As quality safety manager at Lusamerica , Carmen Madrigal is the person in charge of making sure all quality control and safety procedures are followed. Here's how she makes sure that the seafood on your plate is high-quality and delicious.

A few years before community-supported fisheries (CSFs) even became a thing, Heidi Rhodes was offering locally caught fish at farmers markets in Santa Cruz. Fast-forward nearly two decades, Rhodes is still selling fish at farmers markets but is also managing a CSF, a fish market at Santa Cruz Harbor, and Shucked Raw Bar — a seafood catering business.

Women are an integral part of our fishing community, often running the family businesses that bring seafood from the ocean to our tables. Meet Heidi Rhodes, Jenn Gerard Lovewell, and Kristen Deyerle, who all work in local family fishing businesses.

While the commercial fishing industry often attracts those with an independent spirit, creativity, and a sense of entrepreneurship, few embody these traits as fully as Santa Cruz fisherman Khevin Mellegers. He currently fishes for sablefish and Dungeness crab on the F/V Areona.

There are many ways people get into the seafood business. For Jenn Gerard Lovewell of Real Good Fish, an early career providing locally sourced, nutritious meals to school children in cafeterias led her to her current work sourcing sustainable seafood from the Moss Landing docks.

Sabina Duran has worked in the seafood industry since 1992 when she started at Del Mar Seafoods. In 2001, she joined the team at Deyerle Brothers Seafood. With nearly 30 years of experience, Duran’s knowledge of the physiology of fish from the Monterey Bay might rival the scientists.

Tuk learned to fish from his father, and began fishing on his boat after his father passed away. Tuk believes fishing is a lifestyle, and continues this work to provide fish for seafood lovers, and to make his father proud.

Roger has been working in the Monterey Bay Fishing Community for close to 50 years. He’s seen the industry change quite a bit, but still loves what he’s doing: providing local seafood for local people to eat.