“The annual dredging project not only facilitates safer maritime navigation in the Ventura Harbor but is essential to maintain the economic vitality of commercial fishing, recreational boating, tourism, and all of our waterfront business partners,” shares Brian Pendleton, Ventura Port District General Manager.
The Ventura Port District has been honored with the prestigious Jewel Key Award by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce at the 2022 Poinsettia Awards for beautification of the Ventura Harbor Village. The Chamber selects the recipient of this significant annual award based on overall improvements over the past year.
Accepting the award from the Ventura Chamber of Commerce was Ventura Port District General Manager Brian Pendleton and Ventura Port District Board Chairman Chris Stephens.
California Congresswoman Julia Brownley, U.S. representative of California 26th District, recently visited the Ventura Port District to celebrate the federal appropriation of $5,516,000 for the maintenance dredging of Ventura Harbor. This is one of the Congresswoman’s ten Community Funded Projects which was included in the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus and was supported by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla. The Community Project Funding supplements the funding made available for the project in the President’s Budget and ensures that the entrance to Ventura Harbor will be well cared for through the next dredging cycle in early 2023. The check was presented to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Ventura Board of Port Commissioners, Chris Stephens and Michael Blumenberg.
“Since first being elected to Congress, I have been tireless in my work to secure funding for the dredging and maintenance of Ventura County’s harbors. The dredging of Ventura Harbor is essential to ensuring continued operations of this critical West Coast fishing hub,” stated Congresswoman Brownley. “The annual funding is vital to ensuring that the harbor’s federally authorized channel remains open to those who rely upon the harbor, including the commercial fishing industry and supply chain businesses.
Over the past six years, through two successful Sea Grant awards, the Ventura Port District, in partnership with expert volunteers and consultants, developed extensive research of the Santa Barbara Channel for sustainable mussel farming.
The Port District sought to pre-permit 2,000 acres for Mediterranean mussels for the benefit of private aquaculture farmers – especially small commercial fishermen who lack the financial capacity to secure federal and state permits and approvals – to land product at Ventura Harbor.
This effort produced several technical studies, including a first-of-its-kind navigational risk assessment for a domestic aquaculture project, extensive engineering analysis for mussel farm design in open waters, numerous environmental studies and proposed monitoring plans, farm economic business and cash-flow model (i.e., proforma), and fiscal and economic impact analyses. The Port District plans on fully completing its Sea Grant tasks and responsibilities by August 2021.
The Ventura Port District has installed five new SemaConnect charging stations for Ventura Harbor visitors. The new Series 6 charging stations replace a pair of charging stations previously installed at Island Packers and are open to all plug-in EV drivers that visit the harbor.
