{"id":386311,"date":"2026-07-04T20:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386311\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T20:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:06:10","slug":"california-fishing-industrys-workforce-is-graying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386311\/","title":{"rendered":"California fishing industry\u2019s workforce is graying\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Deborah Brennan\u00a0
CalMatters Writer\u00a0<\/p>\n

In choppy surf\u00a0off of\u00a0La Jolla,\u00a0fisherman\u00a0Shane Volberding fought to land a yellowtail, a silver and\u00a0gold fish\u00a0prized in the sushi seafood trade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gulls wheeled above the water as the fish dove and darted against him, dragging the line.\u00a0One crank at a time, Volberding reeled it in, jabbed it with a\u00a0gaffe\u00a0and then hoisted it on\u00a0deck. As he grappled with the thrashing fish, his deckhand Destiny Louise Silva hauled in another yellowtail and dunked it in a bucket, tail up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The swift, back-to-back catch was the highlight of an unusually productive day on the water that yielded seven\u00a0yellowtail\u00a0and other fish, not counting the ones snatched by thieving sea lions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a really good day for yellowtails,\u201d Volberding said. \u201cThey\u2019re usually very hard to catch.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That lucky happenstance belies the unpredictability of California\u2019s commercial fishing sector, where the speculative nature of the catch collides with complex regulations, economic\u00a0hurdles\u00a0and a graying fleet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volberding, 27, is one of the younger captains in a fleet in which the average age is\u00a048\u00a0and many captains are looking toward retirement. And\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0one of\u00a0relatively few\u00a0who\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0enter the trade through family connections.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To address those shortfalls and protect the supply of locally caught seafood, UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography launched a fishing apprenticeship, designed to train new commercial\u00a0fishermen\u00a0on fishing techniques,\u00a0rules\u00a0and safety protocols.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program has propelled careers for a few, including Volberding. But it has also exposed gaps in the industry that prevent\u00a0fishermen\u00a0from making a living and discourage newcomers to the trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pay for commercial\u00a0fishermen\u00a0across the West Coast has plummeted over the\u00a0past decade, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Median annual crew pay dropped by about a third, from $90,468 in 2014 to $61,592 in 2024. Captains\u2019 earnings plunged from $173,271 to $108,972 over that period. In San Diego, pay rates are even lower.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s revealing a lot about what needs addressing within the industry, if we really want a resilient, sustainable food system with seafood as a part of it,\u201d said Theresa Talley, a coastal specialist with California Sea Grant, who coordinates the apprenticeship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DeckhandDeckhand Destiny Louise Silva works to reel in a yellowtail while fishing near the coast of La Jolla in San Diego on May 26, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters<\/p>\n

Training the next generation of fishers\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite its coastal locale, San Diego\u2019s fishing industry and seafood supply are more tenuous than you might imagine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least two-thirds of the seafood that Americans eat is imported, and some estimates paint an even bleaker picture. In a 2016 report, Talley estimated that just 10% of seafood consumed in the city of San Diego comes from local\u00a0fishermen, and only 8% of San Diego\u2019s 86 seafood markets consistently carried San Diego-sourced seafood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce dubbed the \u2018Tuna Capital of the World,\u2019 employing more than\u00a040,000 people\u00a0directly or indirectly in the tuna industry\u00a0\u2026 the county is now home to just 130 local commercial fishermen,\u201d Talley wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, the tuna on your plate might come from Mexico, while your salmon fillet was\u00a0likely farmed\u00a0in Chile,\u00a0Norway\u00a0or Canada. Imported seafood is often cheaper than U.S.-caught fish, which is subject to strict environmental rules and catch limits. Competing with less regulated fisheries puts\u00a0additional\u00a0strain on American fishing fleets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To sustain locally caught seafood and backfill the declining ranks of California\u2019s fishing fleet, Scripps introduced its apprenticeship in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program provides instruction in key aspects of the fishing trade, including Coast Guard safety protocols and emergency drill conductor training, fishing regulations,\u00a0methods\u00a0and conservation. It guides fledgling\u00a0fishermen\u00a0on how to market and sell their seafood.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFishing isn\u2019t just dropping your line in the water,\u201d Talley said. \u201cYou need to know navigation and safety and fishing and engine repair and business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was never going to produce large numbers of new deckhands for the fishing fleet. Classes are small, with just a handful of students per session. The program took a hiatus during the pandemic and then came back\u00a0on line\u00a0in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, 11 people have\u00a0graduated\u00a0and six are still fishing, Talley said. Four more students are in training now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apprentices\u00a0participate\u00a0in what Talley calls a \u201cboot camp style\u201d course over two or three months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It started in 2020 with\u00a0130 hours\u00a0of shore-based training, then added hands-on sessions on diesel engine repair and marine mechanics in partnership with the San Diego-based Maritime Institute. Then apprentices spend\u00a01,000 hours\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0job with local\u00a0fishermen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re training across these topical areas that the fishing communities and the fishing industry helped us identify,\u201d Talley said. \u201cAnd then we help connect the apprentices with commercial fishing vessels.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0where things get tricky. Although commercial fishing captains urged Scripps to create the apprenticeship, few\u00a0ultimately stepped\u00a0up to mentor graduates, Talley said. Some captains worried about losing time showing beginners the ropes. And the insurance cost of taking on a new crew member can be prohibitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For apprentices,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0unsteady gig work. Deckhands get a percentage of the catch, so their pay depends on the size of the haul.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0also expected to help ready the boat for fishing trips, scrub barnacles from the hull and prepare gear. Those tasks are typically unpaid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without another job, pension, or family support,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0tough to earn enough to live on,\u00a0fishermen\u00a0acknowledged.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A deckhand in San Diego earns about $15,000 to $50,000 net per year, said Peter Halmay, 85, a founder of the San Diego Fishermen\u2019s Working Group, and an urchin diver for more than half a century.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0below the per capita income of $57,083, and insufficient for housing and other expenses in one of the country\u2019s costliest cities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes to show you that a deckhand in the fishing business can\u2019t afford to live in San Diego,\u201d Halmay said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the problem we\u2019re getting at.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fishing captain can make $100,000 to $200,000 annually,\u00a0he said, but that\u2019s gross income, and\u00a0permits,\u00a0gear and other expenses take\u00a0a big chunk\u00a0out of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re entirely reliant on commercial fishing for all your economic needs, that\u2019s a hard puzzle to put all the pieces together to make that work consistently year after year,\u201d said Peter Brownell, 53, an earlier Scripps apprentice who left a career as a PhD sociologist at a San Diego nonprofit to become a fisherman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Halmay said\u00a0fishermen\u00a0need to support each other, build their\u00a0ranks\u00a0and engage the public. He helped develop the apprenticeship program with that goal in mind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to change the fishing\u00a0culture\u00a0and you have got to make the fishermen and the public appreciate this culture,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are professionals that take pride in bringing in their catch, and they bring in the best\u00a0catch\u00a0and they harvest sustainably because it\u2019s in their best interest to do so.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Birds\"BirdsBirds surround a fisherman\u2019s boat near the coast of La Jolla in San Diego on May 26, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters<\/p>\n

A day at sea\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volberding got hooked on the ocean early. Born in San Diego, he lived in Idaho for a few years as a child before returning to his hometown, where he \u201cfell in love with surfing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He stayed near the water, working at a fish market cutting and selling fish, in seafood restaurants and on sport-fishing boats. In\u00a02020\u00a0he joined the Scripps apprenticeship program, which covered the basics of commercial fishing. But he really cut his teeth with his mentors, who set him to work pulling spot prawn traps, taught him fishing techniques and instilled the \u201cwork ethic thing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe them huge, dramatic credit for my success,\u201d he said. \u201cThey work harder than anyone I know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He fished from a jet ski for a while then got his own boat, a 25-foot\u00a0Imemsa\u00a0panga. Last month he sailed out in mid-morning fog to fish off La Jolla. As rough waves rocked the narrow boat, Volberding and Silva pulled in a small mako shark and dozens of mackerels while hunting for yellowtail to a party music soundtrack of The Commodores\u2019 \u201cBrick House\u201d and Taio Cruz\u2019 \u201cDynamite.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fishing has always come naturally to him: \u201cWhen I was in\u00a0Boy Scouts\u00a0I was the kid catching all the fish and the other kids were wondering, how I was catching all the fish? I had a knack for it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Near La Jolla, Volberding moved\u00a0frequently\u00a0across the water, reading ocean color and temperature,\u00a0monitoring\u00a0atmospheric\u00a0pressure\u00a0and\u00a0watching for\u00a0birds gathering and fish flopping. Small splashes were mackerel. Bigger splashes meant yellowtail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As soon as he hooked one, he reeled hard as the powerful fish fought against the line. Several times sea lions beat him to it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got more bites \u2013 a big, big yellowtail, like a 30-pounder \u2013 and they got stuck in the kelp and a sea lion stole the yellowtail,\u201d\u00a0Volberding. \u201cAnd then it broke the line and then ate it with all his friends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As soon as they got fish on deck, Volberding and Silva euthanized them using a Japanese technique called\u00a0shinkei-jime. Inserting a wire into the spinal cord,\u00a0they killed the fish instantly to prevent the meat from spoiling and preserve its buttery texture and flavor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0just part of the job. Volberding markets his fish to high-end restaurants and sells them at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market at the Port of San Diego on Saturdays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He offers what he calls \u201cvalue-added\u201d products, including the\u00a0shinkei-jime\u00a0killed yellowtail and filleted mackerel, which command a higher price. Sometimes he crews on friends\u2019 boats, buys tuna from\u00a0them\u00a0and sells those fish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0gotta\u00a0be good at fishing,\u201d he said. \u201cBe smart.\u00a0Yeah, being good at sales.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Customers\"CustomersCustomers gather in front of fisherman Shane Volberding\u2019s booth at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market in downtown San Diego on June 20, 2026. This week\u2019s catch includes mackerel, yellowtail, bottomfish and mako shark. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters<\/p>\n

Not everyone can make it work\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Brownell, fishing was a mid-career switch from his\u00a0previous\u00a0job as research director for the Center on Policy Initiatives, an economic justice nonprofit based in San Diego.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely was interested in being in the water and operating boats, in my efforts to not\u00a0be operating\u00a0a desk,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He worked on habitat restoration in San Diego and got a seasonal job with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, before turning his attention to fishing. Brownell went through the Scripps apprenticeship, where he was introduced to Dan Major,\u00a0a fisherman\u00a0with Plan B Sustainable Fisheries in San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brownell crewed for Major, fishing for crab, rockfish,\u00a0sanddabs\u00a0and lobster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two eventually partnered on an experimental fishery for brown box crab, a chunky crustacean known for its sweet, delicate meat. In return for the opportunity to catch the spiky crabs, they gathered data for fisheries scientists.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good mentor, and I think we were a good team,\u201d Brownell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eventually Brownell bought his own fishing boat and marketed his fish at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. Then the bottom dropped out of his business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of what I was making on my own was fishing sanddabs, but then that fishery closed,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the vagaries of commercial fishing, is that you work on something that may not continue to be available to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0a common problem. While a\u00a0boat\u2019s\u00a0catch varies from day to day, the mere opportunity to fish is also speculative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to a commercial fishing license,\u00a0fishermen\u00a0need specific permits for most species. The permits are competitive and boat captains tend to hold them as investments, which means newer\u00a0fishermen\u00a0may be cut out of the fishery.\u00a0Halmay said only a fraction of the captains who hold urchin diving permits actually use them each year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even holding a permit for a species\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0get to fish for it. State and federal regulators manage fisheries to\u00a0maintain\u00a0healthy\u00a0populations, and\u00a0shut them down once the annual quota is met, or if environmental conditions threaten the species.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After winding down his fishing operation, Brownell moved to the Bay Area to run a debris removal boat for the Army Corps of Engineers, deploying navigation and mechanical skills he\u00a0acquired\u00a0in San Diego.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brownell\u00a0still keeps\u00a0his own boat docked at Fisherman\u2019s Wharf in San Francisco and\u00a0maintains\u00a0his commercial license in hopes of fishing the coveted salmon season. That fishery was closed for three\u00a0years, but\u00a0partially reopened this year. He plans to try his luck with salmon this summer when weather conditions permit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI do love both the fishing and the bounty of the sea and providing for people from the sea,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0hoping the fisheries continue to\u00a0rebound\u00a0and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0allowed more generous use in the years to come. Fingers crossed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Janelle Louie, another Scripps apprentice who fished for several years with the late San Diego Captain Doug Dirkse, started selling\u00a0T-shirts on a GoFundMe page to support their business after salmon fishery closures decimated the industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t aware of this issue when I started, but now understand how difficult it can be to stay afloat as a full-time small boat commercial fisherman,\u201d Louie wrote on the GoFundMe drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other apprentices have tried their hand at fishing before moving onto more stable employment. Darian Schramm, owner of Paramount Fish Co, mentored one of the Scripps apprentices, but found he couldn\u2019t offer steady enough work to keep him on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few years back Schramm, 48, made a similar career\u00a0U-turn as Brownell, turning in his laptop after 15 years in computer programming. The remote tech job allowed him to combine work, travel and hobbies, but he wanted to do \u201csomething potentially more useful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI could surf and fish and travel,\u201d as a programmer, he said.\u00a0\u201cThen the computer thing\u00a0just\u00a0kind of\u00a0soured\u00a0for me. Now\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0part of the food system here in San Diego, and I can give back to the community through fresh, local food.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was happy to take on an apprentice, Sebastian Torreblanca, and thought they worked well together. But he understood when Torreblanca took a full-time job with a local city instead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Sebastian, he was into it, he\u00a0loved it,\u201d Schramm said. \u201cBut at the end of the day he had a mortgage. He had to support his family.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would help if Scripps could subsidize apprentices while they get started, Schramm said. And he warned that new crew members should view the job as a starting point that requires investment of time before it pays dividends.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is getting your feet wet,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0halfway do it. You\u00a0have to\u00a0fully believe in it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the reason\u00a0fishermen\u00a0face tough odds is because they seldom join forces. Working on the water or the wharf, out of\u00a0Wi-Fi\u00a0and cellphone range, they have little opportunity to organize, attend\u00a0meetings\u00a0or lobby lawmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of fishermen are kind of solitary, so it\u2019s not easy to get them together,\u201d Schramm said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They guard their best spots and fishing methods, wary of giving away secrets to competitors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volberding declined to reveal certain techniques for landing and handling fish. But as he hauled in yellowtail throughout the recent fishing trip, he alerted friends by radio to let them know where fish were biting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0compromise his own catch. Around sundown it began to\u00a0sprinkle\u00a0and Volberding headed for shore. At dock he laid out a mako shark, two barracudas, a bucket of mackerel and seven\u00a0yellowtail\u00a0with gleaming, gold fins and tails, valued at\u00a0roughly $250\u00a0each, or around $13 per pound.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The apprenticeship aims to foster that kind of knowledge sharing by pairing novice fishermen with experts who can guide the next generation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get together, and we\u2019ll talk about it,\u201d Halmay said. \u201cWe\u2019ll share our experiences, and we\u2019ll all rise together. And that\u2019s how you\u2019re gonna succeed is by working together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fisherman\"FishermanFisherman Shane Volberding pulls a yellowtail onto his boat near the coast of La Jolla in San Diego on May 26, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Deborah Brennan\u00a0CalMatters Writer\u00a0 In choppy surf\u00a0off of\u00a0La Jolla,\u00a0fisherman\u00a0Shane Volberding fought to land a yellowtail, a silver and\u00a0gold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-386311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}