After a year-long investigation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Dudley Market violated state fishing laws, and staff, fishermen and businesses associated with the popular Venice restaurant and wine bar were fined $150,000 and court fees.
Dudley Market is known for its fresh seafood and customers come for its oysters, raw food, sashimi, fried fish necklaces and fish tacos right off the boardwalk. Owner Conner Mitchell, former manager Taylor Grant, boat owner Gilmer Grant and boat captain Cody Martin were involved in catching local fish such as yellowtail, rockfish and Pacific tuna.
For the record:
15:19 June 3, 2026An earlier version of this article said Conner Martin broke his arm. It was his leg.
Now some have been banned from commercial fishing, according to prosecutors in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Along with the state, which announced the results of its investigation on Monday, they said the restaurant's staff and fishermen repeatedly broke laws in 2020 and 2021, including fishing without required licenses, catching fish in conservation areas and “illegally selling seafood while advertising their products as traceable, sustainable and legally sourced.” Investigators used cell phone data search warrants and chart plotters to discover the origin.
Mitchell, who also sells seafood to other Los Angeles restaurants, says he was learning a complicated system of local, state and federal fishing regulations at the time and has operated in compliance since 2021.
The fish caught were also not properly reported, leading to what a state spokesperson characterized as “a sting operation…they were acting as if they were fishing privately and not commercial fishing.” The distinction between smaller personal use versus high commercial volume is significant, and reporting catches helps maintain and track the marine life population.
“These businesses misled the public into thinking they were taking care of our precious resources, when in fact their fish came from illegal sources,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a news release.
Raw tuna with Sungold tomatoes, basil and marinated peppers at Dudley Market, pictured on July 17, 2024.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Mitchell and his businesses, Dudley Street Oyster Bar and Shark Bite Fish Co., were ordered to pay $58,226.25 in civil fines, $15,000 to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and $1,773.75 in court costs and fees last month.
It says Dudley Market has fished, sold and advertised its seafood in compliance with the rules since it learned the law had been broken.
Former manager and business partner Taylor Grant, who also co-managed tandem fishing company Shark Bite Fish Co., was ordered to pay $40,000 in civil fines and $10,000 to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund last July. Fisherman Martin, who supplied fish to the restaurant, was ordered to pay $8,000 in civil penalties and $2,000 to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund last September. Gilmer Grant, owner of a fishing boat used for Dudley Market in 2020, was ordered to pay $10,000 in civil penalties and $5,000 to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund last August.
Martin and Taylor Grant have lost their California commercial fishing licenses indefinitely, while Gilmer Grant is now prohibited from owning or operating any commercial fishing boats in the state.
“We did not have all the necessary permits, licenses and reporting processes,” Mitchell wrote in a direct message. “When those issues were brought to our attention, we worked cooperatively with regulators, corrected them quickly, and have operated in compliance ever since…We are proud of the fishing and restaurant business we have built, the transparency we bring to our work, and the fact that we have spent the last five years doing things the right way.”
Dudley Market debuted under the direction of Mitchell and former chef Jesse Barber in 2015 and closed the following year. Mitchell reopened the restaurant as owner in 2019 with an expanded wine program, a neighborhood restaurant feel and a focus on line-caught seafood, some of which he helped catch and source himself.
Mitchell learned to fish after breaking his leg because, as a lifelong surfer, he wanted to find a way to get back in the water while he recovered. When the restaurant reopened, it began serving local seafood: line-caught tuna, raw oysters, halibut fillets, and raw kanpachi.
“While fishing locally, I quickly realized that this fish tastes better than a lot of the stuff we put on a plane and import,” Mitchell told The Times in a 2024 interview. “I realized that the more I learned about our fisheries, the more mind-blowing it became to me that someone cares more about fish from overseas than fish from here in the beautiful Pacific.”
As part of its agreement, Dudley Market now includes a disclaimer on the restaurant's home page: “We falsely advertise Dudley Market as a source [sic] of fully sustainable, transparent and legally acquired fish” and that violated state and federal commercial fishing laws.
