farmer’s markets, but there were often heavy restrictions on selling at farmer’s markets, like selling the fish whole, when many customers would rather have a small fillet. By creating a new category of non-permanent food facilities — a fishermen’s market — the bill should smooth the direct sale of fish.

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