Crescent City Profile - California Sea Grant

IntroductionCrescent City Harbor, California’snorthernmost harbor, historically has been oneof the state’s most active fishing ports. Located350 miles north of San Francisco and 20 milessouth of the Oregon border (Figure 1), it issituated near some of the West Coast’s mostproductive fishing grounds for groundfish,salmon, crab, and shrimp. People living in thisisolated part of the state have long utilizedfishery resources for livelihood, sport andsubsistence. Community initiative led to theconstruction of Citizens Dock in 1950 and,following a destructive tsunami in 1964, thedevelopment of Crescent City Harbor as astate-of-the-art fishing port by the mid-1970s.Crescent City fisheries are subject toenvironmental conditions and events thataffect both fishing and fishery-supportactivities. NOAA’s National Weather Servicehas noted that the area from Eureka north,including Crescent City, is uniquely positionedto experience some of the worst and mostdangerous winter storms and summer fogassociated with coastal upwelling. Theseconditions are often an important limitingfactor for fishing. Nonetheless, many fishermenconsider Crescent City harbor the safest andmost accessible on the West Coast north ofSan Francisco, both because it lacks a bar atthe harbor entrance (a notable drawback ofHumboldt Bay and Fort Bragg) and affordsprotection from storms.Crescent City is Del Norte County’s onlyincorporated city and the county seat. About30% of the County’s approximately 26,000residents live within the city. 1 A significantportion of the county’s 1,070 square milesis owned and managed by state and federalgovernment, and include portions of RedwoodNational Park, various state parks and thePelican Bay State Prison, which opened in1989. According to the Bureau of EconomicAnalysis, the government sector accounted for47% of earnings in the county in 2007, threetimes the proportion for the state as a whole.This profile of the Crescent City Harbor fishingcommunity provides a brief history of theharbor and its fisheries; a detailed descriptionof present-day fishery operations, activitiesand associated infrastructure; and discussessome of the key regulatory, economic andFigure 1. California map locating Crescent City and aerial view of Crescent City Harbor.Crescent City Fishing Community Profile 1