Sea Bass Plan in Newport Harbor Gets Boost

NEWPORT BEACH —  A project to reintroduce white sea bass into Newport Harbor received another boost this week when the Orange County Fish and Game Commission approved $5,000 for the plan sponsored by local sportfishing clubs.

The commission, meeting for the first time this year, unanimously approved the funding Tuesday, with Chairman Rodney Putz absent. Commissioner Wally Miller said he was reluctant to allocate money in light of the County Board of Supervisors decision Tuesday morning to dissolve the commission and transfer its duties to the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission. But Miller agreed to vote for the funding at the urging of his fellow commissioners.

The Balboa Anglers Club and United Anglers of Southern California are the primary sponsors of the project to moor a “grow-out” facility in Newport Harbor, where white sea bass will be grown from fingerlings, the term used for infant fish, to nine-inch juveniles before being released into the harbor.

The project includes building a 50-foot by 24-foot floating platform moored near the harbor master’s office in the central basin of the harbor, according to Greg Stotesbury, a board member of the Balboa Anglers Club.

Nets will be suspended six feet below the waterline from two large holes in the platform to house the fish. Another netting system of plastic will surround the submerged fish to protect them from predators. The top of the platform will be covered with a chain-link fence to keep out people and birds, Stotesbury said.

In addition, an automatic feeding system will be used to feed the 1,000 white sea bass, Stotesbury said. Hubbs/Sea World Research Institute in San Diego will supply the project with fingerlings.

White sea bass were a prime catch for sport and commercial fishermen from San Francisco to Baja California up until the mid-1960s when overfishing and destruction of habitat almost wiped them out.

“California has lost most of its estuaries, which were primary breeding grounds for the fish,” Stotesbury said.

Since the collapse of the fisheries, white sea bass have rarely been available to sportfisherman, he said.

“They’re a great-tasting fish along the lines of tuna or salmon,” Stotesbury said.

A similar project has been successful in Ventura, and more grow-out facilities are planned for Marina del Rey, King Harbor in Redondo Beach and Mission Bay in San Diego.

Cost of the project is estimated at $35,000, with annual operating costs expected to be about $3,000, Stotesbury said. Most of the funding is being raised from sportfishermen clubs. The grow-out facility is expected to be placed in the harbor by the end of August. It takes seven months for a white sea bass to reach nine inches, the optimum length for release, according to Stotesbury.

“Any smaller and they’re likely to be eaten by another fish,” he said.

California fishing law forbids catching white sea bass under 28 inches. The average weight of the fish is 20 to 40 pounds, although the world record for a catch is 80 pounds, Stotesbury said.