Jul 25 2011

Fishing town struggling in aftermath of tsunami

The aftermath of the March 11 tsunami in the inner boat basin in Crescent City. (NOAA's National Ocean Service/Flickr)

July 22, 2011 | Matt Drange

It’s been four months since tsunami waves generated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan ravaged the harbor in Northern California’s Crescent City, destroying pilings and sinking 16 boats after ripping them from their docks.

But the diminutive harbor is still a long way from functional, crippling to a local economy dependent on the fishing industry. Tsunami victims, meanwhile, are finding little help in disaster relief, much of it in the form of reimbursements and loans they can’t afford.

Excluding the inmates who reside in Pelican Bay State Prison, Crescent City is home to about 4,200 people. The town already took a significant hit when most of the lumber mills and fish processing facilities were shuttered in the last decade, forcing hundreds to leave in search of jobs. Once home to eight lumber mills and three fish processing plants, Crescent City is down to just one of each.

“In a small community, when you lose 100 jobs, it’s a big impact. Maybe five years ago, in the good ol’ days, if you will, it wouldn’t have been so bad,” said Bill Renfroe, executive director of Crescent City’s Tri-Agency Economic Development Authority. “But today, with everybody struggling, it’s a serious impact.”

Tsunami surges deposited more than 78,000 cubic yards of sediment in the inner boat basin, making it as shallow as 4 feet in some areas and effectively shutting out boats longer than 15 feet. The harbor is the largest dungeness crab exporter on the West Coast. At one time, it had more than 100 fishing vessels; now there are only a handful.

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