WET & WILD : Divers Pay Price to Save Tidelands

Scuba divers have never caused major problems at the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge, a 3,500-foot stretch of water wrapping around the Dana Point Headlands. For many years, the place has been frequented by a regular cadre of peaceful underwater shellfish gatherers and spearfishers.

On Jan. 1, however, a new law goes into effect that will impede their recreational activities by curtailing what they can carry on the beach.

The problem: Hundreds of non-diving beach-goers were routinely ravaging the intertidal zone by taking out bucketfuls of marine inhabitants.

The solution: strict new regulations prohibiting anyone from crossing the sand with instruments of marine collection. That means that divers carrying goody bags, spear guns, slurp guns into the water or lobsters or other marine life out of the water will be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail.

“We were seeing an increasing amount of harmful behaviors,” said Harry Helling, associate executive director of the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point and the man expected to be named to the newly created director’s post of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge beginning Jan. 1. “What this (new law) provides is complete protection for the intertidal zone.”

Defined as the part of the beach from the lowest low tide to the highest high tide, the intertidal zone has long been a temptation to beach-goers bent on taking souvenirs. While divers generally bag their game farther out along the sandy and rocky bottom, where hunting certain kinds of marine life is legal, land-bound beach-goers have tended to ignore the signs cautioning them against collecting shells, starfish, seaweed and virtually anything else in the intertidal zone.

“Unless it’s absolutely forbidden,” Helling said, “there’s a strong sense that you want to take something back with you.”

So Helling and his staff began working with state Sen. Marion Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to assure that not only would taking stuff be absolutely forbidden, but that the law prohibiting it could be easily enforced. By outlawing accouterments of collection on the beach, Helling said, the new law will make it easy for violators to be spotted by his large and eager army of volunteers already spending every weekend on the beach.

Unfortunately, innocent scuba divers got caught in the cross-fire.

After Jan. 1, Helling said, the only way for them to legally carry spear guns, goody bags and other instruments of hunting or collection into the water will be from the sand on each side of the 3,500-foot-long refuge, or by boat.

In other words, Helling said, for divers who don’t own boats, “It’s a nice long swim.”

Divers seem to be reacting in mixed ways to the announced inconvenience.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” said Hosam Elshenawe, an instructor at Beach Cities Scuba Center in Dana Point, which, he said, stands to lose business as a result of the new law. “I think divers are the most respectful of the environment; this is like penalizing the whole family for what only one has done.”

Ernest Delishanti--manager of the dive shop at Sports Chalet in Huntington Beach and a longtime diver--supports the new regulations.

“I think it’s a good idea to have sanctions because it gives you a chance to save species that have been disappearing (for years.) Divers victimize the coast just as much as a lot of other people do; beachcombers tear apart the intertidal zones, but divers are out there pillaging the rest of the dive site. We posted (the new regulations), and some people sneered, but a lot of divers who’ve been diving for years like the idea.”

Back on the beach, an aggressive program of education and enforcement has already begun. Every two weeks, Helling says, marine center staffers hold a self-guided program on tide-pool conservation for youths 6 to 13. On alternate Sundays, adults and children can learn to appreciate tide pools in a one-hour laboratory experience during which they feel the delicate suction from an octopus tentacle and view miniature marine life under microscopes.

And every weekend, Helling said, youth volunteers meet to discuss the variety of animals found in the refuge and to patrol in shifts to make sure they remain undisturbed.

“We’ve got involvement from the fish and game warden and the local sheriff,” Helling said. “There will be a lot more eyes watching now because the laws are clear.”