Harbor businesses, Santa Cruz fishers still reeling from storm surge that caused $26 million in damages

The Dec. 23 storm surge that caused widespread damage to the Santa Cruz Harbor also dealt another blow to local fishing operations already hobbled by a delay to the start of Dungeness crab season.

So far, the surge has caused an estimated $26 million in damages to the harbor, including the cost to remove debris and the estimated price tag to rebuild. Over the past week, harbor staff have removed 10 boats that were sunk and are now “sitting on the launch ramp in various stages of insurance claims,” said harbormaster Blake Anderson. It’s unclear how many are commercial vessels, but since most of the commercial fishing boats are moored in the south harbor, the local fleet was not as affected, he said. 

Although the only thing the surge damaged at H&H Fresh Fish Co., a sustainable seafood market located in the harbor, was a water pipe, co-owner Hans Haveman estimates he lost between $4,000 to $5,000 from an hourlong police closure on the day of the surge. The day before Christmas Eve is the busiest day of the year for his business, he said, as customers stock up on seafood to enjoy during the holiday.

He’s also looking for a new source for rock cod. Three of the small fishers who supply the market with Santa Cruz-caught rock cod are out of business due to damage to their boats from the surge, said Haveman. H&H prioritizes seafood caught in Monterey Bay, but with no other local fishers to source from, he’ll have to source from farther afield. “I won’t be getting any Santa Cruz-caught rock cod for the time being. We will have to get it in from Northern California, like Half Moon Bay,” he said. 

Local fishers will also have to navigate a harbor mouth compromised by shoaling, or sand buildup, which comes just as the commercial Dungeness crab season is finally set to begin this week.

Shoaling happens every year when sediment builds up around the harbor mouth, and has to be removed in order for boats to pass through safely. But this year, because the surge pushed more sediment into the area, it’s much worse, and will take longer to remove, affecting commercial fishers even more than in previous years, said Anderson.  

The Dungeness crab season, a vital income stream for many fishers in Monterey Bay, will ramp up on Thursday, but at that point there will still be a large shoaling. Santa Cruz-based fishers will have to cope with a compromised harbor mouth that is more shallow due to sand deposits, and more dangerous because of waves. This means some fishers could have to time their entrances and exits with high tides, or limit the number of trips they make. 

At least two commercial fishing vessels have left to fish out of harbors in Northern California rather than deal with the issue, said Anderson. 

The swell on Dec. 23 was unlike anything harbormaster Anderson had ever seen. “I thought I was watching a tsunami,” he said. “Your eyes are telling you one thing and your brain isn’t believing that it’s happening.”

The port authorities had prepared for a large surge, but the waves were almost 50% larger and more powerful than they predicted. 

On the day of the surge, Todd Fraser was at Bayside Marine, his bait and fishing supply shop in the south harbor, when police told him to evacuate. He watched as waves entered the harbor at the southern entrance and gained momentum as they traveled to the northern end on the other side of the Murray Street Bridge, where smaller vessels and live-aboards are typically docked. 

“The swell was a pretty good size, but all of a sudden it got to the back and it was really bad,” said Fraser. “It was madness.” The amount of debris and damage was worse than the tsunami that struck the coast in 2011, he added. 

Fraser watched as his own vessel, a 26-foot Thompson fishing boat, was whipped by large waves, but it sustained minimal damage – a bait tank was knocked off and the swim step was smashed by another boat. Others weren’t so lucky, and the widespread damage has meant that Fraser’s business has taken a hit . 

“It definitely affects me because a lot of those boaters are customers of mine. Some of them don’t have boats anymore,” said Fraser. He also lost potential income from the weeklong closure of the boat launch ramp during the Christmas holiday and the final week of rock cod season. 

The port district is still assessing the full extent of the damages, said port director Holland MacLaurie. “We’re still working on getting submerged vessels outside of water and addressing critical marine infrastructure and utilities,” she said. “Once that’s all stable, then we’ll do a full assessment on what was lost and get those hard numbers.” The harbor did lose a number of slips, and now likely has more boats than slips, she added. 

The port authority has received “tremendous interagency support” from the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the City of Santa Cruz, said MacLaurie. The county filed an emergency declaration, and the port authority is hoping to receive financial assistance from the state. But on-the-ground recovery is the responsibility of the port district, she said. 

Can the harbor protect itself from destructive surges like this in the future? Maybe, but any defenses would be expensive and require further study. “While these measures are not currently planned, they could be considered for evaluation at a later stage,” said MacLaurie. 

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