Sustaining Local Families and Fisheries

In Monterey Bay, local fishermen and women have been feeding our coastal communities for generations, and today, they are feeding members of our community who are faced with food insecurity.

In November 2020, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust launched the Monterey Bay Community Seafood Program to provide healthy, sustainably harvested seafood to local families, farmworkers, seniors, and others in need of food assistance, along with economic support to our local fishermen, food workers, and seafood businesses.

We work with Monterey Bay seafood businesses to purchase seafood from fishermen at a fair market rate. They then process and deliver the fish to local food relief organizations.

To date, we have purchased over 20,000 lbs of local, sustainably-caught seafood and donated over 53,000 nutritious seafood meals in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.

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Meet our Community Seafood Program partners:

Seafood Suppliers Food Relief Organizations

Lusamerica, Moss Landing Al & Friends, Monterey

Ocean2Table, Santa Cruz Food Bank of Monterey County, Salinas

Real Good Fish, Moss Landing Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey

Sea Harvest, Moss Landing Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes, Watsonville

H&H Fresh Fish, Santa Cruz Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County, Watsonville

The Big Share, Big Sur

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 of the 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

“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

Our Ocean Backyard | Holiday dining and our changing seas; examining the future of seafood

For many of us, one of the dining delights of the holiday season is a feast of fresh crab caught right here in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Local fishermen and restaurants have long benefitted from the economic boom of holiday seafood sales and many locals relish the opportunity to enjoy a “homegrown” delicacy with visiting friends and family. The iconic Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister, or as they’re called on the dock, “Dungies,” live in nearshore waters from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, all the way south to Point Conception, just north of Santa Barbara. Occasionally, Dungeness crabs are found as far south as Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Their name originates from the Port of Dungeness on the Olympic Peninsula, where they were first harvested commercially.

When it comes to seafood, what does ‘local and sustainable’ really mean?

The trendiest addition to a seafood restaurant isn’t a coveted oyster or a sought-after filet; it’s the words “sustainable” and “local” printed at the bottom of menus and on “about” pages on websites. More and more chefs in Santa Cruz County, particularly at higher-end restaurants, are choosing to focus on seafood menus that are considered environmentally friendly, motivated by a desire to use the freshest, highest-quality ingredients and a sense of ocean stewardship, they say.

California Fishing Grounds Closure Proposed to Make Way for Coral Research

The US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed closing fishing grounds off California's central coast to allow federal scientists to research and restore coral reefs west of Monterey Bay. [...]

Local Fish Deliveries are Hitting Food Banks Across the County This Month

Katie Rodriguez here. I recently spoke with the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust to learn all about their Community Seafood Program. Simply put, it’s a program that plays a powerful role as the middle-man that both helps sustain fishermen and local fisheries, as well as get delicious seafood to lower income folks across Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

According to the 2022 Monterey County Community Health Needs Assessment, over 40% of people living in the county were determined to be food insecure.

As Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust turns 10, local seafood is increasingly catching on.

For generations, Monterey Bay’s identity was inseparable from fishing. It was a backbone of the local economy, particularly in the City of Monterey, where it inspired one of John Steinbeck’s most famous novels, Cannery Row. But fishing practices were often unsustainable, and sardine and abalone populations plummeted.

"Bay Area Fisheries Working Against the Tide of Shortened or Canceled Seasons" on KQED

Though one of its most famous attractions is Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco and the Bay Area’s thriving fishing industry is not what it once was. A shortened season for Dungeness crab, a canceled salmon season (the second cancellation in a row), and climate change are taking a toll on fisheries. We talk to people who make their living catching and selling fish and hear how they are surviving and adapting to this new reality.

ED Melissa Mahoney on KSQD "Talk of the Bay"

Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust Executive Director, Melissa Mahoney, was recently interviewed on KSQD "Talk of the Bay" with Christine Barrington. You can listen to the 25-minute conversation here, where they discuss the Community Seafood Program, and the Trust's mission to protect and sustain our fisheries.