Fishermen Stage Blockade to Protest Ban

Shortly before dawn Saturday, about 15 commercial fishing boats staged a brief blockade at the entrance of Ventura Harbor to protest a ban on gill-net fishing in coastal waters and other perceived hardships.

At 5:10 a.m., the Ventura-based fishermen assembled more than a dozen 30- to 65-foot boats at the harbor entrance, blocking sailboats and sportfishing vessels heading out to sea, Senior Deputy Harbor Master Dave Glaser said.

The fishermen would not respond to the harbor master’s radio calls, forcing a patrol crewman to take a boat out to the blockade and ask the protesters to move along.

“We warned them that they would be arrested if they didn’t disperse quickly,” Glaser said. The fishermen complied and left the entrance just before 6 a.m.

“Most of them went back to their slips,” Glaser said.

Bill Sutton, a commercial fisherman, said the protesters staged the blockade to express their frustration and anger over increased government regulations that they say have hurt their livelihood.

He said the commercial fishermen assembled before dawn to stop sportfishing boats from taking anglers to the waters where they are struggling to make a living.

“We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish,” Sutton said. “If I can’t go fishing, you shouldn’t be able to go fishing.”

In 1990, California voters passed Proposition 132 banning the use of gill nets, which are anchored to the ocean floor and stretched for miles to trap fish. Supporters of the ban said the nets posed a threat to marine mammals such as dolphins and sea lions.

A San Diego Superior Court judge last month dismissed a lawsuit challenging the proposition.

Former gill-netter Hank Hubble said he joined the protest Saturday “just to let the state of California know they put me out of business. I was protesting that I have lost my complete livelihood. My bills go on and I can’t work anymore.”