Kristen Deyerle, Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurant

Calder and Kristen Deyerle on the Monterey Bay running Dungeness crab gear.

Manager

Being the spouse of a commercial fisherman or woman is not easy: they are gone for long hours if not days, income can vary wildly from year-to-year, and they make their living in one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. But for Kristen Deyerle, the challenges of being the better half of a commercial fisherman have been tempered by the adventure, community, and tradition of commercial fishing in Monterey Bay.

“The lifestyle of commercial fishing can be the difficult part to adapt to. I feel pretty lucky in the sense that I don't have an Alaska fisherman, where they're gone for months and weeks at a time with little communication,” Kristen says.

Kristen, 31, shares two young children — Miles, 9, and Meadow, 3 — with fisherman Calder Deyerle. She grew up in Pacific Grove, and while she knew many fishing families and the local history, the fishing life was something distant. When she fell for a cute commercial fisherman and big wave surfer in 2010, that all changed.

Calder is from a fishing family, with his father and uncle owning and operating Deyerle Brothers Seafood in Moss Landing and Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurants in Carmel, Monterey, and Moss Landing. Calder often brings his children onboard for day trips with their uncle Walter Deyerle fishing on a boat nearby. 

Like so many spouses of fishermen, Kristen is the glue that holds her family together, taking care of the finances, the children, the meals, and more while Calder is on the water. On top of that full-time job, she is also the manager of the Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurant in Monterey. At work, she sells the very fish that her husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law harvested from Monterey Bay the day before.

“My favorite part is telling everybody that this fish here came from our local Sea Harvest fishermen,” she says. “I feel a lot of pride spreading that awareness to the consumers. And they love it. They love that it's local and it's fresh, and it's part of our family.”

The fishing community in Monterey Bay is tight-knit, with many fishing families passing the trade through the generations—something that Kristen has grown to love.

“I really wanted our son to be a part of the whole lifestyle and adopt all of Calder's talents in the fishing industry and to be a part of it,” she says, even though there was initial reluctance to let her son venture out on the bay when he was just a few years old. But it’s not just Miles who gets in on the action. Three-year old Meadow loves to go out on the water even as she’s prone to seasickness. 

“She’s a champ about it,” Kristen says.

Kristen, Miles, Meadow and Calder Deyerle