4. Fishing Profile: Commercial and Recreational Fisheries

4.1 Gear Types

Fishermen from San Pedro/Terminal Island primarily use the following gear types:

• Purse Seine
• Dive

4.2 Commercial Fishery

4.2.1 Fleet Description

In 2021, 112 of the state’s 6,650 commercial fishing license holders reported San Pedro as their home address, 110 of the state’s approximately 1,674 active commercial fishing vessels landed catch at the port, and 74 of the state’s 3,148 registered commercial fishing vessels were homeported at San Pedro. (Note: License counts are based on addresses in San Pedro and do not include other communities in the larger Los Angeles area. For all state licenses count does not reflect those with out-of-state addresses. For vessels registered with the US Coast Guard, owner mailing address city was used to determine home port.) The number of fishing license holders in San Pedro grew from 258 in 1998 to 317 in 2000, then varied some but overall declined to 112 in 2021 (Figure 5). San Pedro-based fishers are older on average than California fishers as a whole: the average age of commercial fishing license holders in Califorinia in 2021 was 49, with a median age of 48, whereas in San Pedro the average age was 54 and the median age was 56.

Figure 5: Commercial Fishing License Holders in San Pedro 1998-2021

For several state- and federally managed fisheries, a fishery-specific permit is required. In some cases such as the state-managed Nearshore Fishery (which covers 19 species, most of them rockfishes), the permit is assigned to the fisherman. In others such as the federally managed groundfish trawl fishery, the permit is assigned to the vessel. Fishing permits in 2018 (Figure 6) that were either linked with vessels homeported in San Pedro or to fishers with a San Pedro address included: 20 lobster permits (including operator and crewman), 13 squid permits (including vessel, lightboat and brail), 12 gillnet permits, 4 urchin permits (including dive and crew), and 2 drift gillnet permits for shark/swordfish.

Figure 6: Commercial fishing permits by type held by fishers and vessels with a San Pedro/Terminal Island address and statewide, in 2021

CaliforniaSan Pedro/Terminal Island

The number of San Pedro commercial fishing vessels has fluctuated over time (Figure 7). Between 1990 and 1998 the resident fleet shrank by almost half (74 vessels), then from 1998 to 1999, it shrank again by two-thirds (65 vessels). This contraction is largely a result of declines in increasing regulation and declining landings and revenues in the tuna and red sea urchin fisheries. From 2000-2021, the fleet size varied, increasing overall to 74 vessels in 2021. In 2021, vessels homeported at San Pedro averaged 34 ft in length, ranging from 13 to 79.6 ft, with a median length of 37.5 ft (Figure 8).

Figure 7: Commercial fishing vessels homeported at San Pedro/Terminal Island and average vessel length 1989-2021

Figure 8: Commercial fishing vessels homeported in San Pedro by length in 2021

4.2.2 Primary Fisheries and Trends

In terms of commercial landings for the period 1992-2021 (Figure 9), market squid and coastal pelagic species (primarily Pacific sardine and Pacific mackerel) have been the top fisheries, together accounting for 89% of landings at the port (Figure 10). In terms of ex-vessel value for the same period 1992-2021 (Figure 11), market squid, highly migratory species (primarily swordfish and tuna), and coastal pelagic species, have been the top fisheries, together accounting for 83% of ex-vessel value.

Figure 9: Top Commercial Fisheries for San Pedro for periods: 2021, 2017-2021, 1992-2021

Market squidHighly migratory speciesCoastal pelagic speciesOther

Figure 10: Commercial landings (by weight) at San Pedro for top fisheries and all else, 1989-2021*

* The dataset for this graph has been redacted to remove data deemed confidential by California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CDFW does not publicly release data pertaining to three or fewer fishers, vessels, or businesses. 

Figure 11: Ex-vessel value of commercial landings at San Pedro for top fisheries and all else, 1989-2021*

* The dataset for this graph has been redacted to remove data deemed confidential by California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CDFW does not publicly release data pertaining to three or fewer fishers, vessels, or businesses. 

After constituting a significant portion of all ex-vessel value in the 1990s, landings of highly migratory species declined in the 2000s after the closure of the commercial longline fishery in U.S. waters in 2004 (Figure 12).

Figure 12: San Pedro commercial highly migratory species fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

The market squid fishery expanded from the early 1990s until 2012 (Figure 13) but experienced steep declines in landings in 2015 (this trend was statewide). Over the same period, landings of coastal pelagic species have declined at the port (Figure 14).

Figure 13: San Pedro commercial market squid landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

Figure 14: San Pedro commercial coastal pelagic fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

Among the other commercial fisheries with landings at San Pedro are red sea urchins, however, landings and value have declined since the lucrative international market collapsed in 2000 (Figure 15).

Figure 15: San Pedro commercial red sea urchin fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

More recently, from 2017-2021 market squid and highly migratory species combined to be San Pedro’s top fisheries in terms ex-vessel value (70% of port total) and, with coastal pelagic species, the top species in terms of landings (95% of port total) (Figure 9).

4.3 Recreational Fishery

Of the state’s 622 licensed Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessels (CPFV)—for-hire recreational fishing boats—in 2021, 16 (3%) are homeported in San Pedro, accounting for 6% of trips statewide. Based on CPFV trip logs and landings data, the primary recreational fisheries are rockfish, ocean whitefish, and scorpionfish; rockfish species are the most targeted after unspecified species (e.g. ‘other’). These numbers do not reflect recreational fishing conducted on private vessels or shoreside. Groundfish catches accounted for 34% of all for-hire landings at the port in 2021, followed by ocean whitefish (25%), scorpionfish (12%), basses (7%), and bonito (6%). Although San Pedro was historically an important port for barracuda sport fishing, landings declined in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of increased pressure as well as environmental factors. Sanddab landings increased in the 2000s amidst increased rockfish regulations and decreased barracuda landings.

In 2021, the 16 CPFVs homeported at San Pedro reported a total of 2,217 trips. Based on the CPFV logbook data for 1989-2021, the number of reported CPFV trips has varied somewhat over time, peaking in 1997 (2,876) then steadily declining to 1,334 trips in 2009. Averaged over the period 1989-2021, basses accounted for 25%, groundfish accounted for 17%, and barracuda sanddabs each accounted for 11% of CPFV landings (Figure 16). Landings grew from about 250,000 fish in the early 1990s to almost 450,000 fish in 2001, before dropping back down to 260,000 in 2003 following the groundfish disaster and rockfish area and seasonal closures (Figure 17). Landings continued to decline through the 2010s, rising briefly in 2018 and 2019 to about 260,000 before dropping to 170,000 in 2021.

Figure 17: CPFV landings at San Pedro, 1989-2021

4.4 Fishery Management

California’s commercial and recreational fisheries are variously governed by a mix of state and federal entities with distinct and overlapping management authorities depending on the species and sector. State management authority lies with the Legislature, the Fish and Game Commission and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Federal authority lies primarily with the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Other state and federal entities also play a role in the governance of some fisheries.

Information about management of this port's primary fisheries:

• Coastal Pelagic Species
• Market Squid
• Red Sea Urchin
• Yellowfin Tuna and Skipjack Tuna

The recreational fisheries for yellowfin and skipjack tuna are managed by the state Fish and Game Commission and CDFW in coordination with NOAA Fisheries and the PFMC under the federal HMS FMP. Management measures include gear restrictions, bag (catch) limits and, for CPFVs, logbooks.

For San Pedro’s primary fisheries Table 3 summarizes relevant management authorities and measures and Figure 18 summarizes seasonality as of 2018-19.

Figure 18: Seasonality of Selected South Coast California Fisheries, 2018-19 (adapted from Culver & Pomeroy)

4.5 Fishing Organizations