i fished goleta beach from the kayak today. i was expecting some good fishing because the weather was perfect. the swell was down the wind was down and the kelp was up. but instead of great fishing i was greated by lots of oil and tar. there is nothing more frustrating than seeing great kelp and not being able to fish it through the thick layer of oil on the surface. i paddled around for an hour and a half and ended up with a rockfish and a short ling. the oil companies insist the oil slicks are from "natural seepage" but i think it is a conspiracy and it is actually from the oil rigs.

anyway it was a fun trip and a pretty day what more could you ask for.

its natural

off of IV there are several large seeps where the water boils.

soft metamorphic rock (shale that lines the cliffs) makes up layers down deep under the ocean, oil just seeps right on through.

tar was used by the chumash long before veneco parked their refineries around goleta

i wasnt trying to say there was no natural seepage, i was just questioning weather or not that is the only source of the oil.

dan,

I am not sure the answer to that question, however I have heard that the drilling actually lessens the natrual pressure there by reducing the amount of natural seepage.

If it were the rigs leaking, the enviros would be all over it like a fly on ....