5. Current Issues Affecting the Port's Fisheries
- Port-at-a-Glance
- Location, History and Economy
- Port Governance and Infrastructure
- Fishing Profile: Commercial and Recreational Fisheries
- Current Issues Affecting the Port’s Fisheries
- Social and Environmental Vulnerability
Social, political, economic and environmental events pose both immediate and ongoing challenges and opportunities for the port’s fisheries, with impacts reverberating throughout and beyond the community.
Board of Commissioners
The San Mateo County Harbor District Board of Commissioners has long experienced significant internal conflict.
Infrastructure
Johnson Pier needs renovation – to improve truck loading capability while enhancing multimodal safety, mobility, and circulation in the harbor area. The fuel dock and ice machine operate on a limited schedule with occasional multi-day closures.
Uncertain Salmon Fishing
Erratic and uncertain salmon fishing opportunities. Half Moon Bay’s location far south of (rather than in) the Klamath Management Zone affords substantial fishing opportunities although openers and landings are highly variable.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Disruption due to COVID-19 pandemic. Off-the-boat seafood sales, which bring visitors from the Bay area (especially San Mateo and Santa Clara counties), were suspended for several months during the COVID-19 pandemic. CPFVs likewise operated on a more limited basis than usual.
Whale Entanglements
Beginning in 2014, there was a marked increase in whale entanglements with fishing gear along the entire West Coast. This has primarily involved the Dungeness crab fisheries pot/trap fisheries, though gillnet and spot prawn traps are also implicated (Source). Beginning in 2019, the crab season had delayed starts along the California coast south of Mendocino County to prevent whale entanglements when late season whale migrations have been observed. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has taken several steps through its Whale Safe Fisheries efforts to better understand and mitigate the causes of whale entanglements, such as the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP) piloted by the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group and codified in regulation in 2020.
Tariffs and Trade Wars
Under the Trump Administration (2016-2020), the US imposed or increased tariffs on imported goods to reduce the US trade deficit. The Trump Administration tariffs targeted important trade partners such as China, causing retaliation. In 2018-2019, a mounting trade war between China and the US-led six major ports on the West Coast to draft an open letter to President Trump, requesting he deescalate the trade war because of the impacts it was having on port communities. California is the US’s largest exporter to China of any state and saw a 30% decrease in exports — including steep declines in exports of crab and salmon — to China as a result of the trade war.