Spill Called Disaster for Sportfishing

The oil spill off Huntington Beach was termed “disastrous” by one of two sportfishing operators who cannot get their boats out of Newport Harbor.

“We’re canceling 400 or 500 people for (today),” said Eddie DiRuscio, manager of Davey’s Locker. “It’s disastrous. Fishing, parasailing, whale watching--everything.”

Jim Watts of Newport Landing estimated that the shutdown would cost him up to $5,500 in business today alone, most of that for whale-watching trips, the rest for fishing charters.

“This was going to be our first really good weekend,” Watts said. “The whales are here. We’re seeing them every trip. And it’s not going to rain. It’s going to be beautiful. (But) we’re not going to be able to leave the harbor.”

The Coast Guard ordered booms placed across the harbor entrance Thursday morning to hold out the slick caused when the tanker American Trader spilled about 300,000 gallons of oil after its own anchor knocked a hole in its hull Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, sportfishing interests feared the worst for the popular Huntington Flats fishing area off the beach, just up the coast from Newport Beach.

Environmental attorney Patrick Marley of Los Angeles on Friday filed a $1-billion lawsuit against British Petroleum Corp. and the American Trading Transportation Co., owner of the vessel, on behalf of the Sportfishing Assn. of California and the United Anglers of California.

Bob Fletcher, president of the sportfishing association, said: “It’s really going to hurt our fleet. We’ve got eight boats that are locked in.”

The California Department of Fish and Game is the state’s lead agency in dealing with off-highway oil spills. Director Pete Bontadelli flew to the site from Sacramento on Wednesday night and met Friday with other principals in Long Beach to discuss mitigation measures.

“One of my major concerns is that they don’t use (chemical) dispersants,” Fletcher said. “You’ve got one of the most prolific nursery and spawning areas in Southern California. Halibut, sand bass . . . the Huntington Flats is the heart of that whole sand bass fishing grounds.

“If they use dispersants, you’re mixing a toxic material with another toxic material--the crude oil. It will emulsify the oil and go right down into the water column and right on down to the bottom.”

The Fish and Game Department, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency voted at Friday’s meeting not to use dispersants. And Charlie Fullerton, regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service on Terminal Island, said the spill probably will not have much effect on the spawning beds at the Huntington Flats.

“It’s a fairly light crude and most of it is floating,” he said.