Nov 30, 2007 9:59 am US/Pacific
Ban Over; Weather Keeping Bay Fishermen Off Waters
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
A small craft advisory was in effect for parts of the California coast Friday, prompting fishermen to stay in port the day after it was determined that this month's oil spill no longer poses a threat to the season's catch.
State officials said Thursday that commercial and recreational fishing could resume immediately after tests showed that consuming fish and shellfish caught in areas affected by the Nov. 7 oil spill posed no significant health risk.
"I'm pleased to report that fishing in the San Francisco Bay will resume today," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday. "The test results our scientists have analyzed demonstrate that there is a clean bill of health for the fish, and that they are safe to eat."
Despite Schwarzenegger's assurances, a CBS 5/SurveyUSA poll conducted Thursday found 52% of Bay Area adults did not think it would be immediately safe to eat crabs caught in the Bay. A majority of those who expressed concern also said it would take several months to a year before they would feel safe to again eat crab from the Bay.
On Nov. 13, Schwarzenegger banned fishing in the bay and coastal waters outside the Golden Gate until state officials could test the safety of seafood caught in the spill zone.
State officials said Thursday they tested more than 1,100 samples of surf perch, herring, mussels and Dungeness crab collected from different parts of the bay and a three-mile-wide stretch of coastal water from Point Reyes to San Mateo County.
The tests found that all seafood caught in the spill areas was safe for human consumption, except for mussels from Rodeo Beach and the Berkeley pier. Officials will also continue to monitor oysters for possible contamination.
Officials said some pockets of oil remain on the water and urged fishermen to stay away from those areas and consumers to avoid eating seafood with an oily smell or taste.
The end of the fishing ban means the commercial Dungeness crab and herring seasons can continue as scheduled. The crab season started Nov. 15, and the herring season begins Dec. 2.
The fishing suspension left open most of the region's Dungeness fishery, but local crabbers agreed to stay out of the water until tests showed the catch was safe. Many seafood processors and restaurants had refused to buy Bay Area crab because they were worried about tainted crustaceans.
"I think getting these test results back is going to give a big boost to public confidence and help build consumer demand," said Zeke Grader, who heads the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association. "This is what we had all been waiting for."
The contamination occured on Nov. 7 when the Cosco Busan, a 900-foot container ship bound from Oakland to South Korea, struck a Bay Bridge abutment west of Yerba Buena Island.
That collision ripped a 100-foot gash in the ship's portside hull and spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel into the Bay.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
