Our Story

From Crisis to Comeback

Two crew members on a research vessel deploying a large net into the ocean, with one person in a red jacket and the other in a blue and yellow suit, under a clear sky.
Two fishermen are processing a large catch of fish on a boat, surrounded by tons of fish on the deck, with fishing nets and equipment hanging overhead.

Driven by passion

Monterey Bay's identity has always been tied to fishing — it inspired Steinbeck's Cannery Row. But by 2000, after years of dwindling stocks, the federal government declared the West Coast groundfish fishery a commercial disaster. The recovery that followed is one of the great environmental success stories: by 2014, the fishery was certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, and Seafood Watch upgraded 21 species from 'Avoid' to 'Best Choice' or 'Good Alternative.'

But a new threat emerged. Under the federal “catch shares” system, the right to fish can be bought and sold — and local fishing rights were being sold off to large, out-of-state operators. Once Monterey Bay lost them, they'd be nearly impossible to get back. So in 2013, following the City of Monterey's Fishing Community Sustainability Plan, a group of community members came together. In September 2014, they launched the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust. A year later, The Nature Conservancy divested more than $1 million in local fishing rights to the Trust, and leasing began.

A decade on, the Trust holds those rights in trust for the community, feeds tens of thousands of neighbors through the Community Seafood Program, and is helping rebuild the working waterfront for the next generation.

See The Programs Behind the Mission