Outdoor Notes/ Pete Thomas : Artificial Reef Proposed for Vandenberg Area

Scrap concrete and steel could become a huge artificial reef, attracting fish and fishermen to the waters off Vandenberg Air Force Base, if a state biologist has his way.

John Grant, artificial reef coordinator with the Department of Fish and Game, has overseen similar projects and hopes to have 290,000 tons of old concrete and 191 empty steel tanks dumped onto the sea floor.

The resulting artificial reef would become the world’s largest, providing shelter for many species of fish and crustaceans, which in turn would attract commercial and sport fishermen.

Grant, who also hopes to build two smaller artificial reefs off the Santa Barbara County coast, has enlisted the cooperation of the Air Force, which would supply the raw material, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy, which have offered a tug and barge to transport the rubble.

The project, which Grant estimates would take 10 years to complete, would also require permits from the state Lands Commission, the Coast Guard, the California Coastal Commission and a separate office of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The reef would be within 20 miles of the Vandenberg shoreline, and about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Grant also is seeking permits to use 10,000 tons of Vandenberg material for a reef off Jalama County Beach Park near Lompoc and has permits for a 10,000-ton reef off Summerland near Carpinteria.

The Vandenberg reef would consist of concrete from demolished buildings and of steel fuel storage tanks, that have been cut in half lengthwise and steam cleaned.

The largest reef on the California coast is a 20,000-ton structure recently completed in the Santa Monica Bay.

Fishermen fortunate enough to troll the waters around Mazatlan are finding that it’s a banner winter for striped marlin.

Most of the stripers landed at the popular Mexican Pacific resort are in the 120- to 150-pound range, and it hasn’t been unusual for a boat to catch four billfish during the usual eight-hour outing.

Eric Heimpel, operator of the long-established Star Fleet, told Warren Girard, a visiting Times news editor, that schools of bluefin and yellowfin tuna have also been encountered regularly this winter, along with an occasional sailfish.

More than 375 tuna were caught on one day earlier this month, and similarly large hauls have been common all winter. Heimpel expects the striped marlin run to continue through mid-March, when the blue and black marlin usually return for an eight-month stay.

The dorado and sailfish normally show up in June and remain through November, Heimpel added. His fleet’s whopper of the season: a 990-pound blue marlin caught in late November.

The DFG is tentatively planning what may be the largest pronghorn antelope capture and relocation effort in state history.

Up to 250 antelope are being considered for trapping at two locations in Modoc County. They would then be released in San Benito and San Luis Obispo Counties. About 120 antelope were transplanted to San Luis Obispo and Kern counties from the northeastern part of the state last year.

The DFG’s annual aerial census, which is nearing completion, will help determine whether the program can be carried out and how many antelope would be involved in the move, which would take place in early February.

Brian Hunter, the DFG regional manager in Yountville, said the pronghorn releases are aimed at reestablishing antelope on their historic ranges, where the animals all but disappeared shortly after World War II, the victims of market hunting, agricultural and urban development.

In five previous antelope relocations dating back to 1972, the DFG has captured and moved 565 animals. In the last 33 years the antelope population in northeastern California has increased from 2,000 to 7,000.

CalTIP pays off: The DFG said a call to its secret witness anti-poaching phone number helped wardens arrest two Redwood City brothers for the illegal killing of a deer last fall.

Early this week, Alturas Justice Court Judge Robert Barclay imposed a $1,900 fine on Anthony Robert Sigala, 31, and a $95 fine on his 29-year-old brother Daniel.

Warden Bob Houghtby said a call to CalTIP led him and Lt. Jim Hampe to the area, where they found a freshly shot doe inside the South Warner state game refuge in southeastern Modoc County. An examination of the deer showed that it had been nursing at least one fawn. The two wardens later found fawn footprints around the dead doe and a rifle hidden beneath a nearby tree.

After that they encountered the brothers and followed their bootprints back to the doe and the rifle.

Briefly Wildlife areas in Arizona, the survival of bass caught and released in tournaments, and the Big Springs Environmental Study area are subjects of several new brochures now available from the Arizona Game and Fish Dept. . . . The DFG reminds fishermen 65 and older that applications for $2 sportfishing licenses are available at DFG offices throughout the state.

Fly tying: Sespe Flyfishers is offering classes for all levels on 10 Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27 at the Great Pacific Iron Works cafeteria in Ventura. For more information call (805) 642-4359. A free 10-week beginning class is being offered by the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers beginning Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the recreation room of Van Nuys Park in Van Nuys. Call (818) 983-1880. The Fly Fishers Club of Orange County will conduct a 10-week beginning class starting Wednesday at the Louis Lake Senior Citizens Center in Garden Grove. Call (714) 616-8967.