Oil Spill
- Thread starter Ken Jones
- Start date
Based on a CDFW press release all take of fish is prohibited from Huntington Beach to Dana Point effective immediately. Here's the URL https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/southern-california-fisheries-closure-implemented-due-to-oil-spill
Based on the map of the prohibited area is seems that Dana Point is ok for now. URL - https://socalspillresponse-com-jtti...eclaration-of-Fisheries-Closure-10.2.2021.pdf
I know that San Clemente Pier is open for now but probably not for long. Even if fishing is permitted on some of the piers I doubt there is much to catch with most everything either moving away from the spill or being killed off. How do you guys think the spill will effect fishing once this mess is cleaned up?
I'll speak to this on the basis of the 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay. For at least five years afterward you could find oil tar on the carapaces of local crabs. If you foraged for bait (lifting rocks, digging in the sand) you would encounter hubcap size pockets of black muck. Minus tides, in the first two weeks, pulled the goo upriver and into the Suisun. It certainly affected fishing for local species. Bait, jacksmelt and perch numbers were down. Not so much for the roving, anadromous species. Striped bass were okay and halibut came back strong the next year.
Where the habitat is damaged, the fish numbers obviously will be down. But when the habitat recovers they will return. My best guess is that, if you can, you So-Cal folks might fish elsewhere for the next year. This looks like a bad one but only time will tell. One advantage oceanic angling has is that you are fishing in an area which constantly cleanses and replenishes. The Bay ecology up here, while not really a closed system, still takes longer for tides to recycle the water and debris.
But your own estuarine waterways near Seal are going to hurt.
Best wishes and vibes for a speedy recovery!
Where the habitat is damaged, the fish numbers obviously will be down. But when the habitat recovers they will return. My best guess is that, if you can, you So-Cal folks might fish elsewhere for the next year. This looks like a bad one but only time will tell. One advantage oceanic angling has is that you are fishing in an area which constantly cleanses and replenishes. The Bay ecology up here, while not really a closed system, still takes longer for tides to recycle the water and debris.
But your own estuarine waterways near Seal are going to hurt.
Best wishes and vibes for a speedy recovery!
I will use the american trader incident from 1990 in almost the same area to say this will probably not have much effect on the coastal area longer than a month or two. Bolsa chica wetlands may be a bit different. The media is so overhyping this thing it is sad. They keep showing photos of the same patch of sand in huntington beach where oil came ashore. I have friends and clients that have been to the beaches in newport and laguna and they are perfectly clean. So far the state is reporting 4 birds have been treated with 1 of those being euthanized. Not sayin there was not a leak, or that it should not be cleaned up. Just be careful about buying into the hype of “one of the biggest oil spills in california history”.
