PISMO BEACH, Calif. — Pismo Beach is moving forward with an ordinance to prohibit the hanging of dead sharks and other fresh-caught fish from the Pier, among other restrictions on fishing — and more rules may still be to come.

On Tuesday, the Pismo Beach City Council heard the first reading of a draft ordinance that would prohibit hanging fish, lines and equipment from the Pier.

The ordinance also allows the council to designate areas of the pier where fishing is prohibited, limits each person to two fishing rods and prohibits fastening rods or rod holders to the pier’s structure.

With the council’s unanimous approval, the ordinance can be returned for final adoption at the next meeting, becoming effective on Dec. 17 at the earliest, city manager Jorge Garcia said.

Discussions of introducing more fishing regulations on the pier got underway at a special Sept. 15 meeting, in which the council directed the staff to draft an ordinance to prevent the hanging of fresh-caught fish — specifically, thresher sharks — from the deck along with additional options to make improvements to the changing stations and restrict where people can fish.

Councilmembers expressed concerns about public safety and cleanliness caused by the fishing and subsequent cleaning of catches.

At that Sept. 15 meeting, Garcia said the council can’t fully end fishing on the pier because it was approved and permitted as a municipal fishing pier, and the practice of discarding fish guts into the ocean after cleaning is legal, including through the city’s built-in cleaning stations.

In most cases, fishing licenses aren’t required under the state’s Fish and Game code, and so long as the catches aren’t a prohibited species such as great white sharks, out of season or out of the legal size range, they’re generally legal to catch, keep and consume, California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden Kevin Hare said during the Sept. 15 meeting.

Fisherman are permitted to possess two thresher sharks and catch two thresher sharks on any given day, according to Hare.

Councilmember Marcia Guthrie said she would like to see fishing restricted to the two diamond-shaped areas at the end of the Pier, roughly halving the staff’s proposed 700-foot fishing area that included all three diamond-shaped areas that sit over the water.

“I think it’s way too big,” Guthrie said. “I think our people that walk out there and enjoy the view and the pier outweigh the fishermen, so I would like to see that shortened.”

Ultimately, the council directed staff to return with a resolution designating the limits of the fishing area on the pier after the ordinance becomes effective, leaving the perimeter of the fishing area up for further changes.

The council also directed city staff to implement an improvement plan that will add five dedicated small cutting boards on the pier’s railings and a new flat-top stainless steel table equipped with a water sprayer and drains for cleaning larger catches.

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