Effluent feminizes fish

A UC Riverside report has discovered a high occurrence of sexual deformities in fish living near sewage ocean outfall lines.

That could raise concerns in Huntington Beach, where the Orange County Sanitation District releases treated sewage effluent from a pipeline several miles offshore. Experts are calling for more testing to determine whether treated sewage contains hormone-altering compounds that deform the sex organs of fish.

The report, one of three released Monday at a national conference on ocean health, was the first to look at the effects of sewage emissions in the ocean.

According to the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, 11 male bottom-dwelling fish out of 64 caught between the county sanitation district’s pipeline and a similar pipeline in Santa Monica were found to have ovary tissues in their testes. In another study, as many as two-thirds of the male fish in the area were found to have egg-producing proteins. Another report found that when males were exposed in a laboratory to sample waters collected near Huntington Beach and other sewage outfalls, nearly all developed female egg proteins.

While the male fish exhibit feminizing characteristics, none actually transformed from male to female, sanitation district scientist Jeff Armstrong said.

“An elevated level does not change a male fish into a female fish,” he said. “We’ve been dissecting these guys, looking at their gonads and all males have remained males,” he said. The emergence of estrogen agents in male fish have not affected fish populations, Armstrong said.

Scientists believe that feminizing agents could come from sewage ocean outfall pipelines -- no fish caught in other parts of Southern California exhibited female-like characteristics. The problem area runs from Huntington Beach to Playa del Rey, where both Orange and Los Angeles counties and the city of Los Angeles operate three effluent pipes. It is believed that nearly 1 billion gallons of treated wastewater are dumped into ocean each day from an area serving between 9 and 10 million people.

That effluent contains dozens of chemicals that can alter animal hormones -- everything from naturally created estrogen to industrial treatment chemicals, pesticides and household products. While most of the products are treated before being released, some contaminants remain and eventually settle on the ocean floor, where they are eaten by bottom-dwelling fish and eventually enter the food chain. Excessive amounts of the estrogen can create intersex species with both male and female genitals, while others simply become infertile.

UC Riverside scientist Dan Schlenk said the higher occurrence of estrogen is not believed to be a threat to people swimming or surfing in Orange County waters.

“I don’t really think there’s any concern about that,” he said. “In fact, any type of health risk associated with this study isn’t clear. I think more investigation needs to be done.”

The report also found that the sewage plants might not be the only sources of the feminized fish. A 100-ton deposit of DDT near Palos Verdes might be partially responsible, as is a pesticide plant in Torrance that dumped chemicals into the ocean for decades.

“That’s a major offender right there,” Armstrong said. “A sample that size of DDT deposited 30 years ago could be active for another 200 years.”

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Huntington Beach now on sale

A local gift company has launched a new catalog of T-shirts, beach toys and home décor, all adorned with a new Huntington Beach logo different from the one used by the city or the Conference and Visitors Bureau.

“Everyone had their own logo, and we decided we needed one too,” said Joe Shaw, co-owner of California Greetings and the recently opened HB Store. His localized store is launching the new marketing campaign. The 24-page catalog will sell more than 100 items from both of his downtown stores and capitalize on the growing popularity of Surf City, USA.

“The catalog is a celebration of Huntington Beach as much as it is anything else,” Shaw said. “The catalog is full of Huntington Beach residents’ favorite products from our store as well as new items we’ve created with the Huntington Beach market in mind.”

The Ultimate Huntington Beach Gift Guide will be mailed to around 12,000 homes in downtown Huntington Beach and will be available at both of the downtown stores.

“The store is for people who live here first and tourists second,” he said.

Working with co-owner Richard Lam, Shaw has created two successful businesses on Main Street where many other retailers and restaurants have failed. Merchants have often struggled to draw in foot traffic on the 300 block of Main Street. Shaw and Lam first opened California Greetings in 2002; in July 2005, they expanded their business by opening the HB Store.

Poseidon vote delayed -- again

A vote on a controversial desalination project has once more been delayed. City Councilman Don Hansen asked the council to delay the vote originally scheduled for Nov. 21 so that he could attend to family obligations.

Hansen, a key vote on the Poseidon issue, has been lobbied by neighbors in his southeast neighborhood who generally oppose the giant industrial project. Hansen also has strong ties to the local GOP, which supports the project.

The new hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19, but there’s already been talk of delaying the vote once more because of the date’s proximity to the Christmas holiday.

Hansen said he’d like to see the project settled at the next meeting.

“I know it’s the week before Christmas, but that’s a normal business day,” he said. “I’d rather just get it over with.”

Originally scheduled to be decided in September, a final vote on the industrial project was delayed until October so that Poseidon officials could better spell out the benefits of building a $250-million desalination facility in town. The vote was delayed in October when city councilmen Keith Bohr and Hansen argued the proposed benefits weren’t clear enough. Bohr recently said he would like to have the issue dealt with at the Dec. 19 meeting.

Surf City auto shop takes home top Sin City honors

The Collision Industry Conference in Las Vegas Nov. 3 presented their achievement in collision repair excellence award to Skill Craft Body Shop of Huntington Beach.

Skill Craft came in No. 1 in the country after beating out 10 finalists that included such highly recognized names as Fletcher Jones Motor Cars in Newport Beach.

“It’s truly an honor to be recognized within our industry,” said Ray Galvin, founder and president of Skill Craft Inc. in a prepared statement.