Fishing season delayed because of Bay oil spill

Ban effective until Dec.1, maybe earlier if human risk eliminated

By Julia Scott
Oakland Tribune
November 14, 2007

PRINCETON-BY-THE-SEA — Fishermen got what they asked for on Tuesday — a ban on all fishing in areas affected by last weeks oil spill. But they weren't too happy about it.

All activity ceased at Pillar Point Harbor and harbors in San Francisco and Bodega Bay Tuesday afternoon after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order suspending all fishing in Bay Area waters contaminated with bunker fuel from a container ship accident last Thursday.

The no-catch zones are expected to include all Bay Area counties from San Francisco and San Mateo to Solano County, but the California Department of Fish and Game has yet to determine the exact boundaries of the closure.

The ban is in effect until Dec. 1, but could be rescinded sooner if the Department of Fish and Game determines that the spill no longer poses a major human health risk.

The ban affects commercial and sport fishermen and arrives on the cusp of Thursdays highly-anticipated Dungeness crab season opener. Fishermen throughout the Bay Area voted to ask the governor to delay the season last weekend due to the chance that someone could become sick from eating a contaminated crab, and thus ruin the season for everyone.

The latest development didn't stop fishermen from counting their losses on Tuesday. They stood around in resigned groups on the main pier at Pillar Point Harbor north of Half Moon Bay, trying to make alternate plans for the next two weeks.

Like many of his cohorts, commercial fisherman Walt Doll of the Judy Kay said losing the Thanksgiving market would mean losing half the seasons take or more.

Wholesale crab prices are highest when the season opens Nov. 15 each year, because that's when the waters outside San Francisco are teeming with the succulent Dungeness crab; fishermen from throughout California and Oregon race to the area to take part in the catch.

Between the 15th of November and the first of December, we usually make $20,000. We won't recoup that because the same crab we would have caught now would have been 80 cents (per pound) more in value (than it will later on), said Doll.

The North Coast crab season opens Dec. 1, putting commercial fishermen in Fort Bragg and Crescent City in direct competition with crabbers in the Bay Area.

Crabs aren't the only sea life to be given a Thanksgiving reprieve. Other local fish in season right now, including halibut, petrale sole, rock crab and sand dabs, are also off-limits.

Pillar Point Assistant Harbormaster John Draper said at least one boat had not heard about the ban and was still out fishing petrale sole Tuesday afternoon.

Draper could not say whether the fisherman would be forced to dump his catch back in the ocean rather than attempt to sell it in San Francisco, based on the fact that the new rules only just took effect.

Sport fishermen were angry about being included in the fishing ban.

I think its unfair, said Scott Shrader, who recently installed his boat in Pillar Point Harbor in preparation for crab season. There definitely is oil up north, but here its clear. I spent a lot of money on my slip, my boat, everything.

The oil slick has, in fact, been heading south in recent days. Oiled birds began appearing on Peninsula beaches on Saturday; on Tuesday, the San Mateo County Health Department closed four Pacifica beaches after discovering tar balls on one of them for the first time.

With winds continuing to blow from the northwest, forcing the oil slick further down the coast, fisherman Jim Anderson said he feared it would be harder to contain the oil than previously thought, and thus delay the opening of the crab season beyond Dec. 1.

He also worried that some fishermen would simply move their fishing operations southward into Santa Cruz County, which was not included in Tuesdays executive order.

Santa Cruz is not on the list, so theoretically anyone could go crabbing south of the county line, Anderson said. The minute this whole thing was proposed, there were guys I talked to from out of state who said, Well just set our gear down there instead.'"

How do you patrol the area to make sure they don't come back through here and become contaminated? he asked.

All that depends on which areas are actually contaminated.

Sam Delson, a spokesman for the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, said his agency was working with the Department of Fish and Game and the state Department of Public Health to figure that out.

Were still finding out exactly where the spill has spread to, but well be analyzing tests of maritime life to determine what the level of accumulation of dangerous substances has been and assess the human health risk accordingly, said Delson.

In the meantime, fishermen are already talking about suing the owners of the Cosco Busan for their losses.

At least three guys have gotten calls from lawyers who want to represent them, said Anderson. There was a lawyer running around the parking lot before lunch. They're talking about a class action lawsuit, getting all the guys from here and San Francisco in on it.