SEAL BEACH : Fishout Targets Shoreline Stingrays

The city is mobilizing against thousands of stingrays lurking in local waters with the planned Sept. 23 “Great Stingray Fishout,” an attempt to reduce the county’s largest population of the creatures.

The city’s first stingray fishing contest, for underwater spearfishing and shoreline fishing, is in response to more than 200 reported stingray attacks this summer. Stingrays feed on accumulated debris and are attracted to the unusually warm waters near the San Gabriel River mouth.

State Fish and Game Commission officials have prohibited the netting of stingrays for the past two decades because game fish also are trapped in the nets.

The lure of the San Gabriel River mouth near the city’s West Beach, an area nicknamed “Ray Bay,” has created the county’s largest stingray population, according to Andy Seymour, city parks and recreation director. And stingrays usually stay within 100 yards of where they were born, according to UCLA researchers who tagged Seal Beach stingrays in the early 1960s.

If the contest fails to solve the problem, Seymour hopes state wildlife officials will consider lifting the ban on stingray netting.

The city’s first stingray fishing contest will coincide with the statewide Coastal Cleanup Day.

“For every stingray that’s caught, that person will receive a ticket to put in the hat for a drawing at the end of the day,” Seymour said.

Free squids, used for bait, will be provided and a prize will be awarded for the most stingrays caught. The prize has yet to be determined.

Scuba diving clubs will begin the event with spearfishing from 8 to 10 a.m., followed by shoreline fishing until 4 p.m. No fishing licenses will be required and lifeguard volunteers will dispose of the stingrays.