Increased restrictions for vessels on San Diego Bay because of the recent terrorist attacks are causing some delays, but no major headaches, according to some businesses in the area.
The U.S. Coast Guard restricted entry of all vessels, recreational and commercial, into the San Diego Harbor last week. No vessel may enter the bay until being examined and cleared by either the Coast Guard or the San Diego Harbor Police.
“Traffic is allowed to proceed in and out of the harbor,” said Paul Libuda, assistant director of marine operations for the Port of San Diego. “But we are stopping all boating vessels, whether it is a recreational vessel, commercial cargo or a commercial passenger vessel.”
The Coast Guard warned mariners to expect significant delays because of the process, but some fishing and dinner-cruise boats say coordination with the Coast Guard has eased any delays.
Katrina Coleman, office manager for H & M; Sportsfishing Landing, said they canceled three full-day trips the day after the attack and lost about $16,000.
Initially, Coleman said there were some slight delays because of the restrictions, but trips have gone on as scheduled since.
“We’ve worked well with the Coast Guard on our scheduled (estimated time of arrival),” Coleman said. “We’re relatively back up to speed.”
Typically, H & M; sends out about 25 boats at various times. The company offers short-term fishing trips for a few hours, overnight trips or extended trips that last for days.
Although H & M; has been able to keep their boats working during the restrictions, the company has had to turn some customers away.
“We now require everyone to have a picture ID, and some people don’t have that and don’t go fishing because of it,” Coleman said.
The same can be said for dinner-cruise boats, which were able to maintain scheduled trips after the disaster, but didn’t always leave with the same number of passengers.
Jackie Flohr, a ticket sales agent with San Diego Harbor Excursion, said their business is down about $3,000 compared to this time last year.
Passengers must also show photo identification before boarding the boat, she said, many are turned away without it.
Flohr also said foot traffic in the area has declined substantially since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
“That week the only people who came through the booth were airline employees and stranded tourists,” she said. “It seems so much quieter out here. People are just not out and about.”
The dinner-cruise boat has not canceled any trips since the announced restriction on the bay and has experienced few delays. But there were many cancellations by passengers.
The weekend following the attack, Flohr said more than 300 people canceled scheduled trips.
“We are getting to a time of the year where things slow down anyway, but not as drastically as now,” she said.
Business has been steady for some fuel docks along the bay, given that many vessels are going out as scheduled.
Erik Poole, who operates Cortez and High Seas fuel docks, said the restrictions have caused vessels to fuel later in the day, meaning his employees have worked a little later.
“The (restriction) hasn’t been severe,” Poole said. “It hasn’t hurt me, as far as I can tell, significantly.”
