CLIPBOARD : DISCOVERY : PEARSON’S PORT

Nineteen years ago Roy Pearson left the aerospace industry to pursue life as a full-time commercial fisherman. In the shadow of Back Bay Bridge, Roy and his wife, Vi, built a gray-planked dock on Lower Newport Bay and opened an open-walled floating fish mart. For the Pearsons, the ramshackle building they call Pearson’s Port, replete with fresh snapper, shrimp and live lobster, is a weather- beaten oasis.

“Roy turned his part-time job into a way of life,” Vi Pearson said. “He loves to fish, always has. It’s not often that you get to do something that you love for a living.”

Dockside life has also been good to Vi Pearson. The affable 63-year-old mother of six, clad in muscle pants and matching neon green T-shirt with electric green earrings, keeps the radio tuned to a rock ‘n roll station. “A body’s got to keep moving,” she said. And the Pearsons never seem to stop.

Mornings begin before dawn, when Roy Pearson heads out to sea to fill his nets with red snapper and jumbo-sized spot prawns. Whatever he brings in will be the day’s special. After the fish-filled coolers have been dropped off at the shop, Vi Pearson takes over. She ices down the fish, makes up “catch of the day” signs and waits for their son, Tom, to bring in live spider crabs and spiny lobsters caught in his cages offshore. Nine air-pumped bay water tanks are kept filled with the crawling crustaceans.

Locals come to Pearson’s Port by both land and sea. David Burns of Costa Mesa motored his pontoon alongside the dock and tied off to a piling. “It was great to cruise up here on the boat,” Burns, an attorney, said. “A friend of mine recommended Pearson’s Port for the best live lobster in the county. I decided today to stop by. It’s chilly . . . just feels like a great day for lobster and shrimp.”

Vi Pearson fished two lobsters from the holding tank and dangled them in front of Burns. “These are running about a pound and a half,” she said. “You want ‘em split for the barbecue or whole for boiling?”

He opted for boiling. The lobsters flip-flopped in a doubled plastic grocery bag as Burns carried his haul back to the boat and cast off.

“We sell to individuals, not restaurants or other markets,” Pearson said. “Because our fish are whole, and our crabs are live, the majority of our customers are Asians or Northern Europeans. Word is out that our fish is the best for raw and specialty dishes.”

Since 1971, the Pearsons have relied on word-of-mouth advertising and luck to keep the fish shop going. And, aside from being swept away in 1975 during an El Nino, little misfortune has hit the tiny fish market.

“I remember seeing the shop drifting down the bay,” she said, referring to the El Nino incident. “When the Harbor Patrol called to tell us that the shop had gone ashore at Lido Isle, I told Roy, ‘We never seem to make a lot of money, but at least now our oasis has a fancy address.’ ”

Hours:10 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday

Address: 300 East Coast Highway, Newport Beach

Telephone: (714) 675-6771