Environmentalists want slower ship speeds to protect whales off California coast

A coalition of environmental groups is asking the Obama administration to establish a 10-knot speed limit for ships traveling through California’s marine sanctuaries to avoid fatal collisions with whales, a problem they say has climbed to “unsustainable levels.”

In a petition filed Monday, four environmental groups asked the U.S. Department of Commerce to establish a 10-knot limit for large commercial vessels in California's four National Marine Sanctuaries in the Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank. Some freighters travel through those waters at more than twice that speed.

The petition is meant to prod the federal government to take steps to deal with the growing concern. Some of the most heavily used shipping lanes in and out of ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco Bay run through the migratory paths and feeding areas of endangered whales.

Nearly 50 whales have been hit by ships off the California coast in the last decade, according to experts, who believe the number is probably much higher because many accidents go unreported.

Shipping groups oppose a speed limit, saying it would more than double the time it takes the fastest vessels to travel through the sanctuaries.

Read the full story: Whale advocates want slower ships

--Tony Barboza

Photo: Lifeguards in Sunset Beach in 2009 prepare to tow out to sea the carcass of a gray whale calf believed to have been hit by a ship. Credit: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

California Assembly votes to protect little fish to sustain wildlife

The California Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that would enact new protections for small ocean fish at the lower end of the food chain by placing a value on leaving them in the water.

The bill by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), approved on a 44-23 vote, would require state wildlife regulators crafting Fishery Management Plans to consider how many small forage fish such as sardines, anchovies, herring and market squid should be left in the ocean to sustain wildlife.

The California Department of Fish and Game traditionally has managed fish species by dividing the catch among recreational and commercial and fishing groups, with no share assigned to marine wildlife that eat them. The bill would require the agency to factor in "ecological services rendered" by small fish, including their role in feeding natural predators.

“Even though they're not the majestic mega-fauna like whales that draw so much attention from people, those smaller fish are a main food source for larger marine mammals and recreationally and commercially important fish species,” said Ashley Blacow, a spokeswoman for the conservation group Oceana, a supporter of the bill.

Backers of the measure, including a coalition of conservationists, some fishing groups and seafood restaurant owners, say leaving more small fish in the ocean could help reverse declines in larger, predator species that feed on them, such as Chinook salmon, rockfish, white sea bass and marine mammals.

If the bill is passed by the state Senate and signed by the governor, it would take effect in 2012.

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Sport fish contaminated along California coast

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Salmon fishing will return to West Coast

-- Tony Barboza

Sport fish contaminated along California's urban coastline

Mercury and PCBs contamination is widespread in sport fish in urban coastal waters across California, though mostly in moderate concentrations, a survey released Thursday by the state Water Board found.

Nineteen percent of the urban coastline sampled by researchers had fish with mercury in such high concentrations that they shouldn’t be eaten by young women and children. Fourteen percent of locations had similarly elevated levels of PCBs.

The findings are part of the largest statewide survey to date of contaminants in sport fish along the California coast. The report was based on the first year of a two-year survey, which examined more than 2,000 fish from threedozen species gathered in 2009 from waters near Los Angeles and San Francisco, including San Francisco Bay.

Researchers said the study highlights the health problem of lingering mercury, a poisonous metal that is found in fish globally, and PCBs, toxic chemicals the United States banned in the 1970s. Both substances continue to pose a risk to people who eat fish caught on the California coast because they can lead to nervous system damage and developmental problems in children and can cause cancer, liver damage and reproductive harm.

“Unfortunately, we're not seeing many areas that are totally clean,” said Jay Davis, a senior scientist for the San Francisco Estuary Institute and lead author of the study. But a catalog of where and in what fish the toxins abound should help anglers make better choices, he said. “With good information, people can reduce their exposure significantly.”

Sharks had some of the highest levels of mercury because of their unusual tendency to accumulate the contaminants in their flesh, researchers said. The most elevated concentrations of the pollutants were found in San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay.

As for which species is the safest: Southern California anglers can be rest easy catching and eating chub mackerel because it had the lowest levels of contamination in the survey.

The results of the survey were used in part to help craft new fish consumption guidelinesissued earlier this week for anglers in San Francisco Bay -- the first update there by state health officials in 17 years. The advisory identifies shiner perch and other surf perches as unsafe to eat in any quantity and warns young women and children not to eat white sturgeon, striped bass and sharks caught in the bay.

The buildup of metals and other chemicals in fish is such a problem along the Southern California coast that health officials two years ago expanded the number of fish on the "do not eat" list from one to five species because of high levels of PCBs, mercury and the banned pesticide DDT.

Next year the state is expected to release the next portion of the survey: data on fish collected from the less populated central and north coasts. After that, researchers will show test results from fish in rivers and streams.

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On Southland piers, warning that more fish species are tainted

Marina del Rey halibut tournament returns with conservation in mind

--Tony Barboza

Photo: Amateur anglers on a 2008 excursion out of Marina del Rey. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For The Times

Judge's order stalls contested Malibu Lagoon restoration project

A state judge in San Francisco has temporarily halted a contested project intended to restore pollution-choked Malibu Lagoon.

Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith on Tuesday issued a stay delaying the project until a lawsuit challenging it can be heard, calling the harm that would result from the project going forward "severe."

The order means the $7-million plan to reshape and improve water quality in the wetland at the outlet of Malibu Creek will be at a standstill until next summer or beyond.

"The project would damage various types and species of flora and fauna, several of which are endangered," Goldsmith wrote in the order. "Birds in the area, some of which are endangered, would be deprived of food sources found in the lagoon. Petitioners have shown to the satisfaction of the Court that many species and their habitat would not recover."

Document: Read the judge's stay

Starting June 1, crews were to temporarily drain part of the lagoon and use bulldozers to scoop out sediment and improve water circulation in the degraded wetland under a project overseen by the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Wetlands Defense Fund, Access for All and the Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network sued the state Coastal Commission to block the project on the grounds that it is too damaging to existing habitat, including aquatic vegetation and fish, and would remove a pathway to the popular Surfrider Beach.

State officials were disappointed by the unexpected ruling, which means the project that has been decades in the making will not be able to proceed until at least next summer.

"This is a project that has widespread support from environmentalists and scientists and government agencies," said Suzanne Goode, a senior environmental scientist for California State Parks. "We really had hoped we could get started this year."

Most environmental groups, including Santa Monica Baykeeper and Heal the Bay, support the restoration plan, saying it would remedy the lagoon's polluted, stagnant waters and poor ecological health.

The Coastal Commission unanimously approved the project in October. Legal proceedings are taking place in San Francisco because that's where the agency is headquartered.

A battle has erupted over the last few months as opponents to the project, surfers and Malibu residents among them, have rallied against the plan at city hall chambers and roadside protests, asserting it would destroy habitat and hurt wave action at Surfrider Beach, a one of the world's most famous surf spots.

The Surfrider Foundation, which supports the project, commissioned a coastal engineering firm to review that claim. The firm concluded that it is unlikely the project will have an adverse effect on surfing.

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Coastal panel weighs restoration of Malibu lagoon

Malibu lagoon restoration project receives final OK

Report card on California's dirtiest--and cleanest--beaches

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: An egret lands in Malibu lagoon. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Annual report card shows water quality problems at beaches

The Times' Tony Barboza has details on the latest Heal the Bay study on water quality at Los Angeles County beaches :

Only 75% of county beaches earned A’s or Bs, down from 80% the year before.

Water quality statewide dipped by 2% but remained "very good to excellent," according to the report.

 The annual report gives hundreds of California beaches letter grades based on weekly state-mandated tests that probe the water for bacteria.

Document: Read the report

Read the full story here.

Top 10 Beach Bummers (Poorest water quality statewide)

1. Cowell Beach -- at the wharf (Santa Cruz County)

2. Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island (L.A. County)

3. Cabrillo Beach harborside (Los Angeles County)

4. Topanga State Beach at creek mouth (L.A. County)

5. Poche Beach (Orange County)

6. North Beach/Doheny (Orange County)

7. Arroyo Burro Beach (Santa Barbara County)

8. Baker Beach at Lobos Creek (San Francisco County)

9. Colorado Lagoon (Los Angeles County)

10. Capitola Beach -- west of the jetty (Santa Cruz County)

Source: Heal the Bay 2010- 2011 Annual Beach Report Card

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L.A. television producer Dayna Bochco named to Coastal Commission

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Tourists play in the water under the pier at Avalon Harbor Beach. The beach was listed in the top 10 of poor water-quality beaches by the environmental group Heal the Bay. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times