July 2025 - Director's Corner
June Highlights: Community, Connection, and Momentum
By Melissa Mahoney, July 7th
Outstanding in the Field dinner on the Capitola Wharf
Photo by Katie Katz
June was bursting with community-driven goodness. At a time when headlines feel heavy, our local community came through with their presence, heart, and action — showing up big for all three of our events: the May 28th Outstanding in the Field dinner on the Capitola Wharf, our June 3rd pop-up at Other Brother Brewery, and the June 10th Get Hooked Dinner at the Monterey Beach Hotel.
These gatherings weren’t just about incredible seafood (though there was plenty of that!). They were about building connections — new friends, renewed partnerships, and a growing wave of support for our local fishing community. It might be our best month yet for outreach and relationship-building. Many thanks to the fishermen who donated seafood, spoke, or supported these events!
That energy is especially meaningful as our fishing community faces a third consecutive year without a commercial salmon season. And yet, your presence and support at these events remind us: there’s never a wrong time to rally behind local seafood producers and help sustain our Community Seafood Program, which aims to deliver at least 25,000 seafood meals this year to those in need.
Thanks to everyone who attended a dinner, donated during our Week of Seafood Giving campaign, or did both — we raised over $15,000 in June to support seafood purchases directly from our local fleet. That’s real impact.
And the momentum doesn’t stop there.
We’re proud to share that the Monterey County Board of Supervisors has approved $50,000 in seed funding for our newest and boldest initiative yet: Future of Blue. This two-year project has been months in the making — shaped through conversations with our partner Regenerative California, community leaders, stakeholders, and public agencies — and we’re thrilled to see it taking shape.
Huge thanks to Economic Development Manager Richard Vaughn and his team, who welcomed us into the county process, helped us navigate each step, and showed unwavering support throughout. I learned so much by engaging with our local government and am inspired by the caring leadership we have here on the Central Coast.
We still have significant fundraising to do to fully implement Future of Blue. If you’re interested in learning more about this visionary investment in Monterey’s working waterfronts and fisheries economy, I’d love to connect: mmahoney@mbfishtrust.org
Until then, thank you for being part of this community.
Wishing you a peaceful, restorative July!