A small boat floats down the channel as fishing boats fill the marina at Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. The Fort Bragg Groundfish Conservation Trust gives first priority for its quota leases to fishermen who land their catch, dock and live in Fort Bragg. (Roger Coryell/Bay City News)

FORT BRAGG, CA., 9/26/2026 — A small nonprofit in Fort Bragg owns the right to catch fish, and it rents that right to local boats before it can go to anyone else.

Each year, the federal government sets how many pounds of each kind of groundfish can be caught off the West Coast. Groundfish live near the ocean floor. They include petrale sole, Dover sole and sablefish. Many are caught by trawlers, boats that drag nets along the bottom.

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