Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Water District The tiny quagga mussel, found in several locations in the state, can severely damage water supplies.

After lakes in the Ojai Valley and Westlake Village were closed to outside boaters earlier this month, fishermen now worry they'll no longer be able to launch their boats in Santa Barbara County's Cachuma Lake.

They'll have to wait until March 25 to find out.

Anglers, water district representatives and others debated how to protect lakes from invasions of tiny quagga mussels in a public hearing Tuesday before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in Santa Maria.

No decision was made on a request to temporarily close the lake nestled in the Santa Ynez Mountains north of Santa Barbara to all private boats. County supervisors tabled the issue for two weeks.

But some of those pushing for a restriction to prevent the mussels from clogging and causing millions of dollars in damage to a water supply for some 200,000 people cited the decision to ban outside boats from Lake Casitas as a precedent.

One water district leader suggested the Casitas closure could send more boaters to Cachuma, increasing the risk the mussels attached to a boat will make it to the lake.

All of that made Mike Doering, a Santa Barbara painting contractor who fishes both at Casitas and Cachuma, feel as if a decision is all but made.

"I think they're going to probably close the lake," he said, holding his wrists to show he felt shackled. "The things I enjoy I can't do anymore. The reason I have a boat is to use it."

The mussels haven't been reported in Santa Barbara or Ventura counties, but they have been found in more than a dozen locations in the state.

Water district leaders fear that if the invasion does come, the damage will be immense. Water flow will be damaged. Taste and odor of drinking water could be affected. The food chain in lakes could be altered.

And once the quagga mussels come, they aren't leaving, said Kate Rees, general manager for the Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board.

"They are impossible to get rid of," she said. "We've never had this kind of threat before."

The operations and maintenance board wants the county to restrict the lake from all private boats for at least six months so protective measures can be implemented. A letter sent from the board to the county of Santa Barbara states that if an infestation happens, the county will be held responsible for all damages.

At the public hearing, which had a video link to Santa Barbara so supervisors could obtain testimony there, boaters argued for a compromise that would allow them to use the lake if they could prove their boats hadn't been in any lake but Cachuma. A decision was originally planned for Tuesday, but the public hearing didn't begin until late in the afternoon. Before it was completed, two county supervisors had to leave for a previous engagement.

Some fishermen left discouraged, but others noted that the California Department of Fish and Game argued against lake closures.

A week ago, the Casitas Municipal Water Board voted to close Lake Casitas to outside private boats for a year. People can still fish from the shore or boats that are either rented or permanently stored at the lake. Managers at Westlake Lake also voted to temporarily ban outside boats.

Russ Baggerly of Ojai, a board member for the Casitas Municipal Water District, thinks Fish and Game needs to close all sites that are already infected. Until they do, he said, lakes that are still healthy will have to protect themselves.

"You'll probably see one lake after another decide they will be closing to protect their water resources, just as Lake Casitas did," he said.

— Star staff writer Zeke Barlow contributed to this report.