Tag Archives: Noyo Harbor
Fresh Off the Boat
California fisheries are considered a “Legacy Industry” that sustains local families while helping to attract tourists. Shockingly, the California commercial fleet that included 5,000 boats in 1980 diminished to only 464 vessels by 2022, and Fort Bragg is home to 103 of these registered commercial fishing boats. The fish catchers who are still fishing are finding it increasingly necessary to “adapt or die.” Fortunately, Noyo Harbor seems to have some very resourceful people who have taken this challenge to heart and devised some innovative ways to help get the freshest fish onto your dinner table. Dan Platt, aka Captain Dan, is a commercial fisherman, diver, and owner of Noyo Harbor Tours in Fort Bragg. He owns two boats: the Zhivago, a converted 1931 former Coast Guard craft for fishing, and The Noyo Star, his eco-friendly electric tour boat. The recent tough times in California fisheries encouraged Dan to think outside the box. To improve his bottom line, he is sometimes able to sell his fish direct from his boat to customers on the dock, cutting out the middleman. more, >>CLICK TO READ<<10:20
Frustrated fishermen get good news: good rockfishing, salmon fishing to return in 2024
With an oversized head, bulbous eyes and narrow body, the quillback rockfish looks like a golden bullfrog armed with a quiver full of arrows on its back. Few sport fishermen want to keep, much less eat, the famously sharp and ouchy and skinny quillback, which are reeled by those seeking meatier rockfish. But it was the quillback, which is often tossed back into the sea, whose population plummet caused a shutdown that impacted the entire rockfish industry, both for commercial and for party boats operating out of Mendocino Coast’s Noyo Harbor. That mysterious plunge in quillback numbers cut off all near-shore rockfish fishing last year, causing an organized outcry by fishermen and a new plan for 2024. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:15
Noyo Harbor: How’s the Dungeness crab season playing out this year? Word on the dock is grim
Dungeness crab season is off to a pitiful start this year. Some crabbers pulled their gear out and threw the towel in just one day into the season.,,, Gene Mathieuso, whose family has worked in the fishing industry since the early 20th century said that he has seen years as bad as this before.“1973 was probably the worst season we’ve ever had,” he said. “Landings were less than a million, at 880,000 pounds.” For reference, the average total California dungeness catch from 2010 to 2020 was around 14 million pounds. Mathieuso said he anticipates that this year will rival 1973. photos, >click to read< 12:25
F/V Miss Hailee: Fort Bragg fishing vessel suddenly lay on its side and went down, losing one on board
There had been no obvious sign of trouble, no advance warning, in the moments before the Miss Hailee suddenly began to tilt onto its side during a routine fishing trip off the North Coast last weekend, according to Brian Kelley, whose family owns the commercial vessel. Then, for reasons still unknown, the boat capsized and sank,,, The resulting loss of a young deckhand, Arnulfo “Amigo” Santiago, has left his tight-knit group of co-workers grief-stricken, as people around Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harbor mourn a hard worker and friend. >click to read< 08:57
Noyo Harbor plan points up longterm needs
The Noyo Harbor District released its long-awaited Community Sustainability Plan on June 13, laying out a roadmap for harbor improvements in coming years. The plan focuses on maintaining sustainable fisheries, harbor-based jobs, and improvements to aging facilities that serve local commercial and recreational anglers and visitors.,,, recommendations are: building a fuel dock in the harbor, increasing the harbor’s supply of flaked ice and cold storage, more regular harbor dredging,,, >click to read< 17:39
Big ocean waves give Dungeness Crab Christmas vacation
Like those heady days when salmon are coming in on joyful and full boats, crab season can enliven Noyo Harbor with motion, aromas and noise. And then take it all away, leaving the place silent and with only the faint aroma of the sea. That was the crabby up and downs of the past two weeks. Unlike the salmon, the gyrations of the crab population are not surprising or signs of doom. Biologists predict choppy cycles in crab numbers, even if they don’t entirely understand the causes of them. Read the rest here 09:27
