Meet Skylar Campbell, Fisherman (VIDEO)
Skylar Campbell on the F/V Ocean Warrior
Photo: TrimTab Media
#KnowYourFisherman
Skylar Campbell
F/V Ocean Warrior
Monterey, CA
Skylar Campbell represents the younger generation of Monterey Bay fishermen. He owns his own salmon vessel, and runs the Ocean Warrior for its owner, fishing for King salmon, rock crab, spot prawns and deeper nearshore rockfish.
“I’m sure I’m living somebody’s dream. I admit, sometimes I fantasize about a steady income, but really, I know I’m blessed to live like this.” — Skylar Campbell
Skylar Campbell owns a salmon boat and runs the F/V Ocean Warrior out of Monterey, California. Since he was much younger, he always wanted to fish commercially.
“I was really interested in how to make it into commercial fishing because I didn't understand it. I didn't understand anything about it, and I couldn't get anyone to take me fishing,” says Skylar. “I was working at a fish market and was really trying to hang around [the docks] and eventually get on a boat. And Jiri from the San Giovanni needed a guy - so I went and I got my commercial fishing license, and that was my first trip on an actual boat. I had a little commercial skiff that I would do sanddabs and this and that,” says Skylar.
When he switched from recreational fishing to commercial, from hook and line to working as a deckhand on a trawler, it was a totally different experience.
“It was crazy going from catching small amounts of fish hook-and-line, to using a trawl net to load the entire deck. I mean, you dumped the net out, and you'd be up in your knees in fish where you couldn't walk, and you just have to sort your way through it for the next four, five, six hours while you reset the net and do another tow,” says Skylar.
After working on the San Giovanni, Skylar started fishing for Dungeness crab, and more hook-and-line fisheries on his own boat. After almost losing a finger on his first trip longlining for black cod and fishing for salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska, he eventually became the captain of a commercial boat in Monterey, catching groundfish, rock crab and spot prawns. Today, he runs the F/V Ocean Warrior for its owner, and also fishes for salmon and other species off his own boat, the F/V Sable.
The F/V Ocean Warrior in Half Moon Bay after offloading King Salmon in June 2020. Photo: TrimTab Media
What does a day of salmon fishing look like for you?
“A day of salmon fishing [used to] look like waking up really early in my own bed, driving down to the harbor, starting up the boat, going out from the harbor, fishing a day and then coming back in, delivering, and going back and sleeping in my bed. That was up until this year, that was my salmon life. Now it looks like traveling a long distance to get to the port where you're going to work out of, living on a boat, and going out fishing from sunup to sundown,” says Skylar.
“You’re anchoring somewhere, if you're within a reasonable distance, say 10 or 15 miles [from port], getting out of the way of the shipping lanes and just drifting all night with the generator running and your lights going on, with the AIS going so ships can see you. Or, you’re running all night to the next spot where there's fish being caught.
You’re coming in two, three, four days later with a larger amount of fish than you would with a day trip. You're cooking on the boat, you're sleeping, eating, doing everything else. This boat is 20-foot wide and 58-feet long, so it's a lot of running around because I don't have controls in the back of the boat. It's difficult, but it can be done,” says Skylar.
Skylar in the cabin of the F/V Ocean Warrior. Photo: TrimTab Media
For Skylar, fishing is a huge life commitment. He feels pulled in two directions by fishing. While he loves the work, it’s often hard to know when it’s worth it and when it’s not, especially with the complicated regulations and restrictions he needs to be aware of and follow to harvest seafood sustainably.
“It’s very difficult to be a fisherman. By the time I started fishing, things had already been restricted to the point where all I knew was that you can't get there from here,” says Skylar.
“I've been taking more time to find out how decisions are made and why they're made a certain way and who makes the decisions and what data they use. And I make public comment when I can. I'm just not there yet where I can fully participate. You invest so much of your life and time figuring it out. It feels like a place where I really need to be, but I also feel slightly sucked in. I admit, sometimes I fantasize about a steady income, but really, I know I’m blessed to live like this,” says Skylar.
Skylar Campbell (33) and Mike Ricketts (86) - the younger and older generations of Monterey Fishermen. Photo: TrimTab Media
Skylar sells his seafood to Norcal Seafood, Ocean Fresh, and Real Good Fish - and he is licensed to sell seafood off his boat.
“I sell off the boat to consumers or restaurants that want to buy small, artisanal batches of fish directly from the fishermen and not an aggregated catch from many different boats,” says Skylar. “Your food shouldn't be more well-traveled than you. You should eat seasonally with produce and seafood. Rarely do you get to meet the person that harvested your chicken or butchered your beef, or raised the cows, or slaughtered the pig.
Fishing is cool because you can actually go down to the boat and meet the guy that harvested the salmon or the crab or the halibut, and you can have a conversation with them,” says Skylar.
Skylar offloading King Salmon in Half Moon Bay, California in June 2020. Photo: Sherry Flumerfelt
Skylar’s Instagram feed @montereyfishermansmarket
Follow Skylar on Instagram @montereyfishermansmarket to find out when he will be selling off K-Dock in Monterey - he posts 24 hours in advance of dock sales.
“When I do dock sales, I meet a pretty good cross-section of who's in the area. With crab, you'll get somebody from the West Coast of Mexico who uses that same crab in a completely different way as somebody who is from the West Coast of California, or somebody who's a Pacific Islander who does another thing with it.
Or with salmon, you have somebody from the East Coast that does something completely different than somebody from the West Coast or from a completely different part of the world. I end up meeting all these people and figuring out how each species shows up in their culture, and what they do with it. I like providing a really fresh product for all these people to eat,” says Skylar.