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Lake Casitas boat ban has ripple effect
Loss of revenue from 30,000 launches a year expected to hurt vendors
Photos by Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Mike Castro, left, talks with his uncle Fermin Perez while having lunch at Marina Cafe in Lake Casitas. A lake ban on outside boats has businesses concerned over a drop in customers. Perez, of Santa Paula, is a food supplier for the Marina Cafe.
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Bill Martinez of Ojai fishes from the shore of Lake Casitas following a recent ban on outside boats, meant to prevent a mussel infestation.
Carlos Hernandez gazed beyond the counter of his Lake Casitas Marina Cafe where he serves up huevos rancheros every morning, past the empty seats lined up against the wall of windows, and looked at the lake shimmering and quiet in the distance.
One boat that is stored at the lake motored to the dock, sending ripples across the otherwise still water.
Hernandez worries about how quiet the coming months will be, when the legions of tournament fishermen no longer come for his breakfast burritos because outside boats have been banned from the lake. He wonders how his business will weather the yearlong restriction at the popular fishing lake.
"We don't know what is going to happen," he said.
The lake is still open to rental boats and those stored at the lake, as well as fishing from shore. But many who depend on the fishermen who flock to the lake for the record-breaking bass are worried about the economic impact of the restriction.
On Tuesday, the Casitas Municipal Water Board voted to close the lake to outside boats for one year in an effort to keep the quagga mussel at bay. The mussel, which was first discovered in the West last year, can produce up to 1 million offspring a year, and can quickly take over a lake, clog pipes and filters and cause a maintenance nightmare for water delivery systems.
But those who depend on the revenue generated from the estimated 30,000 boat launches at the lake annually — from store owners who sell cold beer and live bait to fishing guides — will be looking at how much money is lost during the boat ban.
"It's a crummy situation," said Scott Eicher, chief executive officer of the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce. "There is a huge amount of people that come and bring money to the lake and Oak View and Ojai, but at the same time if a boat could bring those mussels in, what are you going to do?"
Lake's economic impact
Hard numbers on how much revenue fishermen and boaters bring into the community are hard to come by. One concerned citizen at Tuesday's meeting said he did an informal, unscientific survey of local businesses that showed the loss could be as high as $1.8 million annually.
According a 2006 study by the American Sportfishing Association, an average California angler spends about $108 in retail purchases each day of fishing, or about $1,082 a year. That results in $138 in state and local taxes per fisherman. California ranked fourth among states with the highest fishing expenditures, the study found.
By the time Mark Hoffman buys gasoline, groceries and goes out to eat when he tows his boat from Ventura to Lake Casitas twice a month, he figures he spends about $300 on the trip.
"We drop a lot of money into the local economy," he said. When he heard of a possible boat ban, he swapped his RV that was in storage at the lake for his boat, one day before the vote.
"I feel like I won the lottery," he said.
Board member Pete Kaiser said he thought long and hard about how banning outside boats may hurt the economy before he voted in favor of the restriction. If quagga mussels get into the lake, it could have a much greater impact than just a 12-month ban, he said.
"It's going to have untold ramifications not only on the economy involving the lake, but also the surrounding community because we are going to have a dead sea of sorts," he said. "If the lake is a dead lake, nobody will come to fish, nobody will come to the valley to recreate or lodge."
Mussel infestations costly
If the mussels get into the lake and degrade water quality, new treatment plants could cost $1 million to $100 million, according to a Casitas staff report. Other capital costs could reach $300,000, and annual costs of keeping the quagga in check and running new water treatment plants could top $530,000 annually. And if the mussels change the ecosystem and the great fishing goes away, it would impact the $220,000 in revenue the fishermen bring to the lake every year.
"We've got to look at being more farsighted and what is in the best interest in this generation and future generations," Kaiser said.
Board member Russ Baggerly added, "There is going to be some pain in the interim, but it will not last forever."
But for those counting on this year's revenue, the ban hits hard.
Rod Thigpin knows the coming weeks are some of the best times to hook a monster bass as the females start to spawn.
"This is when I get my clients," said Thigpin, who not only runs a guide service on the lake but also sells 10-inch rubber lures designed for Casitas bass, which can swallow the whole thing in one gulp. He said he has three clients lined up for his $400 tours whom he is going to have to persuade to go to another lake.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he said. "It's enough to make you nervous."
The ban could also affect the recreation department at the lake, which funds itself solely from money the lake and camping bring in. Brian Roney, park services manager, said about $286,600 will be lost from the boat ban.
At the Corner Market down the road from the lake, where faded photographs of fishermen and their quarry are posted outside the store, Fred Balat has no doubt he'll feel the lack of fishermen.
"Sure it's going to hurt, but how much we don't know," said Balat, the manager.
The store is the last stop for many before the lake, where they stock up on homemade beef jerky, night crawlers and lead weights. During the busy season, he figures more than 200 vehicles with boats pass through his parking lot over a weekend, and each fishermen spends about $50, he estimated.
Steve Adair, who manages the only motel in Oak View, the Oakridge Inn, said he counts on the tournament fishermen who stay at his motel when they come to town. Every tournament brings in about 13 fishermen to stay at least two nights, he said. Sixteen tournaments that were scheduled at the lake this year have been canceled.
"It will affect us," Adair said. "This is not good news."
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Posted by CatInAHat on March 8, 2008 at 6:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And the year off will give the sports fish population sometime to recover. This could be a good deal for tournament fishing in the long run.
Posted by harlan on March 8, 2008 at 7:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When Carlos Hernandez opened his eatery, the Lake allowed walk-in business from the gate closest to the restaurant. For reasons probably never made clear to most of us -- possibly because there were people who were merely using the free entry to bypass paying the daily entry fee and who weren't patronizing the restaurant at all -- the Lake closed the gate and stopped allowing people to eat at Hernandez' place without going through the front gate.
Perhaps it's time to open up that gate again and allow people who merely want to eat at the Lake to walk in and visit the restaurant. Of course, there's never any charge to park outside the Lake and walk in through the main gate, but the park has gotten rid of most of the free parking and turned it into a boat quarantine area, and it's also about a quarter of a mile from the front gate to the restaurant. Some people might enjoy that walk, but then again some people might not.
Problems aside, allowing the community at large to easily support the restaurant would be a good way to make sure that it's still there serving the same good food when the ban is lifted.
Posted by ecarson1958 on March 8, 2008 at 8:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why can't some money be used to try and hire commercial scuba divers to keep the lake clean? If they know where the mussel congragate then why not take them out? And then eat them.
Posted by jmcgaw3046 on March 8, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It may be a ban on out side boats now, but if those mussels get in the lake in a years time there will be NO fishing, because there will be no fish to catch. They will die off because these mussels take away the food for the fish. Cleaning u with suba driver is like trying to clean a river with a tooth brush. Not only will it effect the fishing but the drinking water. so it is better to do thing to stop them from getting into the lake now.
Posted by fjames027 on March 8, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What difference will one year make? Is there some kind of plan that will exterminate quaggas from all the other lakes that have them now? Will they magically be gone in 2009? Fishing in the lakes that currently have them hasn't changed and neither has the treatment of the water. I spoke with some people from the Midwest, where they have had these for years, who said that we were all excited about a minor problem. Why not provide an inspection and cleanout program instead of closing the lake?
Posted by harlan on March 8, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"..spoke with some people from the Midwest, where they have had these for years, who said that we were all excited about a minor problem."
Oh, well then. That does it. SOME PEOPLE FROM THE MIDWEST. You can't have it on better authority than that. Open that damn lake back up. Some people from the Midwest said it was OK.
Posted by ebrockway on March 8, 2008 at 4:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
harlan,
Why not answer this part of his post?
"Why not provide an inspection and cleanout program instead of closing the lake?"
He's saying the mussels won't be gone from California by this time next year, so why not think longer-term? Like, inspect boats as they arrive? Have a flushing station maybe that boats can use prior to launch. Is there an objection to thinking reasonably, and maybe finding a way to allow outside boats AND keep the mussels at bay?
Posted by ebrockway on March 8, 2008 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
From Wisconsin, where they HAVE been dealing with this for a while;
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/c...
Inspect and remove aquatic plants, animals, and mud from the boat and equipment before leaving the boat launch.
Drain water from your boat and equipment before leaving the boat launch.
Throw away unwanted bait in the trash.
Spray or rinse your boat and equipment with high pressure and/or hot tap water, especially if moored for more than a day, or, dry your boat and equipment completely for at least 5 days.
Posted by B8R_N4MD on March 8, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just open it back up for all recreational uses, including water skiing.
By the way, the restaurant at the lake has awesome food. But since my boat is not welcome any longer I won't be giving a dime to Lake Casitas. When they figure how much revenue they lost, things will change.
Posted by Tom_Johnston on March 8, 2008 at 5:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't fish, haven't been to Lake Casitas but once or twice in the last ten years or so...but I sure am dependent on water from there!
I agree, closing the lake will have a negative impact on the local economy. That being said, a quagga mussel infection will also have an impact on the community, and that impact will be borne by the users of Casitas water..and not necessarily by it's fisherpersons.
A time out is appropriate while solutions to this problem are considered. In fairness to the fishers and those businesses the relay upon them, perhaps a (renewable) 6 month ban would have been more in order while an assessment of measures to be taken could be made.
This lake was made to provide water to a community, not to let anglers catch big fish.
For sure, don't ever let the water skiers on the lake! I can't see where a bunch of high speed yahoo's on the lake serves anyone's interests except the skiers.
Perhaps some program where anglers could move their boats to Casitas, have them inspected/cleansed (then keep those boats there) could be implemented over the next few months, maybe some sort of "time-share" things could be arranged with boats.
As a consumer of water from the lake, I'd be willing to consider such a proposal. The bottom line though, is this is a RESERVOIR...intended to provide potable drinking water to this community.
Posted by jeff93024 on March 8, 2008 at 6:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As usual, Tom_Johnston is about the only person making comments worth reading or responding to.
Jim Word and Bill Hicks (Casitas Board Members) agreed with you, Tom; they both wanted a 6 month ban. Perhaps an adjustment will be made. Nothing was carved in stone except for the Board's intention to keep Casitas viable.
Posted by jeff93024 on March 8, 2008 at 6:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
By the way -- I just had dinner at Casa de Lago in Oak View. I drove past the lake before I went home -- the place is absolutely packed. Guess the lack of boaters hasn't caused the operation to immediately shrivel and die. Who knows? Maybe they'll start attracting more and more people who want to go camping & RVing at a quieter lake.
Posted by fbgomerguard on March 8, 2008 at 9:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I suspect it won't be too long before the Environmentalist Board members find evidence of some endangered species near the lake. They will shop for a judge to close the campground and day use, ostensibly to protect the species but the real agenda is to keep people off public land and turn it all into declared wilderness. These same people have been successful at reducing access to all the other public lands in our area
Posted by jeff93024 on March 8, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Your tinfoil hat is on a little too tight.
Posted by B8R_N4MD on March 9, 2008 at 2:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tom_Johnston, you are misinformed when you say who the speed demons are on the lake. Most watersports, i.e water skiing and/or wakeboarding, occurs between 18-30 mph, with most of the boats used topping out at 50 mph max. Most bass boats out on the lake are faster than ski boats, topping out at 70 mph or higher. Even most bass boats are faster than the hot rod jet boats you are probably referring to. Most recreational lakes available for skiing are used for drinking water also.
Posted by fbgomerguard on March 9, 2008 at 10:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Jeff93024 I'll be watching for black helicopters spraying the lake with quagga larvae.
You might remember a nice little campground in the Los Padres on the Sespe called Beaver Creek Campground. The scenario I gave was used to close it down. Its still closed. That's just one local example of junk science restricting access to public lands.
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