New Jobs Seen With Renovation of Ventura Harbor : Fisheries: Refurbished facility has already attracted 17 fishing boats from Louisiana and Florida and created 150 positions, its manager says.

The renovated Ventura Harbor should bring $4 million a year into the Ventura County economy and create about 200 jobs, local and state officials said Friday during an oceanside appearance at the port.

The renovations, which began a year ago, include 300-foot extensions of the detached breakwater and the north jetty that make it safer for commercial fishing boats to enter and leave the harbor, said Richard Parsons, general manager of the Ventura Port District.

Although Parsons said the initial beneficiaries of the project would be commercial fishing boats, “all the benefits of that industry will spin off.”

“Most of their supplies--such as fuel, food, baits and ice--will be purchased locally,” Parsons said.

It costs $35,000 to get a commercial fishing boat ready to go on a three-week trip, Parsons said.

During an appearance at the harbor Friday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the renovations “state of the art” and predicted improvements in the quality of life in Ventura County.

Feinstein and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who was also at the ceremony, played key roles in allocating federal funds to pay for most of the $7.7 million in renovations.

“This project is really a major uplift for the entire port, in particularly for commercial fishing boats,” Feinstein said from the deck of a 110-foot research boat. “I am proud to be here and to see something that is actually finished. . . . Sometimes we start things and we don’t see them get finished.”

The newly renovated harbor has already attracted 17 additional commercial fishing boats from Florida and Louisiana and created 150 jobs, Parsons said.

Harbor officials predicted that within a year the harbor, which can accommodate 200 commercial boats, will be at capacity.

The project was designed to save millions of dollars in dredging costs and reduce the impact of waves at its the harbor entrance, which had been considered one of the most dangerous in Southern California.

Construction, which ended in August, also included a 650-foot rock seawall on the beach south of the harbor and extension and deepening of the entrance.

The renovations already have saved nearly $2.5 million in dredging costs, Parsons said.

“Last week we canceled a dredge for this winter, and we expect to dredge it every two years instead of every year,” Parsons said.

The harbor has had to be dredged yearly since 1963, when it was built, Parsons said. It has cost up to $2.5 million annually to move about 1.62 million cubic yards of sand trapped in the entrance channel, he said.

Feinstein, who had spent Thursday night in Ventura and was to go to Orange County Friday, praised harbor officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--which made the renovations--for finishing the project a month early and for spending some $300,000 less than had been budgeted.