SURF CAMERAS OK’D AT ENCINITAS BEACHES

A private company’s request to install surf cameras on city-owned structures at Moonlight and Swami’s beaches won unanimous approval from the City Council this month.

Under the terms of the three-year deal, Surfline/ Wavetrak Inc. will pay $645 a month to the city for permission to put three cameras on the Marine Safety Center at Moonlight and one camera on the lifeguard station at Swami’s.

Founded 35 years ago, the Hunting Beach-based Surfline company has more than 600 ocean-monitoring camera systems installed around the world and its websites — Surfline.com, Buoyweather.com and Fishtrack.com — are visited by millions of people, the company website states. While some wave and weather information is available for free on the Surfline website, subscribers pay $95 a year to gain access to high-definition cameras showing current surf conditions, to “rewind” the past five days of camera footage, or to view specialized weather forecasts.

The company already has surf-monitoring cameras mounted on private residences in Encinitas and those systems have been helpful in at least one medical aid call, a city staff report produced for Wednesday night’s meeting notes.

“One residentially mounted camera captured video footage of the shark attack on a 13-year-old boy at Beacon’s Beach on Sept. 29, 2018. This video footage was provided to the City by Surf line, and aided staff in recreating the event for the incident report,” the report states.

The staff report also stresses that the camera systems are controlled by the Surfline company, not the subscribers, so viewers can’t redirect them to stare at sunbathers on the beach.

“At the city’s request, Surfline will change the camera orientation(s), if there is a city-identified need,” the report adds.

U-T FILE PHOTO One camera will be placed on the lifeguard station at Swami’s Beach under a three-year deal.