Seafood City: San Diego's Fishing History

Today’s tourists visiting San Diego Harbor would not know it was once home to America’s largest tuna fishing fleet. Not so long ago, it was common to see dozens of purse seiners and tuna clippers docked along the Embarcadero, with fishermen mending their nets. Each vessel could offload 150 tons of fish or more to the local canneries. It was all part of the local economy—feeding American consumers’ demands for over 1 billion pounds of tuna annually.

The Port of San Diego reports that in the 1960s, tuna was the city’s third-largest industry behind aerospace and the Navy, with almost 40,000 employees who caught, sold, or processed fish from the significant fleet of tuna clippers moored at its docks. So, how did San Diego become known as Seafood City?

Our region, tended by a dense population of Indigenous people over millennia, was rich in biodiversity on land and sea and included a natural harbor that would later provide a base for whaling and fishing vessels.

Commercial fishing and tuna-packing industries gradually bolstered the entire Southland region’s economies. Driven by the hard work of immigrant Portuguese and Italian fishing families and thousands of women working in the canneries, San Pedro in Los Angeles became known as Fish Harbor and San Diego as Tunaville.

Baseball and tuna? Decades before Snapdragon and Qualcomm stadiums ever existed, Westgate Field was built in Mission Valley for the Padres. In 1952, the outdoor baseball field was built with money from financier and Shelter Island booster C. Arnholt Smith’s Westgate Tuna Packing Company, known for its famous Breast O’ Chicken brand of canned tuna. (He also built the Westgate Hotel.)

As the fishing industry grew, local families played a pivotal role in opening some of San Diego’s most iconic seafood eateries. These establishments, including Sunset Sea Foods, Bregante’s, Red Sails Inn, Anthony’s, Fisherman’s Wharf, Harbor House, Top O’ the Cove, and John Tarantino’s, are a testament to our city’s rich fishing heritage. And local fishermen opened bars like Pacific Shores and Nunu’s. Corporate seafood-themed restaurants like the faux paddle wheel boat Reuben E. Lee and SeaWorld’s Atlantis joined the scene.

Over the years, however, increased federal and state sustainability regulations have raised the bar for the industry. Competition from large, unregulated fleets outside of US jurisdiction has created significant hurdles for local fishermen to overcome. Global demand for cheap seafood dwindles the supply and drives down the prices local fishers can get for their hauls. “It’s a problem,” says Tommy “The Fishmonger” Gomes of TunaVille Market & Groceries. He asks me, “You know how many boats are left in the San Diego fleet? Four.”

Are you shocked? You should be.

Ethically caught fish fresh off the boat is more expensive than commodity gassed fish. Gassed? Yes, that bright pink fish you get at the big-box store has probably been gassed with carbon monoxide to boost its color and retain a fresh appearance for weeks.

There is currently a push toward improved global seafood practices. “Regenerative” fishing policies, rather than merely “responsible” or “sustainable,” aim to improve regional wild marine ecologies. Reflecting years of determination, Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, the new Fishermen’s Market of North County, and Driscoll’s Wharf (where the Point Loma Commercial Fishing Alliance formed in 2022) build new demand for local seafood on tables at home and in regional restaurants.

And it’s only getting better—the updated Port of San Diego Master Plan includes expanded facilities and new docks for commercial fishing vessels.

With the return of San Diego’s rich fishing legacy, we can look forward to an abundance of locally sourced seafood making a return to our markets, restaurants, and homes. Seafood City is back.

» thdocksidemarket.com

» fishermensmarket.co

» ptlomacfa.org

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BELOW: A collection of fishing pictures courtesy of Tommy Gomes, Jordyn Kastlunger, Tanner Saraspe, Tom Walsh, and the San Diego Historical Society.

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