San Diego was the tuna capital of the world. Can the fleet recover?

A person looks off into the distance as they hold a fishing rod while standing in the middle of a small white fishing boat that sways among ocean waves during a sunny afternoon. The person wears a hat, sunglasses and a white shirt.

In 2020, Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Sea Grant launched a fishing apprenticeship, aimed at shoring up the ranks of San Diego’s declining commercial fishing fleet.

Instead, the program revealed just how tenuous the industry has become.

Once known as the tuna capital of the world and employing more than 40,000 people, the fleet dwindled to just 130 commercial fishermen.

It’s hard to get a foothold in the industry. Gear and permits are expensive. It requires specialized skills that range from pulling traps and lines, to fixing diesel motors and deciphering regulations.

The Scripps fishing apprenticeship intended to bridge that gap, with classroom instruction on the technical aspects of commercial fishing, and 1,000 hours of on-the-water training. But just half a dozen people finished and stuck with fishing. Others tried and liked it, but couldn’t make a living.

Despite the obstacles, some people made the mid-career switch from working at desks, to working on fishing decks, trading white-collar positions for jobs that require them to rise before dawn, scrape barnacles and gut fish. They say they wouldn’t go back.

CalMatters followed fishing apprentices, captains, mentors and others, for our story. Over several months we interviewed fishermen, watched them sell their fish at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market and deliver fish to restaurants. Photographer Adriana Heldiz spent a day at sea with fisherman Shane Volberding as he hauled in yellowtail, mackerel and other fish from the sea off La Jolla.

Our reporting shows the chokepoints that obstruct local operations: Inconsistent pay; complex regulations that leave fishermen uncertain whether a fishery they invest in will remain open; competition with imported seafood from less regulated fisheries; and lack of coordination within the fishing community.

But it also reveals the passion that San Diego fishermen bring to their craft, their dedication to supporting the regional food supply and restaurants, and the importance of ensuring that locally caught seafood remains on San Diego tables.

A voting case that could have blown up CA elections

A person wearing a purple shirt inserts a pink envelope into a pink ballot drop box placed near inside a building with voting booths in the background. — A voter inserts their mail-in ballot into a drop box in the lobby of the Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections in Sacramento on June 2, 2026. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump and the Republican Party a loss Monday in a case that could have blown a hole in California’s mail-in voting procedures.

In 2024 the national and Mississippi GOP sued Mississippi officials over a law allowing elections officials to count absentee ballots that were received up to five days post-Election Day. Mississippi is one of 30 states, including California, where certain ballots received after Election Day are eligible.

The GOP argued that the law violated federal election-day statutes, which it interpreted as requiring both the casting and receiving of ballots to be done by Election Day. But in a 5-4 ruling, the high court rejected this argument, contending that federal policies only require “the electorate’s choice to be made on election day.”

The ruling: “The electorate’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received. … while Congress has set the date by which absentee ballots must be cast, States have the power to set the date by which they must be received.”

Though the lawsuit did not set out to ban mail voting outright, the court’s ruling is a setback for Trump, who has moved to restrict mail voting in Democratic-leaning states ahead of the November midterms.

Out of the more than 13 million mail-in ballots cast in California for the 2024 November election, 373,116, or about 3%, were received within the state’s seven-day return window, according to the California secretary of state.

Surprises in Newsom’s last budget

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveils his revised budget proposal at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on May 14, 2026. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

We have a little more than six months left until a new governor succeeds Gavin Newsom. Will he thank Newsom for the $352 billion budget he signed Monday night, or throw him under the bus for whatever financial challenges may come?

Newsom’s final state budget raises some taxes and delays some planned social service cuts. It also requires Newsom’s successor to consider penalizing major companies for having employees on Medi-Cal if Congress does not repeal Trump’s Medi-Cal cuts.

Newsom: “I’ve just signed my final budget as Governor of California — on time, balanced, and structurally sound. … We’re leaving the state in good hands for the next Governor.”

The final budget included a couple of surprises, one that alarmed immigrant advocates and another that shocked school librarians.

The Department of Motor Vehicles is getting $55 million to link to a database that would share information about California drivers with other states beginning next year. Immigration advocates worried that the move could put undocumented Californians at risk of deportation if federal agencies get a hold of the information. Initially, Democrats in the Legislature refused to authorize the program, but they ultimately approved it.

And, the Legislature also cut funding for Compass, a program that enables students and teachers to access content like PBS videos, Encyclopedia Britannica and scientific journals. The move stunned librarians, who say that without Compass, students are likely to rely on free, unvetted online resources that often contain ads or user data tracking.

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders describe the latest state budget as one that is balanced and has no deficit, but in reality it both continues the practice of overspending revenues and covering it with more debt.

A bill that would require wines sold in California and marketed as American to be 100% derived from domestic grapes would give consumers transparency and U.S. growers a fair opportunity to compete, writes Jason Smith, a second-generation wine grape grower in Monterey County.