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Sanctuary Rocky
Intertidal Open
Ocean & Endangered
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The Long-Liner For thousands of years people have made their living from fishing in Monterey Bay. The first fishermen were the Rumsien Ohlone, the native people of Monterey. Going back almost five thousand years, this peaceful community fished the bay in small boats made of tule (a reed that grows throughout the Monterey Peninsula), using a variety of fishing methods. These included nets made of string from the stinging nettle plant, traps made of willow, harpoons with bone points, as well as hook and lines using fish hooks made from abalone and mussel shell. The Rumsien people were also the first divers to harvest food from the bay, as attested to by evidence uncovered in ancient burial sites encountered in recent years. Some of the males had what is known as "surfer's ear," a bony growth that closes off the ear opening, indicating that they spent a lot of time in the cold water of Monterey Bay. Nearly every species of fish that swam in the bay was caught and used, and sea otters, sea lions, and seals were used not only for food but to make blankets and capes from their pelts.
The bay has changed over the years. Different cultures brought
their own expertise and fishing methods from home, boats got bigger,
and technology has made things faster When Vince Giamanco's family came to Monterey at the turn of the twentieth century, the sardine fishery was in its infancy and the bay was pristine. The Giamancos plied the bay for rockfishes and albacore; they were long-liners and hook and line fishermen. Vince Giamanco was five years old when he began to catch rockfishes with his father, Antonino. (In the Sicilian community a boy is considered a man at seven.) A typical day began at 2 a.m. when Vince, his older brother, and their dad walked the three blocks from their home to the Monterey Wharf. From there they took their small 32-foot jig boat out to the fishing grounds -- usually between the Bixby Creek bridge and Point Sur. This area was known as "the ranch." If Vince was lucky, he could get some sleep during the four- to five-hour trip. The boat had no radio, depth finder, or fish finder, and Mr. Giamanco didn't need them; he had decades of experience fishing these waters. At dawn they started to lay out their long line gear, anywhere from ten to fifteen baskets with 250 hooks each. For the next eight hours they pulled in rockfishes -- chilipeppers, black cod, and, in the spring, bocaccio. "Sometimes you had a chilipepper on every hook and a bocaccio trying to eat it -- two fish on one hook," Vince says. "The bocaccio could weigh seven to eight pounds and the chilipepper, two to three pounds; in no time at all, the boat was loaded." Other times when the fish were biting, the fishermen laid out between twenty-five and thirty lines and left them alone. When the fish stopped biting, the men hauled in four to five hundred pounds of fish per line. It was not unusual to bring in four tons on a single trip. On the way home, Vince and his brother "pinned" (placed the hooks) and baited the baskets for the next day -- a process that could take the whole trip. Once back in Monterey, they sold their catch and, if they were lucky, were home by 5 p.m. They made a very good living. As Vince grew up, so did the fishing industry. Vince likes to say, "those were the old days. I don't think you can catch ten fish in the same area today." The biggest change came, he believes, in the form of gear: nylon nets and drag boats changed the rockfish fishery, and not for the better. The weighted nylon nets were often lost in the bay. "In my opinion, that killed fish for ever and ever," Vince says. "The nylon net never deteriorates." The drag boats pounded the sandy bottom in eighty to ninety fathoms outside the rock-beds, four or five boats working every day, disturbing the natural habitat. "It disturbed them so badly that we couldn't fish there anymore," he says. Much has changed since Vince started fishing, including regulations,
catch limits and, of course, the designation of the Monterey Bay
National Marine Sanctuary. He still thinks fondly, though, of
those early mornings spent aboard his father's boat long-lining
for rockfishes.
While by no means comprehensive, this chart indicates the great extent to which the Sanctuary plays an integral role in the lives of people throughout California's central coast. Further examples can be found, throughout the report, regarding: volunteers (pages 13,19), whale watching (page 18), fishing (pages 20-21), and exotic species (pages 21-22).
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For comments or question please refer to the Webmaster Last modified on: Jan 15, 2000 |
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