Sabina Duran, Deyerle Brothers Seafood

Fishcutter

Sabina Duran at Deyerle Brothers Seafood
Photo: Nick Rahaim

Sabina Duran stood at a table at Deyerle Brothers Seafood in Moss Landing, pulling Chilipepper rockfish out of ice. With three quick cuts of her knife, she had a perfect fillet in her hand. She flipped the rockfish over, and with three more cuts she had another.

Plant manager Andrés Jacobo looked on with admiration: Four seconds a fillet, Duran is the fastest fish cutter in the Monterey Bay area, he said.

Duran, 51, has worked in the seafood industry since 1992 when she started at Del Mar Seafoods. In 2001, she joined the team at Deyerle Brothers Seafood. It takes lots of skill, experience, and knowledge to be a good fish cutter. With nearly 30 years of experience, Duran’s knowledge of the physiology of fish from the Monterey Bay might rival the scientists. 

“It took me a couple years to get familiar with the different kinds of fish — their different shapes and sizes,” Duran said. “Now I teach people how to fillet, but I don’t want to lie, I’m still learning each day.”

To get the perfect fillet out of the various species caught by the Deyerle family and other fishermen in Moss Landing, a different approach is needed for each fish. Rockfish, black sea bass, black cod, petrale sole, king salmon, and halibut all require different methods, Duran said. On top of physiology, knowing how to maintain a sharp, clean blade is also key.

“The most important thing is having a sharp knife,” she said. “Without a sharp knife you kill yourself; you’ll work slow and have a lot of pain.”

Duran currently works full time ordering food and keeping inventory for the cafeterias in the Salinas City Elementary School District, but she still picks up shifts at Deyerle Brothers Seafood when she can.

Sabina Duran at Deyerle Brothers Seafood
Photo: Nick Rahaim

“This is like therapy for me; I really love it,” she said while throwing a filleted carcass of a Chilipepper into a bin. “It’s like a hobby that I get paid for.”

Duran has also worked on the consumer end of the operation, as manager of the Deyerle family’s Sea Harvest Restaurant and Fish Market in Pacific Grove and then in Monterey for six years from 2008 to 2014. As the manager, she would talk to customers about the in-season catch, how they were caught, and where.

“People are really concerned about the fish they buy, and they love to learn about what they are eating,” Duran said. “I really enjoyed teaching about the seafood we provide.”

Duran came to Monterey County when she was 15 from her home in Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico, in the state of Jalisco. She settled in Salinas, where she went to high school before entering the seafood industry.

“I was without a job, but I didn’t know where to go,” she said. “I was a little scared. I had no idea how this country worked. Someone told me about working at Del Mar. They said it was ‘a little stinky,’ but I needed to work.”

Cleaning fish might not be for everyone, and it can be difficult work: Cold winter mornings cleaning cold fish, physical labor moving around heavy species like halibut and black sea bass, and tendonitis from repetitive movements. But in the work she has also found community working for a family business and satisfaction in her craft.

Still, when she has her family together — five children and five grandkids — she often likes to skip filleting altogether and deep fry a whole Chilipepper rockfish and serve it with Spanish rice, salad, and pico de gallo.