For today’s article, we will be talking about the history of Santa Catalina Island, and how it has affected the aquaculture there. Catalina has many secrets that we will never discover. What a lovely island.
The Tongva Era-Catalina Exports to the Mainland
Catalina Island was discovered by the Native Americans sometime before 7000 B.C. The Native American inhabitants, most likely the Tongva, had 2,500 people on Catalina Island by 2000 B.C., without modern technology, without much of a “tourist trade”, and without even metal. By comparison, about 4,000 people live there now.
The first culture on Catalina Island that we can name was the Tongva, who traded with the mainland and had several villages on the island. They farmed a lot of the native plants, and had a bustling village at Emerald Bay. They gathered the abalonesthat were then common on the island and ate lots of abalone. They gathered the abalone shells into garbage dumps, not all of which we have found. They therefore used the marine resource of the shellfish, especially abalone, that are found on Catalina Island.
The Tongva on Catalina Island also hunted and ate otters, seals, and other marine animals which they considered a marine resource at that time.
The island also appeared to have ceremonial significance to people living on the mainland, so the Tongva living on the island may have had some kind of “tourist trade” with the Native Americans on the mainland. The Tongva also mined soapstone on Catalina and used large canoes to ship it to the mainland and to the natives of the other nearby islands. They therefore used another of Catalina’s marine resources: The capacity of the ocean surrounding Catalina to serve as a transportation medium.
There’s more exploration to do on Catalina. We have mostly learned about the Tongva from their garbage dumps, and it is estimated that only half of their garbage dumps have been found. Other Tongva artifacts also probably remain buried on Catalina Island. We also don’t know a lot about the culture of the Native Americans on Catalina, or about what happened to them during the time from the first Spanish exploration of the island (1542) to the time that the Spanish began establishing missions in California (about 1775), or whether the Tongva were the original Native American group on the island or replaced some other Native American group there. From what we know, some Native American artifacts on Catalina Island may be submerged as the sea level rises.
The Spanish Era-Invasion, Exploration, and Good Intentions
The Native American population on Catalina Island documented by the Spanish missionaries in the late 1700’s seems to have been much smaller than the population recorded there by the first Spanish explorers in 1542. Perhaps many of the Native American inhabitants died of diseases in the intervening 200 years. We know that a measles epidemic caused the population to drop from about 500 in 1803 to 150, or perhaps as low as 50, by 1807, so perhaps previous, unrecorded, epidemics had already reduced the population.
The Spanish missionaries found that there was insufficient good food and fresh water for a mission on the island and encouraged many of the remaining Tongva inhabitants to move to the mainland, which further reduced Catalina’s Tongva population.
It is interesting to note that though the Spanish thought there was insufficient fresh water for a mission on Catalina Island, there had clearly been enough fresh water for the Native American population there, even when it was much larger in 1542. This points to the Spanish missions probably using water differently from the Tongva and possibly having more intensive water use requirements.
By the early 1800’s, pirates were active off the coast of California, and they may have used Catalina Island as a base, or to bury treasure (Though to the author’s knowledge there is no proof they buried treasure there). A pirate expedition from Argentina did sack Monterey and attack San Juan Capistrano on the mainland.
The Mexican Era-A Wild Frontier
Mexico revolted against Spanish rule in the early 1800’s and gained independence from Spain in 1821. California, which had been part of the Spanish Empire’s sparsely inhabited northern frontier, was now part of Mexico’s sparsely inhabited northern frontier. A much-reduced Tongva presence continued on Catalina Island throughout the Mexican period, but the population was now probably less than 1/15 what it had been before European contact began in 1542. Smugglers also made use of the island, which was now mostly uninhabited, to hide cargoes and avoid paying Mexican import taxes. There could be buried treasure on Catalina Island from smugglers who never came to pick up their cargoes.
A few Americans also began to live on the island. They also hunted otters, seals, and other marine animals, which they considered to be a marine resource.
The remaining Tongva on the island continued to use some of the same marine resources the Tongva population had used before, and likely adopted additional technologies from Mexico and the U.S.
The American Era
Catalina’s Golden Ruse
Catalina Island had very few inhabitants when the U.S.A. acquired California in 1848, but American businessmen soon began to acquire the island and try to use it to make a profit.
Catalina’s golden ruse was a ploy by Bouchette to get money in exchange for gold on Catalina. However, there was no gold and there likely never was any gold. He soon died thereafter.
During the first 30 or so years of American control of Catalina Island, the entire island would often be bought or sold by individuals or companies. There were very few inhabitants.
The U.S. Army, fearful that the sparsely inhabited island could be used as a Confederate privateer base, ordered everyone off the island and built a barracks on the island during the U.S. Civil War, 1861-65, but the barracks was abandoned after the war ended.
Entrepreneurs Try New Ways of Making Money From Catalina Island
Various developers tried to develop Catalina as a tourist spot, but they often failed for the next 50-60 years, often due to circumstances out of their control such as natural disasters. Meanwhile squatters immigrated to the island.
George Shatto started the town of Avalon in about 1887 and made some improvements. Shatto unfortunately defaulted on his loan and lost control of the town around 1892. The Banning brothers then bought Shatto’s interest in Catalina Island for $128,740. The Banning brothers gained control of Avalon and further improved it. They also started the Catalina Island Company. Meanwhile, Avalon grew to perhaps 6,000 peopleand by 1903 gained many modern (for the time) conveniences, such as cars and wireless telegraphy.
However, a disastrous fire destroyed half the buildings in Avalon, and then World War I caused a slowdown in tourism. The Banning Brothers were forced to sell their interest in the Catalina Island Company and the town of Avalon.
George Shatto, the Banning brothers, and others tried to use the marine resource of Catalina’s climate and position next to the ocean. Shatto and the Banning brothers had a good idea, as later history shows, but ran out of capital before they could execute the idea.
Development and Conservation
In 1919 William Wrigley, Jr. bought the Banning brothers’ interest in Catalina Island, and bought other interests in the island until he owned most of it, either directly or through the Catalina Island Company. Wrigley continued to develop Avalonand Catalina’s infrastructure, and also showed an interest in the island’s natural environment. Catalina’s tourist trade expanded, but was again interrupted by World War II when tourist traffic to the island was temporarily stopped. Luckily, Wrigley and his descendants had sufficient capital to weather this storm and continue their operations on the island after the war ended.
In the 1970’s, the Wrigley family donated most of Catalina Island to the Catalina Island Trust, which focuses on conservation, and which kept most the island free from development. This has good points and bad points. Most of the island is in a natural state, and its relative lack of pollution and development mean there is more opportunity to develop aquaculture facilities offshore. Some of Catalina’s ocean resources are thus protected, and Catalina’s unique species are protected. Arguably, the “quality” of living near the ocean for those people who reside on Catalina is also protected. However, housing prices on Catalina Island remain very high, partlybecause there is little land for housing. Therefore, another of Catalina’s ocean resources (The number of potential oceanfront property lots) is underutilized, because the Wrigley Family and Catalina Island Trust chose to protect different ocean resources.
Catalina now has a thriving economy, driven largely by tourism. Several universities have also set up research facilities on the island, and the Catalina Island Conservancy runs an active research program into the island’s ecology which, includes both professional staff and volunteers.
Catalina and the waters surrounding Catalina have been moderately used for drug trafficking. The lack of development on most of the island has created opportunities for drug traffickers to hide and possibly bury caches. The tourist trade in Avalon has also unfortunately led to Avalon Harbor being highly polluted.
In modern times, there is no remaining commercial abalone harvest on Catalina Island, because there are simply too few abalone to be harvested. The modern U.S. (correctly in the author’s view) also no longer permits killing of most otters and seals.
Catalina’s aquaculture resources are used for many things. One of those things is the Catalina Sea Ranch, the first off-shore sea ranch in federal waters. They culture, among other species, Mytilus Galloprovincialis, the giant rock scallop, Crassodoma Gigantea, the purple sea urchin, and the California spiny lobster. The Catalina Sea Ranch is located 6 miles off California. It has reduced a global seafood shortage. It has 100 acres of area for growing aquatic organisms.
If the Tongva on Catalina ate abalone, which they got from Catalina, and there are not enough abalone on Catalina Island to be harvested now, perhaps abalone can be grow naturally or be farmed there in the future. In the author’s view, the government should aid in provide financing for abalone farming there, Since abalone farming is capital-intensive.
Conclusion
The different nations that have controlled Catalina Island at different times have focused on different resources. For an ocean resource to be developed to the point where it is profitable and/or self-sustaining, favorable financial treatment from the government, such as low-interest loans, grants, or favorable tax treatment may be needed, to make sure that the entity developing the resource does not “run out of money”, and is not forced to close because of some unforeseen emergency. The experience of the entrepreneurs who tried to develop Catalina Island shows this. The U.S. Civil War caused an “emergency” for those entrepreneurs living on Catalina because they were forced off the island, and World War I forced the Banning brothers to sell their interests in Catalina Island, but the Wrigley family had sufficient resources to continue their businesses’ operations on Catalina Island through World War II, and they continued developing the island thereafter. Catalina Island’s aquaculture resources can also be developed further.
References
Early Women Scientists of Los Angeles Harbor, Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci. 115(2), 2016, pp. 98–111.
History of Santa Catalina Island, M. Burton Williamson, Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County, 1903, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1903) pp. 14-31.
Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Harper and Brothers, 1840.
The Burning of Monterey: The 1818 Attack on California by the Privateer Bouchard, Peter Uhrowczik, Cyril Books, 2001.
https://www.islapedia.com/index.php?title=Santa_Catalina_Island_Company