Calder Deyerle, F/V Sea Harvester
Photo credit: David Hill
Calder Deyerle is one of the most recognizable faces in the Monterey Bay fishing community. He’s young, approachable, and engaged, having taken a lead on finding solutions to many of the biggest problems that local fishermen and women face.
Calder fishes for Dungeness crab, King salmon, California halibut, black cod, and rockfish out of Moss Landing on the F/V Sea Harvester, his 32-foot fiberglass boat. He grew up crewing for his father Richard and uncle Daniel Deyerle, owners of Sea Harvest restaurants and fish markets and a wholesale seafood business by the same name. The fishing family has a small fleet of boats in Moss Landing, including the F/V Sea Harvest IV, skippered by his brother Walter.
“I’ve been fishing pretty much since I was born,” Calders says. “I would go out a few times with my dad and uncle and I would fish for rock cod after school.”
For Calder the Monterey Bay is more than a picturesque office where he makes a living, it’s woven into the fabric of his life. Surfing, scuba diving, and sport fishing remain regular pursuits. This passion for the ocean is shared with his family — his father and uncle got into the fishing business to support their passion for surfing. Calder and his brother Walter can also be seen paddling out with each other at Mavericks and Carmel Point to surf monstrous waves, often exceeding 50 feet in height.
The only other profession Calder considered as a teenager was becoming a professional surfer. He used his family’s trade to finance surf films and to travel the world chasing waves.
Calder shares this passion for the ocean with his wife Kristen Deyerle and their two children Miles, 10, and Meadow, 4. Kristen is the manager of the Deyerle family’s Sea Harvest Restaurant and Market in Monterey, and both Miles and Meadow regularly join their father on the water, harvesting the local catch.
Photo credit: David Hill
Calder is also an active advocate for the Monterey Bay commercial fishing community, unafraid of wading into some of the most contentious issues in California fisheries. He joined the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, a multi-stakeholder body created after a climate change-driven spike in whale entanglements from 2015-2017, after realizing there wasn’t enough representation of Monterey Bay fishermen and women. He is also an industry advisor for the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust and is a member of the Trust’s Lost Gear Recovery Team.
Calder and Miles made national news a few years ago when they helped rescue a Humpback whale entangled in a line from a crab pot. “Miles refused to leave the whale,” Calder explained. “So we called it in and stayed with the whale until the rescue team arrived.” Calder then began training to be a first responder for whale rescue. It makes sense, as he’s out on the Monterey Bay almost daily.
Calder also has a sea urchin dive permit. While he doesn’t scuba dive for urchins regularly, he has been involved with efforts to combat the explosion of purple urchin populations, which have wiped out large swaths of kelp forests in the region, creating what’s known as “urchin barrens.”
Among commercial fishing communities throughout the United States, there has long been fear of a “graying of the fleet,” where fishermen and women age without young blood to carry fisheries into the future. But with the next generation like Calder, his brother Walter, and other young fishermen and women skippering boats out of Monterey bay ports, the torch is poised to be passed to strong, capable hands.