Fishing In Orange County Waters Prohibited Until At Least Dec. 1
DANA POINT (CBSLA) — Even though beaches and recreational swimming have resumed off the coast of Orange County, fishing remains off-limits more than a month after the oil spill off Huntington Beach.
Fisheries were closed and a ban on fishing from Orange County waters was put in place after the spill off Huntington Beach on Oct. 2. Merchants who rely on fishing had been looking forward to getting back to business on Nov. 15 – but they learned on Tuesday that the date has been pushed back to Dec. 1.
"That just takes a bunch of our senior citizens, our kids, the people that liked those four-hour and five-hour fishing trips, it makes it impossible for them almost," Donna Kaylez, owner of Whale Watching Sportfishing, said. "We are very concerned about what will happen if this continues to drag on and on."
Kaylez says her profits are down 20% since the closure of fisheries in the area.
About 25,000 gallons of crude oil was estimated to have spilled into the waters off Huntington Beach. The spill was first reported on Oct. 2, but authorities believe the damage to the pipeline that the oil leaked from may have occurred a year ago from the anchor of one of the many cargo ships waiting to get into the Ports of LA and Long Beach.
Experts say they're currently testing mussels that were collected offshore on Oct. 28-30 to see if they are safe to eat.