Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival and Surf Contest

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

On October 16th, 2011 WiLDCOAST will hold the 8th Annual Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival and Surf Contest in Imperial Beach, California from 7am-3pm at the Imperial Beach Pier. This annual family friendly charity event has become the largest surf contest in south San Diego County with over 120 competitors in ten different divisions and hundreds of spectators as well as music, prizes and other entertainment.

Proceeds from the event support WiLDCOAST’s efforts to protect the most threatened and ecologically important coastal areas and wildlife in Southern California and Mexico.  Since 2,000 WiLDCOAST has helped to conserve over two million acres of beautiful bays, beaches, islands and lagoons.

In 2011, the Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival and Surf Contest will expand internationally. WiLDCOAST is partnering with the United Athletes of the Pacific Ocean (UAPO), a bi-national non-profit organization whose mission is to provide surfing youths in Mexico and the United States opportunities in competitive surfing and cultural exchange.

Imperial Beach, California The symbol of this ...

Image via Wikipedia

Generous Dempsey sponsors include Billabong, County of San Diego, Pacific Realty, REI, Emerald City the Boarding Source, Oakley, Southwest Airlines, URT, Ocean Minded, The Surfer’s Journal, Pacifica Companies, Alan Cunniff Construction, APS Marine Services and Equipment, Firewire, Matuse, and PAWA. Additionally Cowabunga and Katy’s Café will be providing support and treats for the contestants. Jay Novak of Novak Surf Designs and Brett Bender of Natural Selection Surfboards have shaped boards especially for the junior winners.

Community residents can also sponsor a child for the Dempsey. This helps to provide scholarships for local needy children to participate. Over the past eight years hundreds of children have participated in the Dempsey thanks to the support of community supporters and sponsors.

Registration is still open but filling up fast. The event once again includes the popular menehune division in which every child receives a medal. This year surfers such as Kyle Knox, Sean Malabanan, Keith McCloskey, Sean Fowler, Josh Johnson, and Terry Gillard among others are expected to compete. Heats will be carried out on the south and north sides of the Imperial Beach pier providing maximum shredding and viewing opportunities.

Registration for the Dempsey can be done at http://www.wildcoast.net or email dempsey@wildcoast.net or call 619.423.8665 ext. 200 for more information. For information on sponsoring a child contact Lenise Andrade at 619.423.8665 ext. 201 or via dempsey@wildcoast.net

WiLDCOAST is an international conservation team that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife. www.wildcoast.net

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing, WiLDCOAST Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Ocean Health Index and Cleaning up Our Coast

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Paloma Aguirre and Diana Castaneda of WiLDCOAST at a recent Tijuana River Valley cleanup.

Last Friday I missed the first real north swell of the season to attend a meeting organized by the University of California-Santa Barbara on the development of an ocean health index.

The objective of the index is to have a monitoring scorecard that communities, scientists and government agencies can use to determine coastal and ocean health locally, regionally and nationally.

The group included fishermen, seafood harvesters (e.g. shellfish and seaweed), elected officials, energy company representatives, conservationists, scientists and the Chief of State of the Makah tribe.

Community members working together for clean water in the Tijuana River Valley.

Everyone in the room, especially the fishermen, made it clear that ocean water quality and biodiversity were the two most important indicators for managing the health of the coast and ocean.

The consensus was that without clean water and healthy marine life, it’s almost impossible to have a vibrant tourism and fishing economy.

Meanwhile many local leaders have spent the last decade in denial about ocean pollution.

They fear that discussing the issue will somehow negatively impact the economy and local property values.

The bay side of Silver Strand State Beach in Coronado was recently shut down due to a sewage spill from the Sept. 8 mass outage.

A cleanup kid.

In 2011 the main beach in Imperial Beach has been closed 56 days. The south end of the beach was closed 224 days.

In 2010 the main beach was closed 26 days. The south end of the beach was closed 226 days (and yes the south end of the beach is still Imperial Beach).

Meanwhile most south swell pollution goes unreported.

Today we continue to work with local residents on both sides of the border to clean up the tons and tons of garbage that wash into the ocean.

Last January WiLDOCAST notified authorities about a sewage spill in Playas de Tijuana that went unchecked for more than three weeks, resulting in more than 31 million gallons of sewage discharged into the surf zone in Imperial Beach and the border area.

Together with local, state and federal agencies on both sides of the border, our collaborative work has resulted in significant achievements.

These include the recent inauguration of a new international sewage treatment plant; the opening of three new sewage plants in Tijuana-Rosarito; progress on stopping the frequent discharges at Playas de Tijuana; and the cleaning up of thousands of waste tires and hundreds of tons of trash in the Tijuana River Valley by community members.

I invite everyone to join to help to clean up our region and make sure that our coast and ocean is as pristine as possible. Because even one day of beach pollution is one day too many.

There are plenty of opportunities to do so in October with Tijuana River Action Month. The next event will be held Oct. 1.

A small fence separates densely populated Tiju...

The U.S.-Mexico border near the TJ River Valley. Image via Wikipedia

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Environment and Hope on the U.S.-Mexico Border

September 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jared Blumenfeld of the EPA inspects a trash pile in the Tijuana River Valley with reporters from Uniivision-San Diego.

Yesterday my Wildcoast colleagues Ben McCue, Paloma Aguirre and I took a tour of the Tijuana River Valley and Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana with Regional EPA administrator Jared Blumenfeld. I’ve known Jared since the 1990′s when he ran IFAW‘s San Ignacio Lagoon Campaign. He is a very smart guy who is very adept at getting things done.

Tijuana Estuary's Oscar Romo and a City of Tijuana official in Los Laureles.

The tour was reported on in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Our tour included a site visit to a Community Center Wildcoast has partnered with 4 Walls International, Tijuana Calidad de Vida and the Tijuana Estuary on developing with the Las Hormiguitas Community Group. The  point of the project is to use trash as a building material and then train residents on how to manage trash and human waste.
The Southwest’s top environmental regulator toured the southern edge of San Diego County on Wednesday to promote an eight-year plan for improving water supplies, air quality and energy efficiency along the 2,000-mile boundary between the United States and Mexico.
Jared Blumenfeld, regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based in San Francisco, didn’t hit the spots that most visitors go. Instead, he stopped at the corrugated metal border fence, a wastewater treatment plant and a garbage pile in the Tijuana River Valley to build support for a binational blueprint.

My colleagues from Tijuana Calidad de Vida and 4 Walls at the Las Hormiguitas Community Center in Los Laureles.

Called Border 2020, it is the latest in a string of cooperative strategies that goes back to a 1983 agreement between the two countries. The expansive document focuses on climate change, children’s health and environmental education among other priorities. Blumenfeld is working with Mexico, ten border states and 26 border tribes to finalize plans.
He was at once upbeat about the potential for solutions and sober about the difficulty of convincing Congress to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on related projects when funding for the U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program has shrunk by 90 percent since the mid-1990s. Border cleanup advocates said Blumenfeld’s interest is enough to boost hope that seemingly intractable problems will continue to shrink even if they won’t disappear.

This is the community center. 4 Walls built it using waste tires they found discarded in the canyons in Tijuana.

The current Border 2012 program expires next year. It’s credited with helping to reduce flooding, improve estuaries, boost drinking water supplies, remove junk tires and prompt other upgrades in the region where 14 million people live.
“Incremental progress can sometimes feel frustratingly slow,” Blumenfeld said, before ducking into the towering brush that hides streams of trash along the Tijuana River. “The needs remain great.”
In few places are the challenges as clear as they are in San Ysidro, which sits downhill from Tijuana and has suffered from sewage and garbage flowing across the border for decades.
“(Similar problems) have been solved in other places,” said Blumenfeld. “It’s not a question of this being the first place to solve them. … Just the fact that now 90 percent of Tijuana residents have access to wastewater treatment systems is a testament to the fact that it can be done.”

There is also a native plant nursery and vegetable greenhouse, proof that despite abject poverty, signs of hope can be found.

He said the biggest issue is financing as his agency and others try to trim costs.
“The amount of money that was being given to this in the last 15 years will be hard to replicate in the next 15 years,” Blumenfeld said. “The real question is how we focus on things that have to be done and at the same time work out funding sources and streams that are sustainable.”
Border 2020 is supposed to be the central forum for how work priorities are set.
[Draft document and directions for how to file comments about it.]
Serge Dedina, a veteran border cleanup advocate with Wildcoast in Imperial Beach, said Border 2012 set a solid foundation. EPA’s website shows it gave Wildcoast $53,000 last year to reduce trash in Tijuana’s Los Laureles Canyon.
“EPA has been really strong understanding the needs on the ground,” Dedina said. “It’s much more effective to train Tijuana residents to deal with trash instead of paying people in the United States to clean up.”

The conditions in Los Laureles are shockingly dismal--sewage in the streets, garbage and graffiti everwhere and substandard homes and plywood shacks. But hope for the future is important and is what drives people to continually improve their homes and communities.

Filed Under: U.S.-Mexico Border, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tim Townsley and the Business of Crafting Surfboards

September 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

From my September 14, 2011, Imperial Beach Patch Column:

Back in 1993, Imperial Beach surfer Tim Townsley set up a surfboard factory, TNT Surfboards, in a big empty warehouse at the northern end of 13th Street, next to San Diego Bay. Back in the 1990s TNT was producing between 8-10 surfboards a day according to Imperial Beach Patch. Faced with an economic downturn, dramatic changes in the surfboard industry due to globalization and offshore production, and the development of the Bayshore Bike Village, Tim is closing the 13th Street factory down and looking for new space. The TNT factory has employed some of San Diego County’s elite surfboard shapers including Dave Craig, Jay Novak and Brett Bender. Tim still runs the TNT Surfboard Shop at 206 Palm Ave in Imperial Beach and is shaping boards through his own Townsley label.

Patch: How did you start TNT?

Tim Townsley: I started TNT Surfboards in the 1980′s. My employer at the time Tony Daleo of Star Glassing ran one of the original San Diego surfboard factories and decided to call it quits. When Tony dropped out I started a small glass shop in my mother-in-law’s garage on Ebony Avenue in Imperial Beach. I built boards for locals but other shapers from throughout San Diego County started contracting me to build for them well. Things just kind of blew up from there.

Patch: Who influenced you to get into the surfboard industry and start shaping?

Townsley: I started at the Star factory that was the starting point for many San Diego surfboard makers. Local shaper Brett Bender worked at the Star factory and he encouraged me to apply for an open position. A great deal of what I learned there is what made it possible to start my own shop.

Patch: Do you remember the first board you shaped?

Townsley: Over the years I’ve made thousands of surfboards for some of the world’s most well known shapers and some of the top surfing professionals. When I look back on it I’m astound by the numbers I’ve produced over the years. There were far too many to remember the first one I shaped.

Patch: How did the demise of Clark Foam in 2006 impact your business?

Townsley: TNT was producing thousands of surfboards a year when (Grubby) Clark quit.  Man, what a blow that was. If you can imagine trying to build a car without tires, that is what we were up against. We made it through that hard time.

Surfboard building has never been the same since.  Grubby Clark saw something coming the rest of us didn¹t. It has been a tough go ever since that day

Patch: How has the surfboard industry changed over the past few years?

Townsley: The industry has shrunk today compared to the heyday of the 80′s.The bigger shops have all quit or sold out to larger corporations who quickly moved their operations offshore to China

Patch: Why should surfers work with a local shaper?

Townsley: Buying local is important no matter what you purchase. Buying local stimulates the local economy.  When it comes to surfboards sure you can by a pop-out brand, but in my experience cheaper price usually means lower quality. Buying from your local board maker is going to typically yield a higher quality surfboard that will last and will perform better than your typical mass-produced import model. Board builders are not getting rich at this. It is hard work and you pour a lot of yourself into it both physically and mentally so when we see someone on a board made in China it is heartbreaking.

Patch: You are currently shaping under your own Townsley label. What types of boards are you shaping right now?

Townsley: I¹m going back to basics with the Townsley line–low entry rocker, flat bottom, with vee off the tail. This design is proven to be fast, responsive and it will hold in a tight spot. It worked for Tommy Curren in the 80′s and it works now. I think there are a lot of progressive designs out there but also a lot of gimmicks. It is important for surfers to develop a relationship with their local shaper and work with them over the long term.

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Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Master Craftsman: Jay Novak and the Art of Surfboard Shaping

July 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

From my Imperial Beach Patch column of July 13, 2011.

Jay Novak at work.

When I first started surfing in 1977, I immediately became aware of Jay Novak of Novak Surfboard Designs through his incredibly stylish and tube-savvy surfing and the fact that he along with Mike Richardson and Dave Craig was part of IB’s elite group of master surfboard shapers. Jay is still shaping and surfing in IB and around the world. I’m lucky to have him shape my surfboards, which are among the best I’ve ever surfed. Jay’s innovative and groundbreaking quad surfboard from 1980 is on display at the Imperial Beach Surfboard Museum at Dempsey Holder Surfboard Safety Center. Jay recently also had one of his surfboards featured on the cover of Surfer Magazine.

Patch: When did you start shaping?

Jay Novak surfing in Imperial Beach

Jay Novak: I started shaping in high school in the 1970′s. At that time surfboard design was going through a major period of change. In 1968 the first shortboards were used, all but replacing 9-foot and longer boards. But the issue with the new more sensitive and maneuverable boards was that no one had figured out exactly what design features made a board surf well. Therefore many different shapes and sizes of boards were used. Anything from 8-foot V bottoms ( they looked like cut off 9 footers) to 7 1/2 foot by 18″ Hawaiian influenced single fins to 5 1/2 foot  twin fins with wide tails.  And everything in between. It took years and many different ideas to reach a bit of a design standard.

Patch: What is the history of the quad you shaped that is on display at the Dempsey Holder Safety Center?

Novak quiver.

Novak: The quad board in the IB Surf Museum is my personal board from 1980. It was one of my favorite boards ever. This board was also the model for the Imperial Beach Outdoor Surfboard Museum – the red metal outline sculptures- at Seacoast and Palm. I was surfing pretty well at the time, at least surfing pretty often. Most of my customers wanted twin fins, although maybe 25 % of my orders were quads . The 3-fin Simon Anderson era was right around the corner. I thought the twins were a little too sensitive and harder to control backside.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Wallis.

Changing to 4-fins seemed to correct these issues. I was one of the last to switch to 3-fins as I thought they were slower and not as free to turn as the twins or quads. Remember the boards of this era were thick and had less rocker. It would be quite a few years until boards thinned out and performance took a leap forward. I also remember I could tell how many fins were on a board by the way it worked in the water.

Patch: What is your relationship with AKA Surfboards?

Novak: I have been shaping for AKA (based in Encinitas) for 6 years now. The company has shown quite a bit of growth to the point now where we send boards all over the world, have high profile team riders and are known throughout the world.

Peter Devries on the June 2011 cover of Surfer Magazine surfing a Jay Novak AKA surfboard

The June issue of Surfer Magazine featured Peter Devries one of the AKA crew on the cover. This is a big deal in the surf industry! I have been shaping for Peter for five years. He is Canada’s best known pro surfer (Serge’s note: I surfed with Peter in Canada-he shreds!). Working with surfers like Peter to get boards “just right” forces me to keep current, lose any complacency and the end result is a better board for all my customers.

Patch: How do you use computers in your shaping?

Novak:I shape about 75% of the AKA boards with computer assistance, versus maybe 50/50 of my total workload. The computer allows an exact duplicate of a board to be shaped. Besides saving time, we are increasingly asked to shape a particular “model” of board, moving away from a custom shape for an individual.

For example AKA has 18 models and I can change size and dimensions on all of these models up or down for each customer’s needs and get a perfect result. Although I really feel creative when I hand shape a board from start to finish there is a place for both and the end result should be the same. I have always kept detailed records of the boards I have shaped.

Patch: What is the state of surfing in Southern California today?

Me on my 6'6" Novak quad at Barra de la Cruz in Oaxaca. One of the best surfboards I've ever owned.

Novak: I think that surfing today in Southern California has progressed greatly in the past few years. I am nothing if not a surf observer. About 350 days a year I start my day by walking to the beach and looking at the waves, hoping it will be good enough to motivate me.

About 10 years ago I observed that surfers were using boards that were either too small or too big. The 9-foot longboards had become popular but these boards were not meant to be used everyday. Especially here in IB where the waves can on occasion break shallow and hard. Better to use them when the surf is head high or less. The short boards of the time were narrow and had low volume, making them suited for larger waves with more power.

Patch: What kind of surfboards work for IB?

Novak: Things to consider when surfing in IB. What kind of surf do we have in this area? Average size shoulder high? Not particularly good? Something inbetween the 2 extremes of long and short should work when surfing in IB.

I am glad that it has again become fashionable to ride short boards that have added width and thickness. This has certainly helped the average surfer to get more rides with better results. I personally enjoy egg shapes in the 6 1/2 to 8 foot size and small 4-fin fish shapes. Of course I will ride my 9-footer often and my short board when the conditions are better.

In the last three weeks I have surfed a different board each time I went in the water, hoping to choose the right one for each different day. The surfboards of today are better than ever. It is easier to learn as well as quicker to become an accomplished rider. Perhaps that is why there are so many good surfers now.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wild Sea in San Diego Magazine

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here is an article about my book Wild Sea in San Diego Magazine.

San Magazine article on Wild Sea

Filed Under: Baja California, Wild Sea Tagged With: , , , , , ,

A Real Surfer

March 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

East County surfer riding a wave to the top

(Note–Vito is a great kid–and I’ve had the pleasure surfing with him and his brother. He competes in the Dempsey Holder Surf Contest and I’ve surfed with him in IB with my groms and at La Jolla Shores–this is from the San Diego Union-Tribune)

By Michael Gehlken

Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 9:58 a.m.

Standout Granite Hills High surfer Vito Roccoforte at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas.  

Robby TuttleStandout Granite Hills High surfer Vito Roccoforte at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. 

EL CAJON — Vito Roccoforte carries a photo album with him at all times, a series of snapshots stored in a place no wave could ever wash away.

The pictures are arranged in order of personal significance, and there is one image Roccoforte cherishes above the rest.

Roccoforte, a senior at Granite Hills High, is a surfing purist whose most prized memories of the sport are as perfectly pristine as the water he rides.

He has been humbled by accolades and exposure — last month, the 17-year-old Lakeside resident was spotlighted in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” section, reserved for the country’s top amateur athletes — but none of those honors can overtake the love of surfing with good company as Roccoforte’s true source of passion in the sport.

“I always have a whole bunch of pictures in my head of super perfect days,” Roccoforte said. “In one, I just dropped in, and I watched the whole wave pitch over me, and then I could see just my buddies down the barrel looking at me. Just the picture of that on a nice glassy day. The water is clear. Friends. Sunshine. Just looking down the wave.”

This season, Roccoforte has been looking at success.

In October, Roccoforte earned a trophy, new surfboard and clothes for winning the junior men’s division at the Wildcoast Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival and Surf Contest in Imperial Beach. Currently, he is ranked first in the longboard and third in shortboard in the Division IV Scholastic Sports Series.

This prolific wave seems to have risen so high so early for Roccoforte, who began surfing on his 15th birthday.

Granite Hills coach Robby Tuttle said if anyone can handle the ride, it is Roccoforte, whom he calls “the most talented and accomplished surfer” in the surf program’s nine-year history.

At the end of last season, Tuttle and surfing assistants Tim Wright and Dave Sands gave Roccoforte the ultimate honor with the first-annual Keith Michael Memorial Award.

Michael, a popular, energetic teacher on campus, started the surf club. Months after an inspiring 2007 graduation speech, he lost his battle to melanoma.

“It’s really the character award, but it’s a little more meaningful because Keith was such a unique, helping soul, so we thought we’d give that first one away, and it was pretty unanimous,” Tuttle said. “We’ve never seen one like him, or at least I haven’t in my seven years here.

“He’s always smiling, and he’s always the first person to offer someone help or to offer a wave. He always says, ‘Hey Coach, do you want that one?’ Vito will always offer, which is just rare … Just the sharing. You can’t beat that.”

Roccoforte has immersed himself in the sport in hopes of picking up a sponsor and earning a career in the industry. He estimates he has watched well more than 100 surfing videos with his father and younger brother, Michael, also a member of the surf team. He is a sales associate at Hanger 94, a surf shop in La Mesa, with co-workers who are “like family.”

He has considered one day returning to Granite Hills as a teacher and assisting with the surf club.

“I guess that saying, ‘Only a surfer knows the feeling,’ is true because (surfing) makes you keep wanting to go back out there,” Roccoforte said. “I keep doing it only because it’s fun … Whenever I hang out with my friends, it’s always fun.”

Filed Under: Surfing, WiLDCOAST Tagged With: , , , , ,

Toxic Barge

February 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Between storms I was out surfing yesterday in Imperial Beach. Luckily it had not rained much on Wednesday, so the water was crystal clear, there were only a few of us out, and the waves were fun.

While I was in the water, the toxic barge arrived with a load of sediment dredged up from San Diego Bay laced with heavy metals and PCBs to be dumped just offshore.

Toxic barge arrives in Imperial Beach with sand laced with PCBs and heavy metals. Glad the ocean is a garbage dump. Photo: Alan Jackson

Me catching a few waves in between watching the toxic barge. Photo Alan Jackson

Alex and I discussing the toxic dump. I've surfed with him since 1977. He is out every morning by the pier. Photo: Alan Jackson

Riding my relatively new 6'6" Quad shaped by Jay Novak of Novak Surf Designs. Photo: Alan Jackson

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Got Sand? A Brief History of Sand Projects in Imperial Beach

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A boy who was almost impaled by metal dumped on Imperial Beach in 2004.

Sometime this week the Scows DS5, Harold M and Clarence D and tugs Katha C and Killeen will transport barges filled with 33,000 cubic yards of sediment dredged up from the Ballast Point Coast Guard Station in San Diego Bay by the vessel DB Palomar.

 

Rather than dump the dredge spoils that contain cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls  (PCBs) at an existing dumpsite off of Point Loma, the toxic sediment will be placed just offshore from the terminus of Imperial Beach Boulevard in Imperial Beach. The placement of this toxic material will be carried out with the approval of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Imperial Beach.

The history of Imperial Beach is rife with a parade of badly executed “beach replenishment” projects that have failed to actually do much to protect our coastline. The problem of our receding shoreline is the result of the combination of sea level rise, the construction of the Rodriguez Dam, and the armoring of our coast.

Here is a brief history of the mostly unsuccessful and fatally flawed sand projects carried out by federal agencies at the urging of the City of Imperial Beach. Only one agency, SANDAG has been able to carry out a successful beach project—primarily due to its commitment to using clean large grain sand for its projects.

1976-77: The most toxic areas of South San Diego Bay are dredged and the spoils are dumped on Imperial Beach killing benthic life (e.g. sand crabs) for more than a decade. Local surfers still tell stories about the skin rashes they received from contact with the filthy sediment.

1977-1984: The Army Corps attempts to build a mile-long breakwater in Imperial Beach. The fledgling Surfrider Foundation and local surfer Jim Knox stop the project at the last minute. The breakwater would have forever destroyed surfing and wave action in most of Imperial Beach.

2000-2009: Army Corps and the City of Imperial Beach plan a $75 million long-term project involving dredging an area near the border sewage outfall pipe that was used as a WWI gunnery and bombing area. WiLDCOAST, Imperial Beach surfers, the Surfrider Foundation, Senator Tom Coburn and the Obama White House kill the project that the City of Imperial Beach spent more than $250,000 lobbying for.

2001: SANDAG carries out a project with clean sand, which helps to create great sandbars for surfing and clearly increases the size of our beach.

2004: Army Corps dredges area near the Bay Bridge. Barges then dump toxic sediment in the surf zone including thousands of rocks and pieces of garbage, dangerous rebar and metal onto beach and in surf zone. Surfers call the dump area “Toxics”. One child is almost impaled by a piece of rebar that is hidden in the surf zone. The City initially denies that the garbage and rocks are from the project. No measurable benefit to beach.

On of the thousands of shell/rock conglomerate dumped on Imperial Beach in 2004. These can still be found all over the beach.

2007: Army Corps permits the dredging of a toxic hot spot in San Diego Bay’s Shelter Island. Dredge spoils are dumped with no notice to Imperial Beach residents. Barge is initially turned away by Imperial Beach Lifeguards. The barge subsequently works in the middle of the night to avoid public scrutiny. No measurable benefit to beach.

2010: SANDAG once again proposes “best practices” sand project to be carried out in 2012 involving clean large grain sand. The agency works extensively with local surfers and stakeholders to plan the project.

Rather than focus on a coastal zone management plan that proactively seeks to enhance our coastline by addressing sea level rise, ocean pollution and beach management, unfortunately the City of Imperial Beach continues to seeks the placement of any type of “sand” on our beach, regardless of the potential threats to our children.

It will be important for the community to monitor the current project to identify any impacts and threats to public safety. In a communication on Tuesday with the EPA I wrote that, “Unfortunately during all of the San Diego Bay projects in which dirty and toxic sediment is dumped on our beach—federal agencies have either not informed local agencies at all, or involved almost minimal notification or no stakeholder involvement at all. These are examples of the worst type of coastal zone management practices.”

People go to the beach to swim in clean water.  The City of Imperial Beach should focus on reducing ocean pollution—the main deterrent to tourism—rather than  placing toxic sediment on our beaches in a misguided attempt to promote economic development.

See you in the water.

Serge Dedina is the Executive Director of WiLDCOAST and the author of Wild Sea: Eco-Wars and Surf Stories from the Coast of the Californias.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bulldozers and Estuaries

February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

On June 22, 1980, I learned that then Imperial Beach Mayor Brian Bilbray was planning on damming up the Tijuana Estuary. He argued that it was to be done to stop the flow of polluted water into the Pacific Ocean. I and others believed it was to be done to flood the Tijuana Estuary to demonstrate it was a garbage dump prior to a key referendum in Imperial Beach on placing a marina in the Tijuana Estuary.

So a few friends –Jack Burns, Tim Hannan, Jim and Jeff Knox, Richard Abrams, Dave Parra and Ben Holt–and I sat in front of the bulldozers.

We stopped the estuary from being dammed up, but Bilbray made his career out of his skiploader episode–ironically portrayed by the media as an environmentalist.

It was an ugly time. That incident followed a cleanup event I helped to organize in which a member of the Aryan Brotherhood shot a cleanup participant. I witnessed the shooting, which clearly had a racial tilt (the shooter yelled “Hey, ni..er get the hell out of here” to a man playing a guitar at the cleanup BBQ. And then he shot a man in the mouth who defended the guitar player).

Being an environmentalist back then wasn’t glamorous or even popular. Still when I look back on our effort which led to the permanent protection of the Tijuana Estuary, I am proud of the work we did.

Bilbray assaulted us with rocks and polluted water before ordering his flunkies to assault us.

Imperial Beach Lifeguard Ben Holt tries to stop his lifelong friend Brian Bilbray from destroying the Tijuana Estuary. Benny had known Brian since he was a kid. That is me watching.

Dave Parra tries to rescue me from the goons that assaulted me. I was punched in the face by a big guy. That is me on the bottom.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, U.S.-Mexico Border, Wild Sea Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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