Weeks after spill, surfers frolic but fishing forbidden

NEWPORT BEACH, Orange County — Four weeks after an oil spill washed blobs of crude onto Southern California’s coast, surfers have returned to the waves and people play in the surf.

But fishermen still can’t drop lines in the same waters.

California has prohibited fishing in an area that ranges about 6 to 12 miles off the shores of Orange County since an undersea pipeline leaked at least about 25,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.

State environmental health experts are conducting studies to determine whether shellfish and fish are safe for human consumption — a process expected to take weeks or longer.

Scott Breneman, owner of West Caught Fish, said he still fishes for tuna and black cod well beyond the prohibited area. He said he’s been able to keep selling his catch to restaurants but customers aren’t buying like they usually do at a popular Newport Beach fish market because of concerns about the state fishing ban.

While life along the coast is returning to normal, commercial fishermen and charter operators have been hit especially hard by the closures. Some have joined lawsuits against pipeline owner Amplify Energy of Houston and say their biggest fear is that the spill’s stigma will drive away tourists even after the oily tar that washed up on the beaches is gone.

Eric Zelien, owner of EZ Sportfishing in Huntington Beach, said clients have canceled fishing trips even though there are plenty of areas where

fishing is allowed. Instead of running daily trips, he’s now taking out groups once or twice a week.

Environmental advocates initially feared the worst when they learned about the spill on Oct. 2. But the Coast Guard said much of the miles-long plume of oil appeared to break up at sea, limiting the impact on sensitive wetland areas and wildlife along the coast.

Beaches in Huntington Beach, known as “Surf City USA,” were closed for swimming and surfing for a week. But surfers there and in nearby Newport Beach quickly returned to the waves after workers cleaned up the sand and local officials tested the water, deeming it safe to enter.

But authorities say eating fish from the water isn’t the same as swimming in it. Fish

in oil spill zones can ingest oil, which contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can cause cancer if eaten in certain amounts, said Susan Klasing, chief of the fish, ecotoxicology and water section at California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife State officials fish off the coast of Southern California to catch samples they can have tested to determine whether it is safe to reopen the fishing grounds, which were closed after an oil spill.