Lobstermen Say Refuge Plan Has a Catch

For years, Gordon Grant and other lobster fishermen have existed peacefully on the clear green waters of the Malibu coast.

But as Malibu officials push to designate the city’s 27-mile coastline as a marine refuge, they are threatening another dwindling ocean breed: small-time lobster fishermen like Grant who are bewildered at being cast as enemies of the sea.

“There’s nothing we’re doing that hurts the environment,” Grant said as his 30-foot fishing boat glided across the placid water toward Malibu one recent morning. “I target one species, and one species only. I’ve been on the ocean my whole life--I don’t want anything to happen to it. This is my livelihood.”

The Malibu shore is one of the principal rocky reef areas in Southern California--a rich habitat for many species, an area recognized by the state for its special biological significance and home to several endangered and depleted species, including the California tern, the steelhead trout and the tidewater goby. All of these factors make the region well-qualified for protection.

Under a proposal approved by the City Council on Dec. 10, no commercial fishing would be allowed within three miles along the shore and two small “no-take zones” would be established where all fishing and tide-pooling would be prohibited--making it one of the largest coastal sanctuaries in the state.

Dozens of fishermen who harvest squid, urchins and mackerel along the Malibu coast would be affected by the proposed refuge. But it’s Grant and a handful of other lobster fishermen who work the shore from Malibu Point to Nicholas Beach who especially fear that they are being unfairly sacrificed in the name of environmental protection.

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Some marine biologists and state officials have questioned Malibu’s assumption that commercial fishing is destroying marine life and have voiced doubt that the proposed refuge, although well-intentioned, will dramatically help the habitat.

Such skepticism by the experts fuels frustration among the lobster fishermen.

The commercial fishing ban would effectively drum them out of business, they say, because red California spiny lobsters are plucked out of the shallow rocky reefs along the shore. If Malibu closes, there are few other open coasts not already staked out by other fishermen.

Each year, about 500,000 pounds of lobster are hauled out of California waters, a $3.6-million industry powered by about 300 fishermen statewide.

“You’d probably be hard-pressed to show that a creation of a reserve would impact the industry [as a whole],” said John Duffy, a senior biologist with the Department of Fish and Game. “But there’s no doubt that the number of fishermen that fish off the Malibu coast would be impacted to the extreme.”

The marine refuge must be approved by the state Legislature and the governor. City officials have met with representatives of Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) to discuss crafting a bill, and Malibu city staff members have been instructed to put together an analysis of the anticipated costs. While endorsing the concept of a refuge, Hayden and Kuehl have not yet endorsed the City Council’s proposal. The City Council will discuss the specifics of a legislative proposal at its Jan. 13 meeting.

In Malibu, where the city limits extend three miles into the sea and dolphins are honorary citizens, the refuge seems a natural step to residents.

“Why not have it as beautiful and as healthy as it can possibly be, have it abundant with life?” said Mary Frampton, executive director of Save Our Coast, a local group that has fought for the refuge. “The fishing industry in the long run will profit from the growth. Those fish travel the Pacific Coast. They can catch them somewhere else.”

But Grant says that’s exactly what will hurt him if the refuge is approved. “We’ll all have to crowd somewhere else,” he said, “but where are we supposed to go?”

The area between Palos Verdes Point and Malibu Point has been closed to commercial fishing since the 1930s, and lobster fishermen are already wedged in along the rest of the coast. Grant’s other option--fishing at Santa Catalina Island and the islets beyond--means risking high winds that whip up 16-foot swells and taking long trips that will keep him away from his family for weeks.

The large lobster operations, armed with bigger boats and more than 600 traps, can afford costly island trapping. But about a dozen fishermen like Grant, who work the local coast with small boats and a couple of hundred traps, said they’ll feel the brunt of the ban.

Grant, 42, has 200 traps sunk in water along the Malibu coast, where he fishes from November until March after spending the first few weeks of the open season out at the islands. In the off-season, he traps crabs and other fish. Grant estimates that two-thirds of his income comes from the lobsters he sells for $7 to $9 a pound to a downtown wholesaler, who then exports them to Asian markets. The sales are profitable, but not always dependable.

“If I’ve got enough to pay the bills and a little extra, I’m OK,” Grant said.

The work isn’t easy, either. Before dawn, Grant motors his boat Baywitch from Marina del Rey past Malibu Point, where the first of his red and black buoys floats, marking a trap 3,000 feet below on the rocky ocean floor.

With a hooked pole, he yanks the buoy’s rope over a pulley and hauls the wire trap out of the water. If he’s lucky, several large red crustaceans cling to the inside. Deftly, he opens the door and measures the lobsters. If they muster at least a 3 1/4-inch-long-body, he places them inside a tub of water on deck, then quickly refills the bait jar with frozen mackerel.

So the day goes, drifting from buoy to buoy, hooking and yanking until it’s too dark to see the floating markers.

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The idea of a refuge really irks him, Grant said, because his work doesn’t harm the habitat. Department of Fish and Game officials confirm that the lobster population is healthy and that trapping doesn’t hurt other marine life.

Still, Malibu residents say they have seen a decline in sea life over the years.

“It used to be you could find little baby octopus, grunion, even hermit crabs,” said Malibu City Councilman Walt Keller. “Now, there’s hardly any left.”

Testimony of local residents such as Keller has led marine biologists to suspect that aquatic life has been hurt by fishing and other pressures, although there are no scientific studies tracking Malibu’s marine population.

Although scientists agree the coastal waters face degradation, just how to protect them is open to debate.

Rimmon C. Fay, a marine biologist with the Inglewood-based Pacific Bio-Marine Laboratories, said there are no quick fixes to the many environmental threats faced by the Santa Monica Bay and Malibu coast.

“Nothing practical can be achieved to protect those resources by this closure,” he said of the commercial fishing ban.

A UCLA study commissioned by Malibu recommended setting aside two “no-take” zones totaling 4 1/2 square miles. The city council extended that plan by voting to also close all 27 miles of its shore to commercial fishing.

Lobster fishermen argue there is no evidence that their operations hurt the environment more than the sport fishing industry’s large party boats and divers that scavenge the reefs.

“It’s possible the people in Malibu have a feeling about what commercial fishing does without really knowing the facts,” said Richard Ambrose, a marine ecologist at UCLA who headed the Malibu refuge study.

Lobster fishermen vow to fight the refuge by attending City Council meetings and even going to Sacramento if a bill is introduced early next year.

“If they want to protect the ocean, they should try creating a sanctuary three miles inland,” said Grant, gesturing up to the hills above Malibu. “That’s where all this trash and pollution is coming from that’s really going to hurt the ocean.”