3. Port Governance and Infrastructure

Noyo Harbor, an all-weather commercial fishing port, is at the southern edge of Fort Bragg on the mouth of the Noyo River. It is one of only four main harbors between San Francisco and the Oregon border. The Noyo Harbor District is a special public district and political subdivision of the State of California. It is governed by five commissioners who volunteer their service and is operated by a Harbormaster and a small staff. The Commission has the overseas operations of the Noyo Mooring Basin, budgeting, development of the Harbor District property and facilities, and it represents the Noyo Harbor District in contacts with Federal, State, County, City and other public and private agencies. The harbor features two public launch ramps, hoists, a boatyard and haul-out, and 265 berths for commercial vessels up to 65’ in length. These berths are generally fully occupied with a waiting list of about 20 vessels depending on the season. The harbor is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, which periodically dredges it.

The harbor area has numerous support facilities, such as fuel, ice, restaurants, and lodging. In 2018 the Harbor District created a Strategic Planning and Harbor Marina Redevelopment Plan. The plan proposes three redevelopment phases, including harbor basin dredging, repairs to the existing wave wall, installation of new restrooms, laundry facilities, hazmat disposal facilities, and a fuel dock with vessel pump-out facilities (Source).

The community also developed a Community Sustainability Plan in 2019. The plan is intended to help the Harbor better serve the interests of the local commercial fishing industry as an enduring part of the Noyo-Harbor Fort Bragg cultural heritage. More information on the plan and its recommendations for infrastructure improvement can be found on the harbor district website (Source).

3.1 Commercial Seafood Handling Infrastructure

A variety of commercial fish businesses receive, and in some cases, process the catch landed at Noyo Harbor by commercial fishers (Table 1). These include businesses that lease and operate the fish receiving stations, and other local and non-local businesses that receive the unloaded catch from these receiving station operators, and some fishers who handle their own (and in some cases others’) catch. In 2021, 49 distinct fish businesses received catch at the port including 34 fish business licenses with a mail, street, or plant address of Fort Bragg (Table 1). Fish businesses in Fort Bragg included commercial fishers licensed to receive and sell their catch, and several smaller locally owned receivers that also had retail storefronts and/or restaurants.

Like most ports along the California coast, commercial fish businesses in Fort Bragg have fluctuated over the years, but slowly declined since 2002 (58), with 34 businesses in 2021 (Figure 2). The contraction of the processing sector is in large part due to the 2000 groundfish disaster and subsequent (2003) coastwide federal trawl buyback program (Table 2). With the decline in the year-round groundfish fishery and increasing dependence on the seasonal Dungeness crab and salmon fisheries, receiving and processing businesses struggled to stay afloat. Over the same period, the number of fishermen’s retail licenses declined overall from 40 in 2002 to 17 in 2021 (Figure 2). This loss also mirrors an overall reduction in fishing licenses affiliated with the port (discussed in section 4.2.1).

Although there was an overall net loss in fishermen’s retail licenses since 2002, the number of fishermen’s retail licenses also fluctuated from year to year during that period (some years by almost 30%). These fluctuations may in part be attributed to the fluctuations and closures in the salmon fishery, which is a popular direct-to-consumer marketing species. The decline of the sea urchin fishery impacted the processing sector and greatly reduced the number of jobs available as landings are just a fraction of what they were historically. These job losses have disproportionately impacted Fort Bragg’s Latinx community who make up a large percentage of the processing labor force (Source: Personal interview, harbormaster).

Figure 2: Fish Business Licenses held locally, by type, in Fort Bragg, 1993-2021

Table 2: Timeline of selected events affecting Fort Bragg’s primary fisheries.