Tim Klassen has operated Real Steel Sport Fishing out of the Eureka Harbor for the past 15 years. But his passenger excursions out to sea may come to an end if proposed air quality regulations for passenger vessels go into effect.
CARB’s commercial harbor craft rule, originally adopted in 2007 and amended in 2010 is set to be fully implemented by the end of 2022. The rule was originally adopted to reduce particulate emissions and other exhaust matter coming from several types of vessels using diesel engines in regulated California waters.
Commercial and commercial passenger vessels were previously listed under the same category by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The rule set to be implemented would separate the boat categories, with stricter regulations for commercial passenger fishing vessels going into effect.
Compliance with regulations would force the operators of the commercial passenger boats to either retrofit their vessels with an appropriate “tier 4” engine or to purchase a new boat, both of which can put operators out of business.
“If the regulations go through as they’re proposed right now, probably the majority of us would be out of business,” Klassen said.
Compliance is currently not feasible for many; he said.
“A new engine for my boat that would be compliant is about $60,000. … A boat like mine with a new engine is about $400,000,” Klassen pointed out.
The Sportfishing Association of California is lobbying against implementing the new emissions rule.
“Before the owners of sportfishing and whale watching boats can recover their financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Newsom Administration proposed draconian regulations that will remove hundreds of family-operated boats from service,” Ken Franke, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, said in a statement. “Given that the regulations were drafted during the COVID-19 pandemic and without any in-person public workshops, boat owners are learning for the first time that their days at sea are numbered and their livelihoods may be lost.”
A study undertaken by the CSU Maritime Academy for CARB also states there are no engines that would comply with the proposed standards, and alterations to installed engines for compliance would destabilize the vessels.
“They want a level of emissions compliance on engines that aren’t even available yet. And the (engines) that would comply, would not fit into any of our boats. So, basically, we’d have to buy whole new boats, and start from scratch and there’s just not that kind of money in this business to do that,” Klassen said.
Operators have until regulations go into effect in 2023 to comply, but can also request up to six years of extensions to be able to meet the cost of meeting the regulation standards.
Upgrading or replacing his sole vessel would force Klassen and other operators to double his prices just to keep up with the costs of timely compliance, leaving his customers priced out.
Klassen, who takes an average of 500 anglers out to sea per year, pointed to the local owner-operated passenger fishing boat industry as a local economic driver.
“I think there’s about a dozen (boats) in Humboldt Bay, there’s probably another half a dozen and in Trinidad, there’s a few in Shelter Cove, there’s some in Crescent City, so we bring in a lot of tourist business. People come here specifically to fish from Redding, Red Bluff or Chico and even from out of state. They come in they spend money at motels and restaurants and stuff so I mean, there’s more of an economic benefit for the community than just what we take in,” he elaborated.
CARB is slated to adopt the measures this November.
Mario Cortez can be reached at 707-441-0520.
