Posted on February 21, 2022
The City of Fort Bragg has been working on a “blue economy,” a plan to balance economic opportunities with the long-term sustainability of the ocean. It includes activities related to climate change, fisheries, renewable energy, tourism, and transportation. On May 19-22, there will be a blue economy symposium that will showcase many of the opportunities that Fort Bragg may pursue.
Various groups have been involved in the blue economy plan, such as the Noyo Center for Marine Science, the Noyo Harbor District, Sherwood Valley Band of the Pomo, Mendocino College, and the West Business Development Center. While the blue economy plan is a long-term project, these groups are starting projects now.
According to Councilmember Tess Albin-Smith, Fort Bragg is already in a blue economy. The Mendocino Coast has long been known for having a commercial fishing industry, recreational boating and fishing, and seafood.
However, in recent years Fort Bragg has depended on tourism. Though the south harbor used to be full of commercial fisheries, only salmon fishing is left—and that is threatened with bull kelp habitat loss.
According to Sarah McCormick, housing & economic development coordinator, while the City had been working on diversification for some time, the COVID-19 shut down in March 2020 proved that the reliance on tourism was problematic. It was during this time that the blue economy plan started to develop.
The CARES Act allocated funding for economic development, and the City created a diversification plan centered on the ocean. They reached out to other cities with “blue economies,” such as San Diego, Humboldt Bay, and Monterey Bay.
The City gathered ideas from these blue economies, but not all of them will work well in Fort Bragg. For example, San Diego holds contests for sponsoring entrepreneurs.
“They have a big tax base to do that,” Albin-Smith said. “One of our biggest challenges is that we don’t have a big tax base… We’re not tiny, but we’re not very big. We don’t have the tax base or voting base to expand, so we do what we can.”
While many groups are working with the City on this plan, the Noyo Center is central to many sustainability aspects. The Noyo Center has been repairing the recent destruction of the near-shore bull kelp forests.
The bull kelp forests provide a habitat for over 800 species, including salmon, abalone, and red urchins. Bull kelp requires cold, nutrient-rich waters. However, there is now 95% less bull kelp than there used to be. This loss of habitat meant the loss of most of the commercial fishing in the harbor.
In 2014, wasting starfish disease hit all the starfish populations from Alaska to Mexico, striking the sunflower starfish on the Mendocino Coast. While the sunflower starfish was plentiful before this strike, it is now on the critically endangered list.
The sunflower starfish was the only predator of the purple urchin, whose population quickly exploded. During this same time, the coastal waters around Fort Bragg were too warm for the bull kelp. The bull kelp suffered in the heat, and the purple urchins decimated the rest of the stands.
Instead of dense kelp forests providing habitat for abalone, purple urchin barrens now cover the rocks on the ocean floor. The small purple urchins have outcompeted the larger, commercially fished red urchins, effectively ruining that industry. Without the kelp forests, the purple urchins are slowly starving themselves.
According to Sheila Semans, director of the Noyo Center, the Noyo Center has been pursuing an economic opportunity with Urchinomics since 2019. Urchinomics works to get the purple urchins out of the ocean, fatten them up in tanks on land, and sell them for consumption in eight weeks. According to Semans, purple urchins are not consumed frequently due to their small size, but they’re tastier than red urchins.
According to Semans, this would not only be sustainable seafood but restorative seafood. Getting the urchins out of the water would allow the bull kelp to make a recovery. If the bull kelp made a recovery, commercial fishing could recover.
However, Urchinomics has been hitting setbacks with getting a facility. While the Noyo Center and Urchinomics are still working towards a solution, implementation will take time.
Other projects on the harbor are closer on the horizon. Harbormaster Anna Neumann has a few projects she’s working on, such as a fish cleaning station so recreational fishers can easily clean their catch before going back to camp. She’s also creating ways for commercial fishers to sell their catch at a market.
According to Neumann, the harbor provides both consumptive and non-consumptive resources, and she works to fill both roles. She ensures visitors know the best places to surf and jet ski and which environmentally sensitive areas to avoid. She spends much of her time working on grants to update the harbor to provide more infrastructure for growth.
However, the harbor isn’t the only place where infrastructure needs to be put in place. According to Albin-Smith, the lack of high-speed internet is a limiting factor in growing the economy. Fort Bragg also lacks affordable housing, potable water, and renewable energy sources – something Albin-Smith says are priorities for the City Council.
“Our area is certainly attractive because of the clean air and ocean views, but it is not accommodating to modern-day industry needs,” Albin-Smith said.
The blue economy symposium in May will showcase additional aspects of blue economy planning and emerging industries that are interested in the Fort Bragg area. The four-day event will highlight the foundations for sustainable economic plans for the coast.
For Neumann, the blue economy goes deeper; the ocean culture is deep in the roots of Fort Bragg.
“Whether we look to the ocean for consumptive reasons or non-consumptive reasons, we have an opportunity to steward an economy out of that,” Neumann said. “It can be really healthy for our community—not only economically, but for our soul.”
