For thousands of years, the Cum-a-Lul Pa'Mu, or Coastal Pomo, and neighboring Indian tribal groups set up seasonal camps within a few hundred yards of this beach to gather the sea's valuable food resources. Fishing Pomo caught ocean fish near the shore and salmon in the rivers with nets, harpoons, and hooks made of shell and bone, using fishing lines made of wild iris fibers. Surf fish and seaweed were often dried on rocks or on beds of water grass. Women cooked fish over open fires, baked them in rock-lined pits, or dried and smoked them for future use. Mussels were often cooked in holes in shoreline rock, anemones were toasted on sticks over open fires, and chitons and barnacles were cooked in hot coals or sun-dried for future use. Abalone was beaten to tenderize it before cooking, or dried raw and cut into strips for winter use. After gathering, seaweed was dried on rocks and later cooked in earthen ovens, and it also served as a source of salt. Sea palms and kelp were roasted in hot ashes. These food-gathering and preparation traditions remain an important element of heritage and culture that many local Native Americans still highly value, and dried seafood continues to play an important role in the diet of many Native Americans.