In the early 1800s the sea otters of San Quintín Bay were targeted by a series of joint ventures between American maritime fur traders and the Russian–American Company (RAC).

[2] O'Cain sailed to San Quintín Bay and stayed for over three months while Tarakanov and Shvetsov led indigenous sea otter hunting parties all along the coast between Mission Rosario and Misión Santo Domingo de la Frontera.

In response to promises of agricultural wealth, around a hundred English colonists purchased subdivided land tracts from the parent company, planted wheat, and constructed a gristmill.

For flour transportation, the English built a pier on inner Bahiá San Quintín and began constructing a railway to link up with the Southern Pacific tracks to the north in California.

Thirty kilometers of track were laid, including a rail causeway from the west bank of inner Bahiá San Quintín, before the colony failed.

[4] Recently there has been foreign (especially Chinese) investment in San Quintin for the development of shellfish harvesting and export (especially abalone).

The conservation process involves farm growing abalone for two-three years and put back into its natural habitat.

There are shipyards and workshops to support the fishing industry as well as prestigious research centers for aquaculture that prepare students from a specialized secondary education, through technology programs in high school focusing on oceanography, to doctoral degrees in science.

[7] Resources have increased substantially in recent years, considering the aquaculture industry in Baja California began just two decades ago.

The Bahia Falsa is certified by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States which guarantees the quality of the products and facilitates the commercial concurrence to the markets of that country.

XEQIN-AM, a government-run indigenous community radio station that broadcasts in Mixtec, Zapotec and Triqui, is based in San Quintín.