Saving Seafood

CALIFORNIA: Local organizations pair up to provide seafood to those in need

September 14, 2021 — Together, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust and Meals on Wheels of Monterey Peninsula have made black cod the main source of protein in nearly 10,000 meals donated across the Monterey Peninsula since the start of the pandemic.

“We’re dedicated to strengthening our community and are tremendously grateful for the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust and all of the local fishermen who help us provide locally-sourced nutrition for our clients,” local Meals On Wheels Executive Director Christine Winge said in a statement announcing the partnership recently.

“This is an excellent example of creative collaboration,” she continued. “When it comes to working toward the common goal of addressing hunger, we are stronger together.”

Every year, Meals On Wheels delivers thousands of meals to homebound seniors and disabled adults throughout Monterey County.

In a similar stream of altruism, the Fisheries Trust partners with the local fishing industry, local government and conservation organizations to increase access to sustainably caught seafood while also preserving the biodiversity of Monterey Bay.

Read the full story at MSN

CALIFORNIA: Monterey Bay fishermen work to reduce chances of whale entanglements

July 13, 2021 — On a cool Thursday morning this week, Calder Deyerle powered up his Boston Whaler and headed out of Moss Landing Harbor in search of the catch of the day. But this catch had no fins or tails or claws. Deyerle was hunting crab gear.

Five or six years ago, more than 70 whales — mostly fin, blue and humpbacks — became caught in the lines that connect a surface buoy to the crab trap resting on the ocean floor. Because of a crash in the krill population, the whales came in closer to shore to feed on alternative food sources and right into the crab lines.

Lines and traps meant for Dungeness crabs can be deadly to whales that become ensnared in the equipment, often causing dehydration, infected wounds, breathing or reproduction problems and even starvation.

But efforts by Dungeness crab fishermen have dramatically reduced the number of whale entanglements. There have been none this year. The far greater threat to whales today is not from crab gear, rather from ship strikes.

Deyerle is one of nine Monterey Bay commercial fishermen who are contributing to a project called the Lost Gear Recovery Project that is coordinated by the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, which in turn is permitted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Read the full story at the Monterey Herald

CALIFORNIA: Local fishermen and their catch take center stage at Monterey Bay restaurants

January 18, 2019 — In fishing ports across the country, it’s often difficult to find the local catch in local restaurants. Salmon, tuna, shrimp and cod are menu staples. While all delicious, they don’t often reflect seasonal fish local fishermen are taking back to the docks.

To counter this, a group of local organizations, businesses and fishermen in Monterey, Calif. are spotlighting the local catch and area chefs who bring them to plate with “Get Hooked,” a week-long initiative to recognize restaurants that provide the in-season harvest to their patrons.

“Commercial fishing is an icon of Monterey’s history, yet most consumers are unaware that 90 percent of the seafood we eat in the U.S. today is imported,” said Roger Burleigh, marketing and supply chain manager for the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust who’s spearheading the campaign. “We want to draw attention back to our local seafood bounty and the fishermen who catch it.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

‘Fish Hub’ Plans To Restore Monterey’s Fishing Roots, One Piece At A Time

February 22, 2018 — Cities along the Monterey Bay are full of seafood restaurants. But what ends up on your plate can often come from another part of the country, even another part of the world. The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust wants to change that by breathing new life into Monterey’s commercial fishing industry.

Scott Fosmark opens the metal gate to the Monterey Municipal Marina. He’s wearing a black baseball cap with a logo for his family business, Fosmark Fisheries, LLC.

It’s a sunny winter day on the waterfront. We walk down a ramp that leads us to the rows of white sailboats, each tightly tied to the dock with rope. It’s a beautiful scene, but Fosmark seems almost homesick.

This whole harbor used to be completely filled with commercial fishing boats. I can remember coming down here with my grandfather and having him unload his salmon right here,” says Fosmark.

Fosmark is a fifth generation commercial fisherman from Monterey. He grew up on his parents’ boat, pulling in albacore at just six-years-old. But now, his boats are up in Oregon.

“I’m sure a lot of people are probably scratching their heads, why are there no fishing boats here? Well, you know, the fish stocks were challenged,” Fosmark says.

Twenty years ago, the federal government declared many of the popular species caught off Monterey, like rockfish, overfished. This limited the number that could be caught. To help the fish recover, what’s called the “catch share” program was created. It requires fishermen to own fishing rights, which are expensive and hard to get. Many local fishermen got priced out by bigger companies with deeper pockets.

Fosmark says, “They left Monterey, they went up to the Pacific Northwest.”

Then, in 2014, the non-profit Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust formed to support smaller, local fishing operations. It currently has rights to fish about six and a half million pounds of groundfish, which it leases to local fishermen at a discounted price. Sherry Flumerfelt is the Executive Director of the Fisheries Trust.

“Having access to fishing rights is one piece of a much larger puzzle,” says Flumerfelt.

She says another piece of the puzzle is the buyer. Because when the boats left, local restaurants, stores and cafeterias had to form other relationships with other suppliers.

Read the full story at KAZU

 

New Fish Hub Hopes to Rebuild Demand for Monterey Fish

February 1, 2017 — Once a major source of local fish in California, the coastal city of Monterey is now filled with restaurants serving farmed salmon and imported Asian shrimp. But a conservation group there wants to change that fact. Borrowing a marketing and distribution idea from its land-based counterparts, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust is planning to launch a “fish hub,” designed to market and sell products from a variety of local producers in one central location.

Still in the planning stages, the Monterey fish hub could take many forms—it could be a facility, entirely virtual, or simply shared marketing. But the idea is a transparent business that brings Monterey fish, identified by the region and by the name and practices of fisherman who caught it, to both individual customers and large institutions in the area.

“Fishermen need a place where we can actually meet the public and introduce our products, and it can’t just come from one source—it needs to be a community effort,” says third-generation fisherman Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi, who first generated the fish hub idea with Fisheries Trust Executive Director Sherry Flumerfelt back in January, 2015. Based out of the port in Monterey, Pennisi says he has no local market for his catch.

Read the full story at Civil Eats