Laguna Beach Lobster Diving, Ocean Fishing Resumes In Orange County Waters

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Shore, pier, boat and lobster fishing can once again resume across Orange County's coastal waters after two months of closure, officials report. On Tuesday at noon the fishery closures will, at last, be lifted after being closed since the Orange County oil spill, state officials said Monday.

"After a thorough assessment, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment determined that there are no longer potential public health hazards associated with seafood consumption," writes Charlton H. Bonham, Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife informed local sportfishing operations of the time of the reopening.

Fishing operations in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point will no longer need to drive far off the coast to cast their lines. In Dana Point, Dana Wharf Sport Fishing vessels are ready to go fishing once again, says Chief Operating Officer Donna Kalez.

"Starting at noon, we can once again fish the coastline of Dana Point, San Clemente and parts of Laguna Beach," she tells Patch. "We have not been able to fish locally for almost two months!"

Local fishermen had no access to the nearshore fishery since early October.

"We are so very excited now that we can fish again," Kalez said.

The recreational lobster season was supposed to open on Oct. 9 and the season goes until Mar. 15. Due to the oil spill, all lobster fishermen were forced to wait out the extended fishing closure.

"The lobster fishery also reopens Tuesday at noon," Kalez says. "This is huge for people who want to eat local lobster and have missed it so much."

Fishing was prohibited from Huntington Beach to Dana Point following the early October oil spill. That ban on fishing encompassed 650 square miles of marine waters and about 45 miles of shoreline, including all bays and harbors from Seal Beach to San Onofre State Beach, officials said.

Seafood was tested for chemicals from oil from Oct. 14 to Nov. 3, with authorities on Monday alerting the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that the seafood was OK to resume eating.

Investigators suspect at least one ship was involved in an incident on Jan. 25 in which an anchor dragged a pipeline owned by Amplify Energy of Houston, "bending it like a bow."

At some point, the pipeline began leaking, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean in what was a significant environmental impact to area wildlife and financial hardship for local fishermen and coastal businesses, shuttered for over a month.