Santa Barbara ranks as the highest-revenue port in California in terms of commercially caught seafood. That is because the Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands waters are amazingly productive.

I have a deep respect for our commercial fishers, especially their long workdays, camaraderie, and for the service they provide – sometimes at great risk and always with great labor – to our seafood-hungry community.

Plus, their daily activity keeps our Santa Barbara Harbor a highly interesting place for tourists and locals alike. Having a robust commercial fishing fleet is a win-win for us all.

Some of our commercial fisherfolk dive for uni (sea urchins), which means they dive and enter the food chain on a regular basis to bring in what the community wants. Their work also helps maintain the health of our fragile kelp forests and prevents overgrazed (by urchins) areas called “urchin barrens.”

We have a black cod fleet that runs their boats out to deep water and in areas where the wind is often harsh and relentless. Their target is an oil-rich deepwater fish we call black cod. Some folks can’t get enough of the stuff.

These anglers make multi-day trips and live out of a cooler while bobbing on the bumpy water, working wet and cold.

Our crabbers and lobster-boat crews get a workout hauling up, rebaiting and putting down pots. Bad weather with big swells can be costly in terms of lost gear. We do love our crab and lobster dinners, so we need these hard-workers.

Shrimp fishers and other netters put in some cold, harsh nights and days out on the water, working deeper spots. Next time a shrimp platter is served up piping hot, think about the hard effort it took to go catch them.

Our fleet of hook-and-line boats is truly impressive. Quite a number of guys and gals work small to medium boats, often heading out in the pre-dawn hours or spending the night on anchor in order to begin fishing before gray light.

These fisherfolk target highly popular foodfish include white seabass, halibut and yellowtail. The tough part is, those fish are not always readily available and they are not always biting, which means these folks bear the cost and effort of unproductive trips as well as money-making trips.

Enjoy a great seafood meal at a local eatery, but before you order your meal, ask the server or manager if that restaurant buys locally (that means Santa Barbara) caught seafood.

Some do, but some turn their backs on our local commercial fisherfolk and instead buy from elsewhere.

Please, eat locally caught seafood at restaurants and from our Saturday Fisherman’s market because it supports our commercial fleet.