Heal the Bay Blog

Frankie Orrala, our Angler Outreach Program Manager, and staff scientist Dana Murray report on Heal the Bay’s efforts to educate anglers at local piers about sustainable fishing techniques and protecting sharks.

Jan. 27, 2015 — Fresh, salty air whips our faces as we approach a middle-aged man angling on Venice Pier. His eyes are on the water as he reels in his catch. The excitement heats up, as the man uses all his strength and skill to haul in what is turning out to be a big fish.

Encouraging remarks in both Spanish and English come from surrounding anglers on the pier: “Puedes hacerlo!” “It’s so strong!” “You’ve got it!” Helpful hands from other anglers assist the man in catching his 18-inch long kelp bass after a five-minute tussle. If this had been a halibut, it could take 10 minutes to land a good-sized legal catch, and up to 20 minutes to land a prized thresher shark. But most of the time when pier anglers do catch a shark, they throw the animal back in the ocean, followed by cheers from the gathering crowd.

“Oh, that’s a nice fish!” we say as we congratulate the angler on his catch. “What are you going to do with it?” He doesn’t skip a beat, saying with a smile ear-to-ear, “Gracias! I will feed my family with this fish tonight, and share some with my friends.” The subsistence angling community is commonly generous with good catches, parceling out pieces of a large fish to buddies on the pier, or handing over several bonita or mackerel to others who haven’t been so lucky that day.

After the white shark bite incident in Manhattan Beach last summer, Heal the Bay decided to build upon our existing Pier Angler Outreach Program, by creating a pilot program to educate pier anglers of Santa Monica Bay about local shark populations and sustainable fishing techniques. Program partners and funders of the pilot project stepped up, including the City of Manhattan Beach, City of Santa Monica, County of Los Angeles, City of Hermosa Beach, and the City of Redondo Beach.

For several months this past fall, our Shark Ambassadors approached anglers, much like in the scene above, to educate fishermen and collect survey information. Through our outreach, we shared newly developed educational materials focused on responsible fishing techniques, how to avoid catching large sharks and what to do if a shark is caught. Through survey questions, we also collected information on demographics, targeted species, caught species and other recreational activities at all Santa Monica Bay piers.

Besides fishing, our study also looked at many other recreational activities that occur near the piers. According to our research, Manhattan, Hermosa and Venice piers all have a high potential for interaction among anglers, surfers and swimmers. While studying piers from September to December 2014, we found that Venice Pier attracts the most anglers to fish in our Bay, followed by Santa Monica and Redondo Beach Piers. Some 86% of the people we talked to identified themselves as subsistence anglers and 14% as sport anglers. Municipal piers are popular for subsistence anglers who fish to feed themselves and their families. This is because piers are easily accessible and are one of the only places in California where people do not need a fishing license, which makes it more affordable.

We also found that the only piers with sport anglers targeting sharks in our study were on Malibu and Venice Pier. Venice Pier anglers are represented by both subsistence and sport anglers targeting sharks; whereas Malibu Pier’s anglers targeting sharks are entirely sport anglers.

It may be surprising that our outreach team didn’t encounter any sport anglers targeting sharks on the Manhattan Beach Pier, where the issue originated. However, this could be because we did not survey piers at night due to safety, and our data presents the voluntary survey responses as given by the anglers. There may be truly fewer anglers out there targeting white sharks, given the high profile white shark incident. Or perhaps not all anglers disclosed their catches. Regardless, it stands that the incident in Manhattan Beach over the Fourth of July weekend in 2014 is likely a singular incident. And one that we hope we don’t see again in our Bay.

If you want to dive in deeper with the details of this program, please read the results of our Shark Ambassador Program pilot program in this report.

Our Shark Ambassadors talk with an angler at the S.M. Pier.

Ruskin Hartley has decided to step down as CEO of  Heal the Bay. Here, he reflects on what his service has meant for him and the Bay. 

Oct. 1, 2014 — Last week, I was driving along PCH listening to Katy Perry sing about plastic bags floating in the wind and wondering whether that song was about to become history with the stroke of Gov. Brown’s pen.  I looked right at the ocean just before Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades, and there a few yards out two dolphins enjoyed the waves in the light of the early morning. It’s a sight I will cherish, even as I step away from my role as CEO of Heal the Bay and move back to Northern California to be closer to my young kids.

My decision this week to leave Heal the Bay by the end of the calendar year was ultimately an easy one.  We’ve had some big wins in the past year and laid the groundwork for the next phase of work for Heal the Bay.  Alix Hobbs, a 16-year veteran of Heal the Bay who most recently served as chief operating officer, has been promoted immediately to president and CEO.

Alix’s journey from volunteer to Programs and Educations Director to Associate Director to now CEO has given her the ideal perspective to manage across the entire organization. Dorothy Green, our founder and personal friend of Alix, would be proud to know she has assumed the reins.

I am immensely proud of what I’ve accomplished with the staff over the past year.  We’ve had some ground-breaking wins that will forever protect the bay and all of California’s coastal waters.

We led the charge on adoption of a statewide plastic bag ban, the first in the nation.  We have established an ambitious Local Coastal Plan in the Santa Monica Mountains.  And working with our partners in the beach cities, we created a Pier Ambassadors program in the South Bay to educate the general public about sharks in the Bay.

Under my leadership, Heal the Bay has become a more forceful advocate about water supply issues and other drought-related policies. Our science and policy team will continue to integrate these issues throughout all our programs and public initiatives. Heal the Bay will be a major player regionally in educating the public about drought and driving policy in the years to come.

While I will miss the Bay, I know that it’s in safe hands. I will continue to serve as an advisor to the organization through the end of the year.  I am looking forward to Thursday evening soccer practice up in the San Francisco Bay Area, safe in the knowledge that I played a part in making the Santa Monica Bay a safer place for those dolphins.

   Hartley, right, exploring PV Peninsula with our senior aquarist Jose Bacallao

Sept. 27, 2014 — This Saturday marks the opening weekend of the recreational lobster fishing season in California, officially beginning at 12:01 a.m. This is one of the busiest weekends on the water in Southern California, and it’s important that people stay safe and know the rules. So, here’s Heal the Bay’s cheat sheet to the recreational lobster regulations.

On the resource side, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has been developing a spiny lobster fishery management plan (FMP) to ensure that the fishery is sustainable for both the commercial and recreational sectors, while keeping the Southern California lobster population healthy and thriving. Heal the Bay participates as the environmental stakeholder on the advisory committee for  the management plan.

Spiny lobster play an important role in our kelp forest and rocky reef systems, keeping things balanced by feeding on sea urchins, mussels, and other invertebrates. And, it’s not just people that enjoy rich, sweet taste of lobster, California sheephead, cabezon, horn sharks, and other animals also eat lobster. The good news is that lobster populations are doing pretty well in Southern California, generally.

There has been a commercial fishery in California for spiny lobster since the late 1800s, and now California’s lobster fishery is consistently one of the top five in the state. It is almost entirely  based in Southern California. This year, the commercial fishery season starts Oct. 1.

Because lobster are most active at night, recreational fishing also largely occurs in the dark. Conflicts between boats, divers, and hoop-netters are not uncommon during opening weekend. Here are a few tips to stay safe while lobster fishing, especially during the busy opening weekend:

• Never dive alone. Always dive with a buddy, and keep him or her close. Divers who are dozens of feet apart may not be quick enough to respond in an emergency situation. When free-diving, one buddy should remain on the surface while the other dives in case of a shallow water blackout situation.
• Don’t dive in areas you are unfamiliar with. If you’d like to try a new spot, check it out in the day first to familiarize yourself before heading out at night.
• Watch the weather and ocean conditions. Winds and surge can threaten boats and divers, especially near rocky areas and close to shore.
• If you are setting hoop-nets, be aware of your line. The polypropylene line can get tangled in your boat prop if you are not careful and may disable your boat.
• Keep a back-up flashlight or headlamp aboard your boat. Divers should also carry a back-up dive light.
• As a diver or boater, avoid encroaching on boats that have staked out a spot.
• Inform someone at home of your dive plan or boat plan before you head out on the water.
• When driving your boat at night, watch the water closely for lights and bubbles from submerged divers and avoid those areas. If you end up too close to divers, put your boat into neutral until you pass them to avoid an unsafe encounter.

And, here’s  a recap of  Department of Fish and Wildlife’s recreational lobster fishing regulations. Check the DFW website or sport-fishing guide for detailed regulations:

• All recreational lobster fishermen 16 years old and older must have a valid sport fishing license.
• All recreational lobster fishermen (regardless of age) must have a spiny lobster report card in their possession while fishing for lobster or assisting in fishing for lobster. Report cards issued after Aug. 1 are valid for the entire lobster season, and must be returned the Department of Fish and Wildlife or entered online by April 30, 2015. Failing to return the card or report catch online results in a $20 non-return fee upon next season’s report card purchase.
• The recreational catch limit is seven lobster, and no more than one daily bag limit of seven can be taken or possessed at any time. (You cannot have more than seven lobster per angler at home at any given time). If you go out on a multi-day trip, you can file for a multi-day fishing trip declaration, which allows three times the daily bag limit.
• Minimum size limit is 3.25 inch carapace length (measuring from the rear of the eye socket between the horns to the back of the body shell, or carapace). You must carry a lobster gauge to accurately measure catch. All undersize lobster must be released immediately after measurement.
• Do not tail your lobster. Separating the tail from the head makes it impossible to determine whether the lobster is legal size or not, so the lobster must be landed whole.
• Open season runs from the Saturday before the first Wednesday in October, through the first Wednesday after March 15. The 2014-2015 season runs from Sept. 27, 2014 – March 18, 2015.
• Lobster can only be taken by hand or hoop net, and recreational fishermen are limited to no more than five hoop nets/person and vessels may not carry more than 10 hoop nets. When fishing from land, fishermen are limited to two hoop nets.
• Interference with commercial traps or recreational hoop nets is prohibited.

Both commercial and recreational fishing are part of California’s coastal culture. And, charismatic lobster are also a favorite species to spot for non-consumptive divers, making great photo subjects as well. Be safe and have fun this lobster season!

More information is available on the Department of Fish and Wildlife website and through this tip-card

                                          Spiny lobsters are most active night, posing some challenges for divers.

Sarah Munro-Kennedy, an intern at our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, spent her summer swimming with the sharks in Africa. Big ones!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved sharks. Something about them has worked its way into my heart. I never knew what that something was until this summer. I’ve been diving with sharks numerous times before, but my dream had always been to see a white shark. This summer I was fortunate enough to travel to Gansbaai, South Africa to volunteer with an eco-tourism company called Marine Dynamics. I spent two weeks living a dream come true.

After arriving in Africa, my hosts took me to the chalets where all the volunteers stay. I claimed my bed and put my belongings down, grabbed my bikini, a towel, and my cameras.We were going straight to the boat to do our first dive! A quick 15-minute boat trip would take us from Kleinbaai harbor to Shark Alley.

The boat, called the Slashfin, was one of the fastest and most stable that I’ve ever been aboard. It’s named after a legendary nearly 15-foot male white that had severe damage to his dorsal fin. The secure diving cage on board had a perfectly sized slot to stick your underwater camera through, while also being small enough to protect the shark from getting trapped and possibly injured inside the opening.

When we reached Shark Alley, Kelly, the marine biologist  on board  told us about the different animals living on the islands on either side of Shark Alley. Dyer Island is located to one side, and is a protected bird sanctuary, home to 900 pair of endangered African penguins. On the other side is Geyser Rock, a  home to a colony of 60,000 Cape fur seals.

We continued on to a spot on the backside of Geyser Rock known as Wilfred’s Rock. The crew anchored Slashfin and dropped the cage in the water. They had everything ready on board: 7 mm hooded wetsuits, booties, masks, and a weight belt. I quickly got changed, grabbed my cameras and prepared myself to come face to face with one of the world’s oldest and most highly evolved apex predators.

As I climbed into the cage, the cold water chilled my bones.  I looked down and saw a shadow rising from the depths. Before I could fully submerge myself, a 12-foot  white shark surfaced inches from the cage, its dorsal fin gliding through the water like a hot knife through butter. It swam gracefully around, eyeing the cage, slowly looking at me and the other divers. The crew then tossed in a bait line and a wooden seal decoy that they use to draw the whites closer to the cage.

The shark disappeared but after a minute, two larger sharks appeared. One went straight for the bait, bumping it with its snout to see what it was. The other dropped down into the shadows. After a minute or two, the shark rose from the darkness. It lunged at the bait line, breaching, with its entire body out of the water. What an incredible sight.

Within an hour, I saw 17 whites. All of the sharks seemed highly curious, but not vicious, as they have been portrayed in numerous movies and stories. They never attacked the cage and never showed any aggression towards anything other than the bait and seal decoy. They were graceful, swift, and powerful.

For the next two weeks, I got to live my  dream of swimming with white sharks, over and over again. The trip marked one of the best experiences of my life, and I will definitely be returning next year for a much longer stay.

             A white shark takes the bait in Shark Alley off the coast of South Africa.

             A white shark breaching.

             From inside the shark cage!

            Still safely in the cage.

Aquarium Operations Manager José Bacallao, aka the Shark Kisser, is also the person responsible for the care of all live exhibits at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

I love sharks. I know I am not alone in saying this. I know a ton of people that love sharks. My daughters love sharks, many of my friends love sharks and for the tens of thousands of kids who visit me at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, I hope you love them too! I know that my mother does not love sharks but that’s just silly. This love affair with sharks started when I was a kid, probably after seeing “Jaws.” There are more than 400 different species of shark and I love them all. We work hard at Heal the Bay and at our Aquarium to protect sharks and other sea creatures that live in our Bay. Last year I got to see my first white shark, “The Landlord,” while SUP-ing off Hermosa Beach. Then I got to see another on the 4th of July, and I’ll admit it: I shed a tiny tear. A grown man crying on his SUP with The Landlord cruising by. It was such a thing of beauty.

And they are cute, yes, cute. Sharks are cute, especially baby sharks, the “pups.” That’s what we call them, pups. No, I don’t always get teary when I see a shark pup. Sometimes I just get silly and do silly things — like this one time when I was SCUBA diving with my friend Jackie Cannata. She loves sharks too by the way. We were diving off Catalina Island and I saw this very tiny horn shark pup. It must have been about five or six inches long, as big as the palm of your hand. Then I did something I am quite embarrassed about – something I recommend you never do. I picked up the baby horn shark and I kissed it. I kissed the shark right on its head and then I gently let it swim away. 

I cannot imagine what that little shark thought about its first kiss — but I loved it. I won’t do it again. I promise to hold back, because honestly I’m pretty sure that horn shark was pretty upset about the whole incident. So I encourage you to love sharks as much as possible but try to restrain yourself when you feel a “Kiss Attack” coming on. If you are in need of your shark “fix” then I very much encourage you to visit us at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, where you’ll get an up close encounter with horn sharks, swell sharks and leopard sharks. See you soon and feel free to ask for me by name — the Shark Kisser!

Close out Shark Week with a chomp this Sunday at the Aquarium: Shark feeding is at 3:30!

Aug. 13, 2014  — The city of Manhattan Beach last night agreed to let a ban on pier fishing expire in two weeks. Along with the ban’s expiration, additional fishing regulations will be implemented. The ban, imposed in July following an unfortunate incident where a hooked white shark bit a swimmer near Manhattan Beach Pier, was an effort to protect public safety. However, the City Council unanimously imposed a series of restrictions on anglers using the pier, whose waters attract a significant population of juvenile white sharks.

The new rules forbid the certain types of equipment that can be viewed as targeting white sharks, such as metal leader lines and excessively large hooks. Anglers will also not be permitted to chum the waters nor to cast overhead or directly into the surf zone.

The city also indicated that it would apply for a permit from the California Coastal Commission to restrict fishing to the end of the pier, which would reduce interactions with surfers and swimmers

Heal the Bay is concerned about prohibiting fishing from piers, because of the environmental justice issues it poses. Piers are one of the few places where people can fish without a fishing license in California. So they attract many subsistence anglers from throughout Los Angeles. They come to piers to fish for food due to the low cost and easy access.

The shark bite was a very unusual situation, and we believe closing piers to fishing goes beyond what should be done to reduce the risk of angler, shark, and beachgoer interactions.

As an alternative, Heal the Bay recommends the establishment of a pier and sport angler educational program that involves on-the-pier ambassadors that educate anglers about local sharks and marine life; which fish are allowed to target and which ones cannot be caught (e.g. white sharks); how to avoid catching these sharks and target other species; and to safely remove sharks and other marine life from their line.

State agencies, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife, have also raised concerns about the legality of prohibiting pier fishing. We also will provide input on better management practices at the pier that will help put a halt to irresponsible fishermen illegally targeting white sharks. It will take both education and more active restrictions/enforcement to achieve this goal.

Sharks play an important ecosystem role by keeping populations of other fish healthy and ecosystems in balance. In addition, a number of scientific studies demonstrate that the depletion of sharks can result in the loss of commercially important fish and invertebrates.

Despite popular perceptions of sharks as invincible, many shark populations around the world are declining due to overfishing, habitat destruction, and other human activities.

We look forward to working with the city and other stakeholders to find a solution that benefits both people and wildlife, and allows for a diversity of pier uses in Manhattan Beach and throughout the Santa Monica Bay.