Coastal Areas Southern California

A divine force with a little name is the talk of the beach. Surfers can't wait for El Nin~o, a weird weather condition named for the Christ child and expected to bring historic storms--and surf--from November to March. El Nin~o usually appears every two to seven years when the waters of the equatorial Pacific warm like a sauna, setting off a series of weather reactions that include a winter storm track aimed straight for Southern California.

So you want to camp at one of Southern California's 14 state beach campgrounds during the summer? You've got to think ahead by seven months and be prepared to spend some time on the phone. At 8 a.m. Dec. 1, reservations open for the month of June. That seven-month lead means July campsites are available Jan. 2; August sites Feb. 1, and so on. Reservations can also be made on the http://www.reserveamerica.com Web site, but on those three dates, it's nearly impossible to get through. Last Feb.

Peter McCullom, a member of the feared Bay Boys of Palos Verdes Estates, stood beside one of the best surfing spots in Southern California and explained the law of Lunada Bay. The law is as simple as a smack in the face: If you don't live here, don't surf here. Not if you know what's good for you. "Everybody knows to stay away from Lunada Bay because they'll get hassled," said McCullom, 34, a Palo Verdes "local" who lives on an inheritance and spends his days surfing and traveling.

The only remaining evidence of s'mores was stuck on chins and T-shirts, and some of the campers were nodding off in front of the campfire, when the headlights of a strange car swept across the group site at Refugio State Beach north of Santa Barbara. The newcomers, Lorraine and her teenage son Travis, traveling from Santa Cruz to visit relatives in the San Fernando Valley, were looking for a place to spend the night.

Three national environmental groups will petition federal officials today to list a type of Pacific red snapper as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Bocaccio, one of several species sold in the grocery store as Pacific red snapper, was formerly the most abundant ground fish off Southern California.

It's a way of saying thank you for summer pleasures. It's a way to protect ocean creatures great and small. It's a way to make a good beach better. What it is is California's annual Adopt-a-Beach program, on Sept. 23 at a sand strand near you. Thousands of volunteers will be hauling away tons of debris from 1,600 miles of California coastline, from Border Field State Park on the Mexican border to Pelican State Beach on the Oregon border.

Never mind creationism versus Darwinism--here's the real source of the fishes in the sea. It's a floating dock in Newport Harbor, where volunteers from the Pacific Fisheries Enhancement Foundation took charge Wednesday of nearly 4,000 three-inch white sea bass that they hope to nurture into marine adolescence, and then release in the open ocean.

Scientists wielding sophisticated new genetic tests have discovered that Southern California beach waters are incubators for human viruses with the potential to make swimmers sick with ailments from diarrhea to hepatitis to the common cold.

In the first large-scale analysis of polluted sediment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named 96 areas on the bottom of the nation's oceans and rivers as severe threats to marine life or people.

Heavy surf pounded the coast from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border Tuesday as an intense winter storm approached the coast of Southern California. Waves that are expected to build over the next couple of days eroded oceanfront sand and flooded the garages of more than 20 waterfront homes in Seal Beach on Tuesday morning. Seawater, rocks and mud surged through beachfront campsites in Ventura County, forcing the evacuation of several visitors.

Commercial fishermen and federal biologists reached a truce Monday in a battle over the preservation of sea otters, whose remnant population still competes for sea urchins and other lucrative shellfish in Southern California waters. A lawsuit filed by Santa Barbara fishermen was dismissed in U.S. District Court on Monday after all parties agreed to let federal biologists reevaluate their program to keep the otters out of Southern California.

State officials said Saturday that they intend to drop plans for a luxury resort at Crystal Cove State Park, recognizing the escalating effort to protect Southern California's last 1920s-era beach colony from upscale development. The decision caps years of protests over the proposal and remains contingent on negotiations underway between the project's developer and the state, which intends to buy back the rights to the coastal land, located north of Laguna Beach.

In a far-reaching decision to clean up beaches and local waterways, state officials unanimously adopted a plan Thursday to stop the flow of trash into the Los Angeles River and its tributaries over 10 years.

Three national environmental groups will petition federal officials today to list a type of Pacific red snapper as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Bocaccio, one of several species sold in the grocery store as Pacific red snapper, was formerly the most abundant rockfish off Southern California.

Three national environmental groups will petition federal officials today to list a type of Pacific red snapper as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Bocaccio, one of several species sold in the grocery store as Pacific red snapper, was formerly the most abundant ground fish off Southern California.

Just after dawn Friday, a veteran group of surfers put on their wetsuits, jumped in the cold ocean and set out to ride some of the Earth's largest waves--more than 100 miles off the Southern California shore. Long known to abalone divers and commercial fishermen, this spot called Cortes Bank is an underwater mountain that rises to within several feet of the water's surface, yet far out of sight of any land.

In Orange County, coastal resorts are part of a larger attempt to encourage tourism and business visits. County beaches always had devotees, to be sure, but most vacationers stopped only for a day or two at theme parks. The top draw, Disneyland, was surrounded by tawdry motels and strip malls. These days, a huge construction project is transforming Anaheim. Bidding to extend guests' stays to three days or longer, and broaden Disneyland's appeal, Walt Disney Co. is spending $1.

A UC Irvine scientist has proposed an independent think tank called California Clean Beach Center to coordinate research on coastal pollution and Southern California's ocean systems. "We need to bring a coordinated approach to these problems," Stanley B. Grant said Tuesday. "A center would be essential in bringing together smart people from different disciplines to do research on these complex systems and to solve a critical resource issue for California."

Heavy surf pounded the coast from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border Tuesday as an intense winter storm approached the coast of Southern California. Waves that are expected to build over the next couple of days eroded oceanfront sand and flooded the garages of more than 20 waterfront homes in Seal Beach on Tuesday morning. Seawater, rocks and mud surged through beachfront campsites in Ventura County, forcing the evacuation of several visitors.

A UC Irvine scientist has proposed an independent think tank called California Clean Beach Center to coordinate research on coastal pollution and Southern California's ocean systems. "We need to bring a coordinated approach to these problems," Stanley B. Grant said Tuesday. "A center would be essential in bringing together smart people from different disciplines to do research on these complex systems and to solve a critical resource issue for California."