Ventura Harbor Commercial Fish Landing Site Planning

Abstract: The California Market Squid represents the dominant segment of California's commercial fisheries. Data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife indicates that, on average, 114 million pounds of squid were harvested annually, yielding a revenue of approximately 50 million dollars each year over the decade ending in 2022. Ventura Harbor serves as the principal port for squid offloading in California, accounting for 41% of the state's total catch in 2023.
Situated less than 10 miles south of Ventura, the Port of Hueneme has historically also played a crucial role in squid offloading. Nonetheless, pursuant to its Master Plan, the Port of Hueneme intends to pivot further toward commercial goods movement, necessitating the transfer of commercial fishing activities to alternative locations in the near future. Ventura Harbor emerges as the best candidate to take on this role, but its current infrastructure limitations hinder its ability to provide sufficient additional capacity.
In response to this challenge, the Ventura Port District launched the Commercial Fish Landing Site Modernization project. This project seeks to enhance the port's capacity for commercial fish landings and modernize its facilities while preserving the waterfront's distinctive character and minimizing disruptions to local commerce and leisure activities. A significant challenge in this capacity expansion project is the limited space available for expanding the facilities to absorb the additional product from the Port of Hueneme.
The focus of this paper is the planning phase of the Modernization Project, which started with initial site inspections and engaging stakeholders from Ventura Harbor, Port of Hueneme, the existing fisheries at both ports, pioneering aquaculture companies with interests in the harbor, and the local business community. This comprehensive engagement facilitated a deeper understanding of the squid industry, the specifics of the squid offloading processes, and allowed the development team to identify opportunities and constraints for increasing throughput while also contemplating future development of commercial fishing in Ventura, including aquaculture offloading. The project progressed through an iterative process of developing alternatives, including the facility layout and the associated capacity estimates, culminating in the identification of two preferred options.
The use of integrated port planning tools facilitated the generation of various alternatives, allowing for a flexible and iterative approach to planning. A special emphasis was placed on optimizing truck loading and unloading operations and facility maneuverability, recognizing these as the most critical constraints for future efficiency.
This planning project marks a solid initial step towards modernizing Ventura Harbor’s maritime infrastructure, with early stakeholder involvement. It lays the groundwork for environmental permitting and engineering design, ensuring the harbor will be well-prepared to accommodate the additional fisheries with adequate infrastructure.

How does this project / topic contribute to the advancement of the industry and profession?: This project demonstrates how integrated port planning tools can be beneficial for a broad range of projects, including unique squid fishing port modernization. It highlights the specific challenges of addressing capacity constraints despite spatial constraints while preserving the character of a vibrant working waterfront. It showcases a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process and iterative planning methodologies. It also allowed Port District staff to be more directly interactive with the layout through the various iterations without a high cost or lost time.

Does the project / topic implement new and innovative techniques, materials, technologies, and delivery methods?: The project illustrates the relevance of applying innovative planning tools to small-scale commercial fishing projects. This approach streamlines the creation of alternatives, making it possible to compare and refine numerous options with little time and effort. The tool's flexibility also allows for the use of existing programs to tackle specific challenges in this project, such as the truck maneuvering space.

What was the most challenging aspect of your project / topic and how did you handle it to ensure success?: The most challenging aspect was the limited space for expansion, crucial for accommodating additional fisheries, and the need for preserving existing activities. There is also variation between the capacity of the different fishery businesses as well as their methodology. To overcome this, we engaged early in a thorough stakeholder engagement process that included all of the fishery operators in both Ventura and the Port of Hueneme. Furthermore, the iterative process of developing alternatives allowed for the optimization of existing space.

Who is the target audience for this paper?: The target audience includes professionals in port engineering and planning and maritime industry stakeholders interested in seeing how integrated planning tools can also be beneficial to small-scale developments.