Covid Southern California Sportfishing Update As Of 4/1/20

How has COVID affected some of the top tuna fishing in the US? Read on to learn how San Diego is adapting.

SPECIAL REPORT

Hello everybody, I hope that you are home safe and feeling fine. I am sure that like me, you are savoring your sports re-runs, playing games with the kids, and gaining weight at an alarming rate.

I miss fishing, and being on the ocean, and hanging out with all of you. When I started to write this article I thought about trying to make some jokes to lighten the subject, but instead have decided I should talk about my observations and pertinent information instead.

San Diego Harbor and Mission Bay

All commercial charter landing boats (vessels carrying more than 10 souls) are temporarily closed or not running charters. Groups larger than 10 have been prohibited. All shared party charters have been cancelled. Private party charters are still permitted if origination from a commercial charter slip. Public boat launches are closed. Bait barges in San Diego and Oceanside were open as of 2/27. Mission bay has been closed to all non-essential traffic.

Los Angeles (Harbors)

The Port of San Diego's cites your charter must originate from a private marina, no shared charters allowed.

I can attest to this, in the 30 years I have been going fishing in San Diego, I have never seen H&M closed. It is a solemn site. As of right now, you can still purchase fishing licenses online, both for the USA and MEXICO trips. To purchase Mexican licenses or charters, each passenger must have a valid Passport, no exceptions please.

When booking charters, remember that your party must be a private party. Even if you are a single angler, or just a couple of buddies, you will need to purchase the entire charter, as we are not allowed to mix parties together.

The Port of Los Angeles has specifically closed "business boat tours" which is a vague term to use, but adequately described charter sport fishing.

"We have not taken actions like these since World War II!" (Frank, Owner, H&M Landing)

If you are exhibiting any symptoms of flu, including elevated temperature, stomach issues, or any other symptom of the Covid virus, please refrain from booking until a later time when you can be sure you are not infected.

All charters booked during this time of uncertainty will be guaranteed by our San Diego operations team to be refunded in full if not run for any reason, and if a reschedule is required, this can be done for no fee, on or up to the day of departure. We are altering our normal cancellation policy to insure that customers can confidently book our remaining fleet.

Although we have made great strides forward, our world is being impacted by both environmental change, a pandemic, and financial upheaval. Still I can't help but to think the times we are living through now, will somehow bring a change to our current heading. Perhaps the people of the world will come out of this knowing that we are not, as a species, unaffected by the forces of nature and biology. Hopefully, we will all grow a little closer after this, and realize that we are all on this planet together.

The bottom line is, we need to take better care of ourselves, and our planet as a whole. Hopefully the course correction we have been forcibly made to choose... will set our heading true.

Here is a rerun of last summer in June, I hope that this satisfies at least some of the desire!

Until next time, stay health, stay inside, and keep the dream alive until this is over!