Home | Half Moon Bay

1. Port-at-a-Glance

A port on California’s north-central coast, just 30 miles south of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay has been an important area for the Ohlone people for thousands of years and for commercial and recreational use since the mid 19th century. Settled in 1841, Half Moon Bay was home to migrants coming to join the California Gold Rush. The town was severely impacted by the 1906 earthquake. The port’s harbor is located at Pillar Point, in neighboring Princeton-by-the-Sea (also Princeton) and by the late 1800s the harbor was an important shipping port for agricultural products. Fishing became one of Half Moon Bay’s most important sectors both economically and culturally, especially during WWII when the port’s cannery sector developed.

The fisheries on which the port has been most dependent have shifted over time. Currently, important fisheries for the port include Dungeness crab, groundfish, salmon and market squid. Although salmon remains a significant species for local fishers, and the port saw active years in the mid-2000s and 2010s, landings have decreased overall since the mid-1980s as a result of declining fish returns and more restrictive management measures. The groundfish fisheries became more active in the 1960s and 1970s as trawl technologies improved. Groundfish was once an important year-round fishery for the port, however, the West Coast-wide fishery was declared a federal fishery disaster in 2000 following a sharp decline in landings of these species and overcapitalization in the fishery (Source).

Since 2010, Dungeness crab and market squid have grown to be two of the port’s leading fisheries in terms of landings and value. From 2000 to 2021, the number of fish business licenses active in Half Moon Bay have fluctuated, but ultimately increased slightly (+10%). The number of commercial fishing licenses associated with the port has increased from 43 in 2006 to 68 in 2021. Currently, Dungeness crab is the port’s primary fishery by ex-vessel value and market squid is the port’s primary fishery by weight. In 2021, landings at Pillar Point Harbor accounted for 5% of California’s total landings.