Treacherous Surf, Thick Fog Blamed in Anglers’ Deaths

MOSS LANDING, Calif. —  The dense fog and tricky surf of Monterey Bay cost five people their lives and left three others missing on the first day of the salmon fishing season, seasoned commercial fisherman said Sunday.

“Fishing on a day like that is like playing blind man’s bluff. The only thing they (the victims) had a chance to catch was death,” said professional fisherman Keith Chastain.

Chastain, 32, said the fog was so thick Saturday, the day of the deaths at sea, that he stayed in port.

The dead and missing were sports fishermen involved in four boating accidents.

Tom Jenkins, 67, another commercial fisherman, said of those who came here for the opening day of the salmon season, “They’re determined to fish at any price. I guess they paid with their lives.”

Hope Simpson, who with her husband operates a grocery and boat supply store catering to fishermen, echoed Jenkins, saying, “On the first day of the salmon season, everyone is anxious to get out and fish. The problem is they don’t heed the warnings and consider the conditions.”

Simpson, a Moss Landing resident for a decade, said Saturday’s series of accidents was the worst single-day tragedy in her memory.

“Even experienced fishermen would have been in trouble Saturday,” said Jerome Koenig, manager of the Moss Landing Harbor District. “It’s easy to make mistakes when the fog’s so thick and the conditions so difficult to read.”

Normally, Koenig said, the harbor here is simple to navigate. But during a combination of low tides, big surf and fog, danger runs high. Fog, he said, distorts sounds and boaters are unable to determine how close they are to shore.

None of the four boats is believed to have carried compasses or radar. The boating victims probably lost control of their craft when they ran afoul of the surf in shallow waters, local fisherman agreed.

The four small fishing boats, ranging in size from 14 to 17 feet, capsized around the same time within a mile of one another at the south end of the harbor.

The bodies of the five fishermen, all Northern California residents, were found Saturday washed onto the beach, and four other occupants of the capsized boats, also Northern Californians, were rescued from the chilly waters.

They remained hospitalized Sunday with injuries ranging from “minor to moderate,” a Coast Guard station spokesman said.

The search by the Coast Guard for the missing fishermen was hampered Sunday by the return of the thick fog.

Two other people died Saturday in a swimming accident in the harbor, authorities said. A Los Angeles man and a young woman drowned near the harbor’s mouth when she apparently ran into trouble while swimming and he attempted to rescue her.

The victims were identified as Benjamin Martinez, about 35, and Marta Laura Bravo, 18, of Castroville.