Barge operators plan fixes

Group submits plan to renovate facility to officials. Some harbor residents have asked for it to be removed.Operators of a barge used to raise fish in Newport Harbor filed a plan with harbor officials Thursday seeking to maintain permission to use their facility.

The barge is used by a group called the Pacific Fisheries Enhancement Foundation to increase the white sea bass population. Foundation president Alex Samios said the plan includes steps to improve the barge’s appearance and make it less attractive to noisy sea lions.

Sea lions -- along with their barking and habit of lounging on local boats -- emerged this summer as an issue around Newport Harbor that went beyond the sea bass barge. In one highly publicized incident, the animals sunk a sailboat in September. That same month, Newport’s harbor commission voted to forward proposals to the City Council that were designed to keep sea lions out of the harbor by limiting the animals’ food sources. The City Council has yet to discuss those ideas.

The improvements to the barge should be completed by Nov. 15, Samios said. After months of setbacks that started around late May when sea lions invaded the barge, Samios hopes the new plan solves the problems that have recently surrounded the facility.

“This should be it,” he said.

The barge, which is moored east of the Balboa Pavilion, came to the attention of harbor officials after Memorial Day weekend when Balboa Peninsula residents objected to noisy sea lions that broke into the barge. Repairs were made in June to deter the animals, but the fixes did not assuage the concerns that the barge was too unattractive for Newport Harbor or that the facility would persist as a hang-out for sea lions.

In September, Newport’s harbor commission directed the city’s harbor resources division to suspend the barge’s mooring permit. Harbor resources manager Tom Rossmiller wrote Samios on Oct. 11 to inform Samios that while the barge’s permit could be canceled, Samios could submit a new plan to address the various concerns that have surrounded the barge’s presence this year. The deadline for that plan to be filed was today. Technically, the barge was not issued a formal mooring permit when the foundation started using it in 1992, Samios and harbor resources supervisor Chris Miller said. Samios recalled the barge initially being allowed in the harbor as a result of a “handshake deal” between the foundation and City Council.

If harbor resources opts to give the foundation a new, formal mooring permit, Miller said it would contain conditions requiring barge operators to regularly maintain the facility “so in 10 years, or even one year, we won’t have these problems.”

A decision on whether to issue a permit could be made in the next few weeks, Miller said. If a decision is made to grant a permit, Miller said he does not anticipate the harbor commission or City Council will need to discuss the matter.

The barge has not been used to raise white sea bass since October 2004, Samios said. If his group receives a permit, he expects the foundation will resume its sea bass efforts by January or February.

* ANDREW EDWARDS can be reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].