Fish and Game Commission contemplates pier fishing ban request

11/6/2014
The Log Newspaper | California Boating & Fishing News - Fish-and-Game-Commission-contemplates-pier-fishing-ban-request
Thursday, November 06, 2014
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Fish and Game Commission contemplates pier fishing ban request
posted: 11/6/2014
By: Parimal M. Rohit
MOUNT SHASTA – While the city of Manhattan Beach did not have the
authority to place a permanent ban on pier fishing, staff and council
members from Hermosa Beach formally reached out to the California Fish
and Game Commission seeking guidance on enacting certain prohibitions
against anglers at its pier at an Oct. 8 meeting.
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At the meeting held in Mount Shasta, the California Fish and Game
Commission held off making any decisions on Hermosa Beach’s request.
The commission’s Marine Resources Commission will discuss Hermosa
Beach’s draft ordinance to prohibit certain fishing activities on the city’s
pier at its Nov. 5 meeting in Los Alamitos.
The issue of banning pier fishing in two neighboring South Bay cities
arose after a 7­foot white shark attacked a swimmer near the Manhattan
Beach Pier the morning of July 5. According to multiple news reports, the
shark was “hooked” by an angler less than an hour earlier and tried to
break free from the line.
Manhattan Beach’s City Council approved an emergency 60­day ban on
pier fishing on July 7. A permanent ban on pier fishing would require the
involvement of state agencies, particularly because the Manhattan Beach
Pier is owned by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Further, regulation of fishing activity and gear has been an action
exclusively reserved with state agencies and legislators since 1902.
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While Fish and Game commissioners noted Manhattan Beach city officials
have backed off of its ban on pier fishing, Hermosa Beach reached out to
the agency seeking guidance on enacting an ordinance similar to
regulations its neighbors to the north hoped to ratify.
In a Sept. 11 letter to Fish and Game Commissioner Executive Director Sonke Mastrup, Hermosa Beach Fire Chief David
Lantzer proposed several prohibitions to help address pier fishing concerns in the South Bay city.
“They are asking us to fix the regulations. We have to actually dive in and decide what’s really the underlying problem here
and what are the appropriate changes, if any, to rules,” Mastrup said.
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According to a statement issued in August, Hermosa Beach Pier experienced an influx of fishing activity after Manhattan
Beach adopted its emergency ban.
Lantzer stated in his letter that Hermosa Beach, like its neighboring city in Manhattan Beach, hoped to craft policy maintaining
everyday access to the pier while minimizing “the possibility of an inadvertent hooking of a white shark.”
Specifically, Lantzer said he and his colleagues wanted to avoid any incidents of a white shark inadvertently hooked by an
angler from the Hermosa Pier.
A draft ordinance was included with Lantzer’s letter, outlining changes to city law to regulate pier fishing.
Five prohibitions were listed in the proposed law, including bans against cleaning fish on the pier, throwing debris from the
pier, the use of more than two hooks per line, un­baited hooks and anything other than a monofilament line.
Anglers at Hermosa Beach Pier are already prohibited from throwing bait from the pier and overhead casting. Each angler is
limited to two lines.
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11/6/2014
The Log Newspaper | California Boating & Fishing News - Fish-and-Game-Commission-contemplates-pier-fishing-ban-request
The city informed anglers it is considering regulations prohibiting snag lines, chumming, fish cleaning on the pier and any use
of braided, steel, metal or non­monofilament lines.
In August, Michael Sutton, president of the Fish and Game Commission, wrote a letter to Manhattan Beach Mayor Amy
Thomas
Howorth addressing that city’s emergency ban. Sutton requested the emergency ban be lifted and the City Council “postpone
any action concerning fishing gear restrictions and/or other legal fishing practices.”
Reminding Manhattan Beach of the state’s regulatory powers, Sutton also told Howorth in his letter that the city’s pier fishing
ban would have unintended consequences on certain protected groups.
“The Commission is concerned that banning or otherwise restricting pier fishing would disproportionately impact the disabled,
subsistence fishers, and minorities,” Sutton said.
At the Oct. 8 Fish and Game Commission meeting, Commissioner Richard B. Rogers pondered whether the pier fishing ban
in Manhattan Beach was more than a safety regulation but also socially motivated.
“I think there is a social issue involved here. [There are] people on the strand who are all now multimillionaires. Those houses
are worth millions,” Rogers, a one­time Manhattan Beach resident, said. “The people on the pier aren’t so tony. They come
from a mile or two or three or four inland of Manhattan Beach. I’m accusing Manhattan Beach of maybe having a reason for
stopping fishing on the pier that they are not willing to talk about.”
Rogers added he wanted Manhattan Beach’s civic leaders and city staff to present to the commission any information they
have to justify a permanent ban on pier fishing.
“So far they have been very reluctant to [present information]. They don’t respond to letters. They are very reluctant to even
engage,” Rogers said. “I think they are fighting their own little political battle. They are completely wrong, legally. There is
something else going on here and it doesn’t have a darn thing to do with fishing on that pier.”
Marko Mlikotin, executive director of the California Sportsfishing League, similarly told commissioners a ban on pier fishing
would have a negative social impact.
“These illegal, overly costly and onerous regulations will disproportionately impact minority and low­income Californians who
rely on pier fishing for a source of affordable recreation and nutritious food,” Mlikotin wrote.
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