Coastal Panel to Hear Appeal Over Reef

The California Coastal Commission will hear an appeal today from a marine researcher who challenged an agency ruling that he needed a permit for an artificial reef he created 10 years ago off the Balboa Pier.

Rodolphe Streichenberger built the reef of plastic jugs, PVC pipes, iron rods and used tires.

Commission members want to know how many of these items are laying below the surface, where they are and why, agency spokesman Darryl Rance said.

“The issue is that we want to know how much of this stuff is out there and just what is going on out there. He says it’s research and there’s no legal requirement for him to tell us what he’s putting in the water,” Rance said.

Streichenberger, an economist by training, said the issue would be less contentious if the commission recognized his creation as “an aquaculture marine habitat,” where thousands of mussels are expected to thrive, rather than a man-made reef.

Whether a reef or marine habitat, Rance said that officials need to know exactly where Streichenberger has anchored 2,000 one-gallon plastic jugs, 100 20-foot sections of PVC pipe, 1,500 scrap tires and other items.

The commission hearing will be for an after-the-fact permit. In a telephone interview, Streichenberger said he was given permission by the California Fish and Game Commission to experiment growing mussels.

However, Fish and Game officials said that permission was given in 1988 and expired some time later.

In 1995, Fish and Game officials said it was unlikely that Streichenberger’s research would ever lead to a “viable aquaculture project.”

Streichenberger’s project may have gone unnoticed by the Coastal Commission had he not filed for a permit in 1995 to put an additional 30,000 tires on the ocean floor for a second experiment.

Streichenberger said he will appeal and argue at today’s meeting that he does not need a permit for the current project because “it’s not a development.”

“It’s a marine habitat,” he said. “We have been able to grow mussels extremely well.”

The Coastal Commission meeting will be at the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort in Huntington Beach and begin at 10 a.m.