Progress is popping.
International ocean advocacy organization Oceana reports trials of so-called pop-up fishing gear—aka “ropeless” or “on-demand”—on the West Coast this spring were the most successful to date.
Twelve commercial California Dungeness crab fishermen from Morro Bay to Crescent City hauled in $1.4 million worth of catch as central California waters were closed to conventional crab gear to prevent whale entanglements.
The report spotlights small boat crabber Khevin Mellegers of Santa Cruz, who has participated in the experiment since its inception, testifying the gear he used only failed to surface twice out of 568 deployments.
Mellegers deserves credit for risking the ire of other fishermen who believe the shortening of the traditional season and the push for costly new pop-up gear will only accelerate their demise.
“My intentions were to do this for myself, my family, and also to help provide something for a lot of the other smaller boats,” Mellegers says.
That evokes something San Francisco–based fisherman Brand Little told me as I’ve continued to track the story, which one commercial fishermen-journalist colleague calls the most controversial he’s encountered across years reporting on oceans.
Little notes the new technology slows him down “four- to five-fold” and is expensive, but is better than nothing.
“I don’t think pop-up gear can work as a career…” he told me last year, “but our opportunity for conventional [crabbing] now is a short winter fishery…that’s not enough, and this lets me at least have a part-time spring job without working at McDonald’s. I can’t live on it, but I can’t live without it.”
More at Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust’s website, montereybayfisheriestrust.org, where I’m a contributor.
EXTRA POINT
Local institution The Point Market (23040 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz)—dependable for coffee, smoothies and all-day breakfast burritos like the best-selling Barrel with eggs, potato, bacon, avocado and a blend of Mexican cheeses—has added another location to its growing family of spots. The new outpost occupies the former Flashbird in the Safeway-anchored shopping complex in Scotts Valley (245-Z Mt. Hermon Road) and is doing a similar lineup, minus the market items, but with new site-specific specials. The most popular among them has been the smashburger, available single or double-stacked. Hours are 6am–9pm, @thepointmarket on Instagram.
TIME TO RISE
The family behind the Sushi Garden trio of restaurants is pledging to bounce back after a fire ravaged their Capitola location July 28. The good news: 1) No one was hurt, and 2) The home of special rolls like Dr. Woo’s and the fire-roasted Chef Gone Wild will return to life once necessary repairs and restoration are complete. The owners do offer a heartfelt note on their website, thanking followers for their understanding and adding, “In the meantime, we appreciate your support at our Aptos [38 Rancho Del Mar] and Watsonville [1441 Main St.] locations. Your continued love means everything to us, and we’ll keep you updated as we rebuild and get ready to welcome you back to Capitola soon.” Order at sushigardencapitola.com.
NOSH NOTES
Executive Chef Gus Trejo has changed posts within the Ensemble hotel group, leaving his seasoned team in place at Dream Inn’s Jack O’Neill Restaurant & Lodge and heading for Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley…Izakaya West End has closed to free up owner-operators Quinn Cormier and Geoff Hargrave to focus on January 2025 debut Tortilla Shack (1505 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz) and East End Gastropub (1501 41st Ave., Suite I, Capitola), which has added Tuesday service and a 4–5pm happy hour to complement the late night HH 8–9pm Monday, Thursday-Saturday and 7–8pm Sunday, @tortillashack1 on IG, eastendpub.com…Big ups to the Santa Cruz Warriors for their work with last month’s Helping Hands initiative, sending staff over to the Homeless Garden Project at Natural Bridges Farm to pull weeds, spread mulch and aid landscaping; inspired locals can volunteer in either kitchen or garden via homelessgardenproject.org…It’s still barbecue season, so here go three quick related facts: Pork is the most popular meat to grill in the U.S.; Fourth of July is the country’s favorite day to cook out; and mustard is the most desired hot dog condiment…Take us out, Anthony Bourdain: “Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.”
