Assessing Socioeconomic Conditions in California’s Fishing Ports

CLIENT NEED

Strategic Earth, as a co-principal investigator alongside Ecotrust and Humboldt State University, is conducting a study to assess port community well-being and socioeconomic conditions, which will contribute to long-term monitoring efforts to evaluate California’s marine protected area (MPA) performance.  

STRATEGY

Strategic Earth will lead engagement with leaders in the fishing community through webinar and focus groups in half-day workshops in ports throughout the state. Focus group participants will use a “Port Community Well-being Assessment Tool,” designed specifically for this project and envisioned to be used in assessments in the future, to collect qualitative data from fishing community representatives. This discourse will provide context for data visualizations prepared from California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) historical landings and Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel (CPFV) logbook data sets in order to get a holistic view of port community well-being throughout the state.

KEY RESULTS & OUTCOMES

Assessment of California port community socioeconomic conditions and well-being, within the context of MPAs. Opportunity to inform future monitoring efforts with recommendations of key metrics and methods for long-term socioeconomic monitoring.