Monterey proposes a partnership that aims to keep fishermen, and the fish we eat, local.

In the groundfish business, fish aren’t the only commodity, and the city of Monterey is well aware of that fact.

Declared a federal disaster in 2000, the fishery for West Coast groundfish has been subject to a federally-implemented “catch share” system since 2011. It works like this: Instead of fishermen competing against each other and catching as much fish as possible before the fishery’s quota is met, fishermen were allocated a one-time “share” of the quota, and they can fish at whatever pace they please.

By most measures, the catch share program has been a success: The program helped turn the fishery from a disaster to sustainable. In 2014, the Seafood Watch program reclassified 21 groundfish species from “avoid” to “good alternative” or even “best choice.”

One consequence of the program is that fishermen can sell their quota shares on the open market, and the small fishing communities of the Monterey Bay could theoretically sell out to bigger interests in the Pacific Northwest. That could mean far fewer groundfish are caught locally.

The city of Monterey is trying to ensure that doesn’t happen. City Council will decide July 21 whether to approve $225,000 from the city’s Tidelands Trust Fund to purchase 400,000-500,000 pounds of the annual West Coast catch.

The city’s quota share would be managed by the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, a nonprofit formed last year to purchase and manage groundfish quotas. The trust will then lease out portions of the quota to fishermen, with the revenue going back to the city’s Tidelands fund.

“The economic power of the fishery has ended up in the Pacific Northwest,” says Monterey Harbormaster Steve Scheiblauer. “This is not a hypothetical thing. It is happening.”

Scheiblauer says about 4 million pounds of the quota was allocated to local fishermen in 2011; he estimates 6 million’s the minimum to maintain sustainable fishing economies. The local share has already taken a big hit: Earlier this year, a Moss Landing fisherman sold his 1.5 million-pound share out of state.

The fisheries trust was born out of city’s 2013 Fishing Community Sustainability Plan, which recommends a nonprofit be formed to buy and manage local quota shares. “It’s important for the community to have access to groundfish,” says Sherry Flumerfelt, the trust’s executive director, “and we’re scrambling to make sure [we don’t lose it].”

The trust has acquired about 450,000 pounds of the quota and hopes to acquire more than 4 million pounds from The Nature Conservancy at a reduced price.