SM PIER John Volaski has spent nearly his entire life here, and if there’s one thing he’d like to see, it would be boats docked alongside the Santa Monica Pier waiting for passengers to board and set sail on the ocean.
As the owner of the Santa Monica Pier Bait & Tackle Co., Volaski would love for commercial boating activity to return to the pier, and bring with it more customers to his shop. But he also holds sentimental reasons. As a kid, Volaski worked on many of the boats docked just north of the pier, protected from the harsh waves by a breakwater that was destroyed by winter storms in the early 1980s.
“In the summertime, people would come and fish for halibut,sea bass and barracuda.There was a variety of fish,”Volaski said. “We had barges out there where people would have big parties. It was quite a sight. I wish they’d bring it back.”
City officials are working on it.However,it could prove to be as difficult as navigating through a white squall, given the absence of the breakwater. In addition, the rising cost of fuel and an anticipated increase in marine fishing regulations have caused some boating companies to proceed with caution.
“The concern that has been articulated to me on more than one occasion, and we’ve reached out to several entities in Southern California, is the issue of liability and insurance,” said Ben Franz-Knight, chief executive officer of the Pier Restoration Corp., a non-profit established in 1983 to manage and promote the pier.
“It is just the point between the dock and the boat and how you safely transfer people from the dock to the boat without a completely protected landing — like you have in the Marina,” Franz-Knight added.“We don’t have completely clam seas.
“Personally, I’m confident we can find a creative way to engineer a solution that is workable. These take time.”
City Hall constructed the existing breakwater in 1934 to provide protection to the pier and create a protected harbor area for mooring commercial and recreational boats. The original breakwater was 2,000 feet long, located about 1,300 feet offshore and rose approximately 10 feet above the water, according to a city staff report.
Since its construction, the breakwater has continuously deteriorated and was severely damaged during the 1982-83 winter storms which destroyed the seaward section of the pier, causing $8 million in damages to the pier and its facilities as well as facilities on adjacent beaches.
The storms also resulted in the loss of all 45 moorings, which had been used by commercial and recreational boats.
The council considered rebuilding the breakwater in 1999, but it never came to fruition, much of which had to deal with cost and some environmental concerns. A report by the Army Corps of Engineers found that in 1995, a plan to restore the breakwater would have created a temporary (1 to 5 years) loss of up to 50 feet of sand from the beach south of the pier. A second impact that could occur over 30 to 50 years would be a wider beach up coast and adjacent to the pier where it could impact fishing from the Newcomb Pier fishing decks. Dredging would need to be done to maintain fishing at the pier deck.
Based on 1994 price levels, the total estimated construction cost for the breakwater would have been $7,110,000. At that time, the federal government was willing to throw in $4.6 million.
“Without the breakwater, it’s pretty dangerous,” Rick Carbajal of Marina del Rey Sportsfishing said about boarding at the pier. “That’s why they don’t do it. I’m sure you would have to have a load of insurance … You’d really have to build a landing or a new breakwater.”
Franz-Knight said there has been no discussion about restoring the breakwater in recent years because of concerns about the environment.
“And I think if you talk with the folks in the community, there is no overwhelming desire for a huge yacht harbor operation like in the 40s and 50s, but more of a desire for some boating activity to restore balance,” Franz-Knight said. “It’s been 23 years since we lost the last remaining portion of the breakwater, and only a year and half since we have been working on restoring boating activity.”
The PRC has issued a request for qualifications, or RFQ, about restoring boating activity and despite some of the concerns, there have been a few bites on the line, particularly from the In Seine Bait Co. out of the Marina. In Seine could not be reached for comment, but Franz-Knight said they have expressed interest for the last two years in operating a fishing outfit at the pier out of a fondness for it.
Even if no one wants to restore sportsfishing at the pier, there’s a host of other options, including a water taxi to Malibu, sightseeing tours of the bay, whale watching expeditions and historic and environmental tours.
“The root of the idea is to restore boating activity to the pier, and many people feel sports fishing is important,” Franz-Knight said. “But I think overall, the desire is to have the direct connection with the pier and ocean renewed.”
Volaski is one of them. “It is going to be difficult without a breakwater,” Volaski said, “But it can be done.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 4, 2007. Read the original PDF.