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La comunidad pesquera local está sonando la alarma por los problemas continuos de mantenimiento y seguridad en la Marina Pública de Eureka y las instalaciones de lanzamiento de botes, cerca del edificio Wharfinger en Waterfront Drive.

A lo largo de los años, la rampa de botes de dos carriles se ha inundado de barro, dejando un carril casi inaccesible, según Kent Hulbert, vicepresidente del Comité de Seguridad del Puerto de Humboldt y director de Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers (HASA).

“Hay dos carriles de lanzamiento de barcos, pero solo uno se usa regularmente porque [el otro] se llena de lodo y acumula algas marinas,” dijo Hulbert a la Outpost. “No se draga muy a menudo y el barro es tan espeso que no puedes lanzar un barco grande sin preocuparte de tocar el fondo, especialmente con marea baja. Muchas veces la gente no quiere bajar su vehículo al lodo [porque] no quieren que su bote quede atrapado allí.”

Muchos de nuestros lectores recordarán lo que ocurrió hace varios años, cuando la marina se llenó tanto de barro y suciedad que los barcos atracados encallaban en cada marea baja, volviéndolos inútiles durante horas. Las agencias gubernamentales responsables de las tareas de dragado disputaron sobre cómo deshacerse de lo fangoso durante años antes de acordar finalmente en 2017 remolcarlo al Sitio de Dragado en el Océano Abierto de Humboldt (HOODS), una zona cuadrada de mar ubicada aproximadamente a tres millas de la costa. La Marina Pública de Eureka no ha sido dragada desde entonces.

La ciudad tenía planes de unirse a la operación de dragado de la Bahía de Humboldt Bay, Recreación y Conservación de este año, pero esos planes no se concretaron cuando un miembro del personal de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) informó al Administrador de la Ciudad de Eureka, Miles Slattery, que la ciudad debía realizar pruebas adicionales.

“There’s a new employee at the EPA that has a different viewpoint about the sampling that needs to be done in order to dredge,” Slattery told the Outpost. “During previous dredge cycles, we’ve always done chemistries where we take sediment samples and test for dioxin, metals, PCBs and other constituents. Once that’s cleared, you can go dredge. We did that, but this employee at the EPA feels as though we need to do toxicity tests.”

In years and decades past, the city has sourced geological data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for maintaining federal navigation channels in Humboldt Bay, but it seems the EPA has modified its testing standards. 

“The previous EPA employee didn’t require toxicity tests because we used data that was gathered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in close proximity [to the marina],” Slattery said. “There hasn’t been any new industry within the bay or any spills that would cause any toxicity issues. However, this EPA employee decided to have us do the test, which made us miss the window to utilize the same bid process that the Harbor District did. Our plan is to go out and dredge next year.”

“Our boat launch is just fine,” he added. “It’s still usable, it’s just a matter of timing the tide.”

However, that’s not the only issue at the marina. Pamyln Hentz Millsap, an avid fisher and retired Eureka Police Department homeless liaison, has seen an uptick in abandoned vehicles parked in the marina parking lot and along Waterfront Drive. 

“The parking lot is a nightmare because there aren’t many parking spaces. People towing boat trailers often don’t even have a place to park because abandoned vehicles are parked there,” Millsap told the Outpost. “A lot of the vehicles can’t be moved because they’re broken down and people are living in them. It looks like a dump.”

The public bathrooms are also a problem. The bathrooms are often locked, and when they are open they’re “nasty,” Millsap said. On two occasions she’s encountered people “shooting up” and sleeping on the bathroom floor.

“Homeless people don’t scare me because I’ve worked with them so long but I’ve heard other people complain,” she said, noting that she helped form the county’s Mobile Intervention Services Team (MIST), which serves homeless people experiencing mental health crises. “I’m not trying to be mean, you know? I worked with the homeless community for years when I was at EPD. That population has a big piece of my heart.”

Asked what EPD and the city could do to alleviate the issue, Millsap thought for a moment before saying, “You know, I don’t know.”

“I’ve contacted [EPD’s Community Safety Engagement Team] CSET and said, ‘Hey, can you guys do something about this?’ but their hands are often tied due to different laws,” she continued. “I just think this [portion of the waterfront] is a forgotten area. … It seems to be a really handy spot where people can park their vehicles and stay out of sight of downtown business owners. … Everybody is trying to do what they can, but it’s not a good situation.”

Millsap and Hulbert both felt the city should do more to maintain and, ideally, update the public facilities at the marina. While commercial fishing has declined over the years, it’s still a significant part of Eureka’s identity and a big draw for people visiting the region, Hulbert said.

“I just don’t think the city has prioritized it,” he continued. “You know, people come a long way to go tuna fishing or crabbing up here. Those people are spending money here. They’re staying in our hotels and paying into the transient occupancy tax (TOT). And I don’t think they’re getting their money’s worth because our facilities aren’t up to par. … It’s kind of embarrassing that Crescent City had a much better facility than we do.”

A new fish-cleaning station would make a huge difference. There’s an existing fish-cleaning station down on the dock, but it’s “not really useable,” Hulbert said.

The problem: High-quality fish-cleaning stations are really expensive. If the city were to purchase a new fish-cleaning station, Slattery said it would have to be equipped with an industrial grinder to break down the fish carcasses.

“It’s so cost-prohibitive to deal with the carcasses,” he said. “If Pacific Choice were still processing shrimp, that would have been a viable option for those carcasses because they could have gone into their shrimp waste, which is sold for other products. But, unfortunately, they stopped processing shrimp.”

The city is partnering with a few local fishermen to start a waterfront fish market, though it’s still in the early stages. “If that happens, there would be a fish-cleaning station there,” Slattery said.

If it’s an issue of funding, Millsap said the city could impose a parking fee at the marina.

“Crescent City, Brookings, Charleston y muchos otros lugares cobran a la gente por estacionar en ciertas áreas,” dijo. “Creo que tal vez es de $5 o $6 al día en Crescent City. Sé que eso podría molestar a la gente, pero creo que ese dinero podría ser usado para el mantenimiento de los baños y el muelle, que a menudo están en mal estado. No creo que ninguno de nosotros objetaría pagar un pago diario, o incluso anual, para estacionar allí si [las instalaciones] estuvieran decentes y el mantenimiento fuera adecuado.”

Slattery dijo que eso es algo en lo que la ciudad estaría dispuesta a investigar como parte de la “imagen más grande” para el paseo marítimo, pero dijo que no generaría suficientes ingresos para cubrir el costo de proyectos grandes como el dragado.

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[NOTA: Una versión anterior de esta historia identificó incorrectamente a Millsap como un oficial de policía jubilado del EPD. También afirmamos incorrectamente que ella ayudó a formar CSET. El Outpost lamenta el error.]