Community Seafood Program

A man in a camouflage hat and gloves placing a metal lobster trap into the water from a boat.

Sustaining Local Families and Fisheries

In Monterey Bay, fishermen and women have fed our coastal communities for generations. Today, they're also feeding neighbors facing food insecurity. Launched in November 2020, the Community Seafood Program provides healthy, sustainably harvested seafood to local families, farmworkers, seniors, and others in need — while delivering economic support to local fishermen, food workers, and seafood businesses.

Here's how it works: the Trust works with Monterey Bay seafood businesses to purchase catch from fishermen at a fair market rate. Those partners process and deliver the fish to local food relief organizations. The result is a rare win-win — nutritious local protein for people who need it, and a reliable market for the local fishing economy.

To date, we have purchased over 35,000+lbs of local, sustainably-caught seafood and donated over 141,533+ nutritious seafood meals in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.

Support this program

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Meet our Community Seafood Program partners

Seafood Suppliers

Food Relief Organizations

A stylized illustration of a dog with the text 'Pajaro Valley Lavies & Tishers' around it.

Meet some of our Community Seafood Program Partners

Peter Adame is the Communications and Sustainability Director with Lusamerica. Lusamerica became a CSP supply partner in 2023 and has helped us create a market for an underutilized local species of seafood called grenadier through this program. Learn more by watching this short video featuring Peter.

Meet Ian Cole, Co-owner and Operator of Ocean2Table. O2T has been a partner of the CSP since it’s inception. Take a few minutes to watch this short video and learn about why it’s so important to buy locally caught seafood.

Our collaborative effort reduces pressure on food relief organizations, provides thousands of community members access to a sustainable, healthy protein, and supports markets for local seafood, thereby fueling the local fishing economy and maintaining our local seafood processing infrastructure and labor force.

Together, we can feed our community and support Monterey Bay’s working waterfronts and local, sustainable seafood for years to come.

Support MONTEREY BAY COMMUNITY SEAFOOD

“What is unique about this program is that it is connecting the need for food, which is significant right now, with a lot of fishermen who are ready, willing, and able to catch fish and provide that to our community.”

— Alan Lovewell, Real Good Fish

“We’re tremendously grateful for the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust and the local fishermen who help us provide locally-sourced nutrition for our clients. This is an excellent example of creative collaboration. When it comes to working towards a common goal, we are stronger together.”

— Christine Winge, Meals on Wheels, Monterey Peninsula

“I love the Monterey Bay Community Seafood Program! I would love to see the program continue to move forward. The food banks love the fish and we love to supply them.”

— Walter Deyerle, F/V Sea Harvest IV

A woman with long brown hair, glasses, and a friendly smile, wearing a black top, against a gray background.

“In our pantry, giving fresh fish to clients to prepare at home has been an extra special treat. Many would not be able to afford to buy this fish. We are grateful to provide this resource.”

— Ashley Bridges, Director, Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes

In the News

Featured

Monterey Bay Program Donates Local Fish to Food Relief Organizations

Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust delivers locally caught fish on May 6, 2026, to Nancy's Project, a food relief organization that partners with the food pantry at St. Paul's Episcopal Church for their Wednesday food distribution, in Salinas, Calif.

Women in Business - the Carmel Pinecone

LIKE DORY in “Finding Nemo,” sometimes you just have to keep swimming, especially when it looks like there’s a long journey ahead. For Melissa Mahoney, that meant following her dream of becoming a marine biologist and ocean conservation activist like Jacques Cousteau — despite growing up in western Colorado.

Conservation vs. Fishing: Solving a Tough Tension in The Monterey Bay with Melissa Mahoney

Most people don’t realize how fragile and interconnected our local fisheries are and how conservation and industry are often seen as competing interests. Melissa Mahoney, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, reveals the surprising truth that protecting fish populations and supporting fishing communities can truly go hand in hand. She shares stories that challenge conventional thinking, from the deep history of fishing in California to innovative solutions that reconnect communities with their ocean resources.

No crab for Christmas, but local fishers still have catch to sell. Here's what to look for.

IT’S A SUNNY MORNING IN DECEMBER AND THE ROCKFISH AND BLACK COD ARE SHOWING UP IN GOOD NUMBERS, HUNGRY. At the docks in Moss Landing, Walter Deyerle, who fishes as part of a family fleet, offloads his catch from the boat straight into the back of a wholesale-to-the-public fish market his family opened in late 2023. The rockfish – specifically, vermillion rockfish, also known as “red snapper” or “rock cod” – are fresh, the red color vibrant and the fins twitching in the ice bucket.

Image: Daniel Dreifuss

Community Seafood Program fills bellies with local catch

To help fill empty bellies among the region's food insecure population, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust started the Community Seafood Program five years ago. It buys seafood from local fishing boats and donates the fresh fish to local food relief organizations.

The need is great.

Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust bolsters food assistance and fishing industry with Community Seafood Program

In today's newscast, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust created their Community Seafood Program to support commercial fishing during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue delivering fresh seafood during the government shutdown.

Rep. Panetta Authors and Introduces Legislation to Launch National Heritage Area Study for Monterey Bay Region

"The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust strongly supports Congressman Panetta's to re-introduce the Monterey Bay National Heritage Area Study Act," said Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust Executive Director Melissa Mahoney. “We appreciate that the study will uplift community voices and shine a light on our region’s unique cultural, historical, and ecological value, and provide an economic catalyst that helps support our local communities for generations to come.”

Santa Cruz’s Grey Bears joins Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust Community Seafood Program

Grey Bears, a nonprofit serving older Santa Cruz County adults through healthy food distributions and community programs, is partnering with Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust (MBFT) as a new member of its Community Seafood Program. This collaboration will bring sustainably caught, high-quality seafood and hot meal offerings to support Grey Bears’ food distributions, bringing new, fresh and local food options to the tables of Santa Cruz County seniors who are part of Grey Bears’ Healthy Food Program.

Fundraising to Provide Seafood for food Insecure Starts in June

The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust is gearing up for a digital campaign aimed at providing healthy, harvested seafood to those needing food assistance.

Starting June 9, the Fisheries Trust will kick-off the 2025 Week of Seafood Giving, with a goal of raising $5,000 for the Community Seafood Program. In addition, thanks to a private supporter, all donations up to $5,000 will be matched, doubling the impact and the number of meals donated.

The donation page can be found on the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust website at montereybayfisheriestrust.org . Donations can be made online June 9-15.

Farm-to-table trailblazer Jim Denevan returns to his roots with a dinner on Capitola Wharf

On Wednesday, a 175-foot table draped in white cloth stretched down the center of the Capitola Wharf and drew curious looks from the fishers, dog walkers and teens piled onto beach cruisers that passed by the unusual scene. Light glinted off wine glasses and mismatched plates at nearly 200 place settings while pelicans dove into the water and Capitola Village shone in its idyllic glory on the shore.

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