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Fish processors raising a stink at Point Loma

Sarah Saraspe of Five Star Fish Processing loads up fish brought in by one of her few remaining clients. She filed a lawsuit against Frank LoPreste and other captains, claiming their fish processing plant is running her out of business. — Ed Zieralski

Written by

Ed Zieralski

2:05 a.m., Oct. 19, 2012
Updated 2:06 a.m.

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POINT LOMA — Back when Sarah and Andy Saraspe opened their Five Star Fish Processing plant on May 15, 2003 in Point Loma at the urging of their friends Tim Ekstrom and Randy Toussaint of the Royal Star sport boat, they figured they had a business that couldn’t fail.

Andy’s background as a commercial fisherman taught him how to care for fish and present his catch of the day in the best possible way for sale at the market. Ekstrom and Toussaint were the first sport captains to use refrigerated saltwater, or RSW, in fish holds to keep fish ocean-fresh on long-range trips. Saraspe was a perfect match for the Royal Star duo because he already was using RSW in his totes that held his commercial catch. Saraspe began processing sport-caught fish that came out of the Royal Star’s RSW wells, even though it had been caught days prior, looking more like it had just been gaffed from the sea and taken off a sport angler’s hook.

Soon, Frank LoPreste, owner-captain of the Royal Polaris, asked to be let in on the process for his boats, the Royal Polaris and the Shogun. That meant the Saraspes were set with three of the top long-range sportfishing boats in the fleet delivering their tuna, wahoo and other exotic fish to them after every long-range fishing trip.

But seven years later, after a series of events that has left Sarah Saraspe deeply hurt and betrayed, it all started tumbling down to a trickle of fish business for the Saraspes at the dock in 2010. That’s when LoPreste, Ekstrom and even the Saraspes’ one-time great friend, Toussaint, along with partner Sean Sebring decided to open their own sport-caught fish processing plant, Fisherman’s Processing, at Liberty Station in April of 2010. Today they not only are making thousands of dollars from each angler on their boat, but they also are making hundreds of dollars from every angler by charging them to process their sport-caught fish. They take the whole fish, process it and then sell it back to their anglers in the form of fillets, smoked fish or in cans. Instead of just getting a percentage from the processors like they did in the past, LoPreste, Ekstrom and Toussaint have, in many instances, eliminated the middle man, the Saraspes and Ghio.

It all has led to a lengthy lawsuit filed by Sarah Saraspe that names, LoPreste, Ekstrom, Toussaint and Sebring, with a long manifest of allegations that include violations of civil rights, sex discrimination, unlawful business practices, fraudulent business practices, defamation and slander, breach of contract and more. Sarah Saraspe claims in her lawsuit that Five Star lost 95 percent of its Royal Star clients, 60 percent of her Royal Polaris customers, 50 percent of her anglers from the Shogun and 40 percent of the Excel fishermen who used Five Star. She figures her business is down more than $100,000 this year alone.

Calls placed by U-T San Diego to the defendants, LoPreste, Ekstrom and Toussaint, and a lawyer representing LoPreste, were not returned.

“It’s really been an emotional battle, these last two years,” Sarah Saraspe said. “It has hurt my family. It hurts my soul. This business has been my life for 10 years. These people here who I service are my family and to not be able to have that connection with them down at Fisherman’s Landing anymore, it’s tough for me.

“They went into business. They cut me and Mario out and their goal is to make sure fishermen won’t have any choice where to go. One processor. And they’ll charge anything they want. It will be a complete monopoly because they own the boats, the landings, the fish processing, the parking lot, the fuel and part of the bait.

“With the economy the way it is, why would the big guy who is making all the money, cut out the little guy who is working so damn hard for such a little amount. The answer is LoPreste wants to be powerful and control everything. He just wants to win, win at any cost.”

Sarah Saraspe’s attorney, Scott Toothacre, said he soon will file for injunctive relief and damages for the money Sarah Saraspe has lost. Sarah has been banned from taking fish from Fisherman’s Landing’s end of the dock. Toothacre wants to change that immediately.

Ghio said he has had his own discussions with LoPreste about how unfair it is for the captains on three long-range boats to have control over so many returning fishermen. Saraspe’s lawsuit claims LoPreste, because of his stature and multiple holdings in the fishing industry, has used that influence on anglers and other captains to steer them away from Saraspe and Ghio and to use his Fisherman’s Processing.

“I still have some loyal customers who still come by, but they shanghaied a lot of my old customers,” said Ghio, who has been processing sport-caught fish for nearly 20 years. “Frank tells me he didn’t put a gun to these guys’ heads, but the whole thing over there is a racket. All those years I took care of them over there, and this is how they treat me.”