Quick Take
Following a rapid rise and national success, the parent company of Pescavore tuna jerky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early January after mounting debts, lawsuits and evictions. The filing comes as co-founder Clarice Owens remains jailed ahead of a March trial on felony stalking and dozens of misdemeanor charges for violating protective orders.
Santa Cruz-based Healthy Oceans Seafood, the parent company of Pescavore tuna jerky, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, while its co-founder remains incarcerated on charges of stalking and violating multiple protective orders.
On Jan. 6, Healthy Oceans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows the company to continue operating while restructuring its debt and proposing a plan to pay creditors over time, with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.
Husband-and-wife team Matthew and Clarice Owens founded Healthy Oceans in Santa Cruz in 2014. In 2018, they launched Pescavore, a line of seasoned tuna jerky, which the company produced at a factory in Live Oak. After a successful rise that included distribution of Pescavore products to more than 1,300 national stores, the company’s financial standing began to crumble in late 2024.
The court documents include a December 2024 letter to former investor Builders Vision in which Clarice Owens asked for nearly $75,000 in immediate financial support, and outlined a number of challenges such as eviction and loss of staff due to the company’s failure to make timely payments. In January 2025, Healthy Oceans was evicted from an office in the Santa Cruz Harbor for not paying rent for six months, the Santa Cruz Port District confirmed.
In July, Colorado-based Pawnee Leasing Corporation sued Healthy Oceans for defaulting on the agreement to lease equipment used to make Pescavore’s jerky. In a legal complaint filed with the court, Pawnee claimed that Health Oceans hadn’t made a payment in six months and demanded more than $55,000 in damages, attorney fees and other costs. In December 2025, Pawnee won its suit.
Healthy Oceans’ financial woes coincide with legal troubles for Clarice Owens. In 2025, Santa Cruz Superior Court granted restraining orders against her to five separate entities, including her neighbor, homeowners association and an industry colleague, for alleged abuses and harassment that took place online via Pescavore’s social media pages, email and text messages. Owens was jailed on Dec. 19 for violating the protective orders and pre-trial agreement, where she awaits trial on March 16 for felony stalking and 32 misdemeanors for violating protective orders.
It’s unclear whether Healthy Oceans has produced or distributed Pescavore products at all over the past year. Several Santa Cruz-area retailers that once carried the tuna jerky told Lookout they had stopped about a year ago. Either Pescavore stopped replying to order requests or the stores declined to reorder, they said. Pescavore’s website is live, and lists its products in hundreds of locations across the country.
Lookout reached out to Matthew Owens to request comment, but he did not respond by publication time.
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