4. Fishing Profile: Commercial and Recreational Fisheries

4.1 Gear Types

Fishermen from Santa Barbara primarily use the following gear types:

• Dive
• Traps and Pots
• Longline
• Trawl

4.2 Commercial Fishery

4.2.1 Fleet Description

In 2021, 232 of the state’s 6,650 commercial fishing license holders reported Santa Barbara as their home address, 155 of the state’s approximately 1,674 active commercial fishing vessels landed catch at the port, and 166 of the state’s 3,148 registered commercial fishing vessels were homeported at Santa Barbara. (Note: License counts are based on addresses in Santa Barbara and do not include neighboring communities. 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 Santa Barbara grew from 253 in 1998 to 291 in 1999, dropped to 197 in 2005, then slowly increased to 232 by 2021 (Figure 8). Santa Barbara-based fishers are slightly older than California fishers as a whole: the average age of commercial fishing license holders in California in 2021 was 49, with a median age of 48, whereas in Santa Barbara the average age was 50 and the median age was 53.

Figure 8: Commercial Fishing License Holders in Santa Barbara 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, 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 2021 (Figure 9) that were either linked with vessels homeported in Santa Barbara or to fishers with a Santa Barbara address included: 152 sea urchin permits (including dive and crewman permits), 118 lobster permits (including operator and crewmen permits), 52 southern rock crab permits, 30 deeper nearshore and 16 nearshore fishery permits, 22 ridgeback or golden prawn permits, 8 drift gillnet permits for shark/swordfish, and 40 salmon stamps (24 salmon vessel). Salmon stamps are an indicator of the number of fishermen participating in commercial salmon fishery and typically are not limited; salmon vessel permits are restricted and are an indicator of the number of vessels/operations allowed to participate in the fishery.

Figure 9: Commercial fishing permits by type held by fishers and vessels with a Santa Barbara address and statewide, in 2021

CaliforniaSanta Barbara

The number of Santa Barbara commercial fishing vessels has fluctuated over time (Figure 10). Between 1990 and 1998 the resident fleet shrank by about 20% (52 vessels), and between 1998 and 2000 it shrank again by more than half (105 vessels). This contraction is largely a result of declines in the groundfish fishery, which prompted the 2000 Federal fishery disaster declaration, as well as the collapse of the red sea urchin export market in the early 2000s. However, between 2000 and 2021, the fleet grew by 50% from 104 to 166 vessels, in part due to the expansion of the California spiny lobster and rock crab fisheries. In 2021, vessels homeported at Santa Barbara averaged 29 ft in length, ranging from 12 to 84 ft, with a median length of 30 ft (Figure 11).

Figure 10: Commercial fishing vessels homeported at Santa Barbara and average vessel length 1989-2021

Figure 11: Commercial fishing vessels homeported in Santa Barbara by length in 2021

4.2.2 Primary Fisheries and Trends

In terms of both commercial landings for the period 1992-2021 (Figure 12), red sea urchin and rock crab have been the top two fisheries, together accounting for 76% of landings (Figure 13). In terms of value, red sea urchin, California spiny lobster, rock crab and groundfish were the top fisheries accounting for 84% of the ex-vessel value at the port (Figure 14).

Figure 12: Top Commercial Fisheries for Santa Barbara for periods: 2021, 2017-2021, 1992-2021

California spiny lobsterGroundfishRock crab

Red sea urchinOther

Figure 13: Commercial landings (by weight) at Santa Barbara 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 14: Ex-vessel value of commercial landings at Santa Barbara 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. 

Along the California coast, annual groundfish landings dropped substantially through the 2000s after the 2000 groundfish disaster, however, in Santa Barbara landings and value have increased since 2010 (Figure 15) as fishers have successfully targeted southern sablefish stocks and nearshore rockfish with fixed gear. As Figures 16 and 17 show, the distribution of catch among groundfish species groups (e.g. nearshore rockfish, shelf and slope rockfish, roundfish, such as sablefish, etc.) shifted with implementation of the Nearshore Fishery Management Plan and the establishment of the Federal Rockfish Conservation Area (Table 2) (Source). Overall shelf and slope landings have decreased while roundfish (e.g. sablefish and lingcod) as well as thornyheads) landings increased.

Figure 15: Santa Barbara commercial groundfish fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2018

Figure 16: Ex-vessel value of commercial landings of groundfish species groups at Santa Barbara, 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 17: Weight of commercial landings of groundfish species groups at Santa Barbara, 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. 

Among the other commercial fisheries with landings at Santa Barbara are prawns, market squid and California halibut. Market squid accounted for 16% of the total landings at the port from 1995-2005 while the international market grew rapidly (Figure 18). Squid had particularly strong years in 1996 (40%), 1997 (33%)—before the closure—and again in 2000 (35%) and 2001 (30%). Ridgeback prawns were a significant fishery in years when market squid landings were down, making up 18% of ex-vessel value in 1999 and 17% in 2000 (Figure 14). The port was also affected by the collapse, and eventual closure, of the abalone fishery in the late 1990s.

Figure 18: Santa Barbara commercial market squid fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 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. 

More recently, from 2017-2021 California spiny lobster, groundfish, red sea urchin and rock crab were Santa Barbara’s top fisheries in terms of ex-vessel value (Figure 12). Red sea urchin, rock crab and groundfish were Santa Barbara’s top fisheries in terms of landings for the same period (Figure 12). Sea urchin landings have declined since 2005, however, value has varied (Figure 19). California spiny lobster value has increased steadily since the late 1990s, despite a period of decreased landings in the 2000s (Figure 20). Rock crab landings increased substantially from 2010-2015 and then declined slightly (as they did throughout the state) from 2015-2021 (Figure 21).

Figure 19:Santa Barbara commercial red sea urchin fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

Figure 20: Santa Barbara commercial California spiny lobster fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

Figure 21: Santa Barbara commercial rock crab fishery landings and ex-vessel value, 1989-2021

4.3 Recreational Fishery

Of the state’s 622 licensed Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessels (CPFV)––for-hire recreational fishing boats––in 2021, eight (1%) are homeported in Santa Barbara, accounting for 2% of trips statewide. Based on CPFV trip logs and landings data, the primary recreational fisheries are rockfish and ocean whitefish; rockfish species and lingcod are the most targeted species. These numbers do not reflect recreational fishing conducted on private vessels or shoreside. Nearshore groundfish catches accounted for 73% of all for-hire landings at the port in 2021(Figure 22). Rock scallop and California spiny lobster became important supplemental target species in the early 2000s, especially as groundfish restrictions constrained the fishery.

In 2021, the eight CPFVs homeported at Santa Barbara reported a total of 808 trips. Based on the CPFV logbook data for 1989-2021, the number of reported CPFV trips has varied considerably over time, peaking in 1997 at almost 1,500 trips then declining to less than 500 in 2004, following the federal groundfish fishery disaster declaration. (Note: The precise data on numbers of trips cannot be reported for most years for Santa Barbara due to confidentiality rules when there are fewer than three vessels in a port in a given year.) Trips were maintained in the 500-600 range from 2004-2014 before climbing to more than 800 in 2018. Averaged over the years 1989-2021, groundfish accounted for 60%, basses accounted for 9%, Pacific mackerel accounted for 7% of and rock scallop accounted for 4% of CPFV landings (Figure 22). Landings dropped from more than 200,000 fish in 1992 to less than 50,000 in 2003 (Figure 23). Landings slowly increased in the 2010s to around 153,000 fish in 2021.

Figure 23: CPFV landings at Santa Barbara, 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:

• California Spiny Lobster
• Groundfish
• Red Sea Urchin
• Rock Crab

For Santa Barbara’s primary fisheries, Table 3 summarizes relevant management authorities and measures and Figure 24 summarizes seasonality as of 2018-19.

Figure 24: Seasonality of Selected Santa Barbara Channel Fisheries, 2018-19 (adapted from Culver & Pomeroy)

4.5 Fishing Organizations