better fishing. better fish.
Morning Star groundfish is harvested under the highly regulated West Coast Groundfish Catch Share System. This is a quota-based system that guarantees a level of accountability for our catch, beyond any other West Coast fishery, groundfish or otherwise. One hundred percent accountability means human observers and/or experimental cameras on our boats monitor every pound of fish we catch. Every groundfish offload at Morning Star Fisheries must also be monitored by a federal observer to ensure accurate reporting. In a fishery that harvests hundreds of thousands of pounds locally, we are accountable for every single one. We catch it, we account for it. Every pound.
Not only that, but our boats are founding members of the California Groundfish Collective a group of fishermen along the coast of California who have teamed up to adapt our businesses to create healthier oceans and better, more productive fisheries and coastal communities. We hold ourselves to a standard above and our work with the Nature Conservancy and our partners in Fort Bragg and Morro Bay has been instrumental in driving sustainable change and reducing by-catch and increasing accountability in fishing.
This has resulted in an exclusive Green rating from Seafood Watch for California Groundfish Collective harvested groundfish, because better fishing does mean better fish.
We believe you should feel good about where your fish comes from!
all in a day’s work
Morning Star boats are small day boat operations that bring in only the highest quality seafood that is handled with care from the moment it comes on board until it is sent on to its final destination.
bottom trawl you can feel good about
Our trawl operation uses modified gear, light touch, detailed spatial planning and short targeted towing technology on soft sandy bottom to harvest only the highest quality groundfish. We are accountable for every pound that we encounter and use a full utilization model to reduce waste. We are not a factory trawler, we are a small family operation out for one day at a time carefully harvesting the most desirable species of rockfish and sole under the most sustainably managed fishery in world.
the only Scottish seiner in the USA
The Mr. Morgan uses Scottish seine gear which uses nets and lines spread out in a diamond shape along the sandy bottom of the ocean floor. The fish are herded into the path of the net by the lines, which gently stir up a mud cloud. Scottish Seining tows the net and ropes along the ocean floor slowly, just enough to close the nets and bring the gear up to the boat, a method called "fly-dragging".
