»When I return home and see the sea, I feel something stir inside me.«

Sandi Radolovič hasn’t always been a fisherman, even though he comes from a family of fishermen. By profession, he is a metalworker who first worked as a machine maintenance technician at Delamaris, but life eventually led him to where he had always looked—to the sea. Meet the story of the Radolovič fishing family.

Today, Sandi runs the family fishing business, and for the past few years, his son Mario has been actively involved as well. Mario is currently attending a technical high school. He has been helping his father for half his life—both with fishing and during the summer months, when the family also runs a passenger transport service.

Their story began in 1988. That year, their father—himself a fisherman—offered his two sons the opportunity to lease the fishing boat. He promised to help them, and he kept his word.
»It’s a good thing my brother and I made the decision we did,« says Sandi. »Because all the factories we used to work at shut down shortly afterward.« Today, the fishing business is being taken over by the third and youngest brother, Andrea.

He has been connected to the sea for as long as he can remember. Even as a child, his grandfather used to take him along on night fishing trips. »Back then, the crew was big—there were seven or eight of us on the boat. It was lively. Of course, I slept most of the time, but whenever they pulled up the net, they always woke me,« Sandi recalls, adding that once they even pulled an old canoe out of the sea, which they played with for years afterward. At that time, the sea was more of a game to him—but today, it is a source of income and survival.

Sandi, his brother Andrea, and his son Mario fish using nets. Their day begins at sunrise, and they often don’t return home until evening. »Unless the weather is really bad, they don’t see much of us at home,« Mario says with a smile.
Summer, however, is reserved for passenger transport with their fishing boat Zlatoperka, which, from June to September, connects Ankaran, Koper, Izola, and Piran on a daily basis—a service that is extremely popular with both locals and tourists.

Best moments at sea?
»When you pull up the net full of fish,« says Sandi.

And the hardest?
»When the net is empty. Or even worse—when it’s torn.« Today, fishing faces many challenges, such as declining fish stocks, changing weather patterns, sea pollution, and bureaucratic hurdles. »Back in the day, you went out to sea to fish. Now, you have to turn on two computers and record everything, document it all. You spend more time on paperwork than on the water,« Sandi explains.

They sell their fish at the Trieste fish market, to local fishmongers, and to selected restaurants such as Bujol and Sidro. But the fishermen all agree: the best thing would be to set up a table on the pier every day and sell the daily catch directly to people. »From the sea to the plate—that’s the way it should be,« says Sandi.

Secrets to a good catch?
»Every fisherman has his little secret, just like a farmer,« he smiles. »How to mend the net, where to cast it… no one will ever tell you that.« But the best fish is the fresh one—and the one you eat right where it was caught: on the boat, with the wind in your hair.

When we ask him what the sea would say to him, he laughs:
»Va cagar« (go take a hike)! He adds, “This isn’t an insult where we come from—it’s when the sea calls you in a familiar way.«
And what would Sandi say back to the sea?
»Thank you.«