Your faithful captain is organizing a Subsistence Angler Fishing Event (SAFE), to be held 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, July 13 at the base of the pier at Goleta Beach County Park.

Poster for SAFE event shows silhouettes of people fishing on pier.

I need your help in getting word of this out to our local disadvantaged community. Please read on:

Subsistence anglers are underprivileged folks who are after a food source for today’s meal. They need something to put on their kids’ plates tonight.

If they can catch a fish today, then their kids have protein tonight. If they are fortunate enough to catch two fish, then Mom and Pop can have some protein, too.

Subsistence anglers have captured my heart, and this SAFE is intended to help them.

The problem is hunger. My solution is not to give them a fish, but instead provide gear and teach them to fish, so the kids can have good, nutritious protein again and again.

Here’s the way this SAFE will work:

The first roughly 60 true subsistence anglers will receive a new rod and reel with line, weight and Sabiki leader (limit one rod per family), which is all that is needed to catch fish.

I will be teaching people how to use their fishing gear and some of the tricks to catching fish.

I plan to teach about fishing gear; places on the pier to fish for various species of fish; how to use factors like tides and currents; and how to rig up hooks, weights and lures for different kinds of fish.

Everyone is welcome to come listen and learn, but please respect that the free gear is for those folks who truly can’t afford to buy the gear.

Readers can help by spreading the word through the underserved community that an opportunity exists to learn about fishing for the family table.

I would like to see people attend who have never fished before but want to learn another way to sustainably feed their family.

This SAFE is supported by our Santa Barbara Elks Lodge #613, which provided funding for the rods/reels to be given to subsistence anglers.

The event is also supported by Coastal Conservation Association of California, which provides logistics support.

Numerous agencies and organizations will have tables with information and maybe some swag. This should be an interesting community event.

Capt. David Bacon is a boating safety consultant and expert witness, with a background in high-tech industries and charter boat ownership and operation. He teaches classes for Santa Barbara City College and, with a lifelong interest in wildlife, writes outdoors columns for Noozhawk and other publications. The opinions expressed are his own.