MPAs -- It's Been A Long Time Coming...

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

CaliforniaDivingNews

Contributor
Messages
81
Reaction score
8
Location
Torrance, California
# of dives
I'm a Fish!
by Stephen Benavides

Over 13 years ago a small group of dedicated conservationists gathered together to begin drafting and lobbying for the passage of the bill which would institute a comprehensive network of marine protected areas in California. It began in 1997 with a landmark agreement to provide significant protection to the abalone resource which was followed closely by the passage of the Marine Life Management Act which dealt with fisheries regulation. This was followed shortly by the passage of the Marine Life Protection Act and after ... Read More

upload_0000O2.jpg
 
Kudos to my friend Steve and all the others who pushed for this important Act and its implementation. Thinking back to the days of the Kelp Forest Coalition!
 
WHAT ABOUT PCB,DDT,MERCURY,SEWAGE DISCHARGE,TOXIC RUNOFF,OIL SPILLS, PLASTIC RESIDUE. HOOK & LINE AND SPEARFISHING ARE NOT THE PROB!! Testimony from the MLPA staff and the Science Advisory Team came off a little ragged. Some stumbled through their presentations and others had a tough time answering questions posed by the Commissioners. Michael Sutton commented that fisheries collapse because science guidelines are not followed.:idk: He then went on to ask why the EcoTrust economic study stopped at the dock and how are the Commissioners supposed to make decisions without all the information.:idk:

Dan Richards asked what the financial upside was going to be. He wanted to know how the percentages related to fishing effort translated into dollars. He also asked what the impact would be on people, “Is someone going to lose their job?” After not getting satisfactory answers to his questions Richards echoed Commissioner Suttons remark about making decisions with limited data.

Commissioners Sutton, Richards, and Rogers voiced their frustrations that these important questions were not answered because they “were not part of the (MLPA) scope” or “we can’t predict business practices.” Sutton said, “We don’t have half the information needed to make an intelligent decision.”:idk: MLPA project manager Mellissa Miller-Henson agreed saying, “You don’t have one quarter of the information you need.”:idk:

During the public comment period it was announced that the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans filed another lawsuit against the DFG Commission over violations of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act saying that private meetings with an agenda were held without public notice. They also charged that public MLPA meetings were rehearsed by MLPA staff beforehand. This visibly upset some of the Commissioners MEN STUMBLE OVER THE TRUTH FROM TIME TO TIME BUT MOST PICK THEMSELVES UP AND HURRY OFF AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED. Winston Churchill
 
You've spent time in Catalina waters where many of those issues are not significant. Even anecdotal observations in areas protected as MPAs for some time and adjacent fished areas show that they work pretty darned well.
 
I for one am all for setting up MPA's and such. We have a bunch here on the Sonoma coast and North, along with a bunch around Monterey. They do not stop fishing at all. It gives the scientists a nice place to run base fish counts off of. There are thousands of places a fisherman can go to enjoy fishing. There are groups out there like Reef Check that are bringing scientific data to the plate that is unbiased and over many years will show the true trends of our ecosystems underwater. They need to be supported by all sides, and the results should be used by all sides to find a sustainable future for all species. I don't care if someone spear fishes, as long as they are not taking species that are rare. Heck take all the Blue's, within reason, you want out of our local waters. Now Vermillion are a different story as they are not common at all.

The pollution issue is one of the largest issues the earth is facing and unless we get together as an entire society will help lead to the human races demise. Unfortunately I do not see it happening soon enough. Who here is willing to quite using plastic bags, and cut their fossil fuel use by 60% this year? FWIW I did so a few years ago. Since no one is willing to make the changes on their own regulations must be put in place to force the changes.
 
While you may not agree with the designs or the outcome, one thing you must acknowledge is that the state of California is facing dire economic consequences, including possible receivership actions by the federal government because it is unable to pay its bills and manage its resources and continues to spend us into oblivion. What this means for marine management is that we are going to enter a long period of time for which they[sic] will be inadequate enforcement protection available. Fish and game is facing significant layoffs and reduction in budgets and we are going to enter a data poor environment because we simply lack the resources to continue to gather the meaningful information we need for beneficial to[sic] management.
Totally agree, which makes the MLPA process all that much more ridiculous. It makes nice headlines, appears to be wonderful but has no teeth and does absolutely nothing about the real issues affecting our coastlines. For various reasons the MLPA choose to not do anything about pollution, land development or any of the real threats to our waters. The MLPAI is charged with protecting our coastline from these threats but has done NOTHING at all to protect our waters from any of those concerns. I am shocked by the number of people who have been hoodwinked into believing something positive was done in our waters.

One thing is for sure, a "small group of dedicated" conservationists (I use that term very loosely) have profited hugely. Tens of millions have been funneled to private contractors that have paid for expeditions (and associated industry) and steered industry moguls into Blue Ribbon Task Force seats.

What did we get for that? Not much. If you have political connections you can get money to pay for your boat, fuel and crew to fish for GWS off the Farallon Islands or map the ocean floor. In the case of these taxpayer funded fishing trips, you get exclusive access to closed fishing grounds, don't worry about the fact that after you release your local shark it is so terrified it swims 500 miles to escape the threat. Please, while you are mapping the ocean floor and have the boat in autopilot, be careful not to damage the hull while mowing down endangered whales and orphaning their calves.
 
WHAT ABOUT PCB,DDT,MERCURY,SEWAGE DISCHARGE,TOXIC RUNOFF,OIL SPILLS, PLASTIC RESIDUE. HOOK & LINE AND SPEARFISHING ARE NOT THE PROB!! Testimony from the MLPA staff and the Science Advisory Team came off a little ragged. Some stumbled through their presentations and others had a tough time answering questions posed by the Commissioners. Michael Sutton commented that fisheries collapse because science guidelines are not followed.:idk: He then went on to ask why the EcoTrust economic study stopped at the dock and how are the Commissioners supposed to make decisions without all the information.:idk:

Dan Richards asked what the financial upside was going to be. He wanted to know how the percentages related to fishing effort translated into dollars. He also asked what the impact would be on people, “Is someone going to lose their job?” After not getting satisfactory answers to his questions Richards echoed Commissioner Suttons remark about making decisions with limited data.

Commissioners Sutton, Richards, and Rogers voiced their frustrations that these important questions were not answered because they “were not part of the (MLPA) scope” or “we can’t predict business practices.” Sutton said, “We don’t have half the information needed to make an intelligent decision.”:idk: MLPA project manager Mellissa Miller-Henson agreed saying, “You don’t have one quarter of the information you need.”:idk:

During the public comment period it was announced that the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans filed another lawsuit against the DFG Commission over violations of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act saying that private meetings with an agenda were held without public notice. They also charged that public MLPA meetings were rehearsed by MLPA staff beforehand. This visibly upset some of the Commissioners MEN STUMBLE OVER THE TRUTH FROM TIME TO TIME BUT MOST PICK THEMSELVES UP AND HURRY OFF AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED. Winston Churchill


Not only did they charge that the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act was violated, Commissioner Richards seems to agree that they were as well.

 
Court decision requires MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to repay angling groups all legal fees in Public Records case
Tuesday, 29 March 2011:D:D:D:D:D:D:D


A March 10, 2011 California Superior Court ruling has ordered the Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) and Master Plan Team (MPT) to pay 100-percent of the legal fees incurred by recreational angling groups in a 2010 lawsuit to enforce BRTF's and MPT's obligations under California’s Public Records Act to produce important information about their actions in adopting marine protected areas in the ocean waters off the California coast.
In that case, the court found in favor of Robert C. Fletcher, former president of the Sportfishing Association of California, a member of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans, ordering the provision of information regarding the activities and decisions of the BRTF and the Marine Life Protection Act Master Plan Team. That ruling confirmed that these were public agencies and therefore required to carry on their business in an open and transparent way.

“This is a significant monetary award on our behalf, but it represents only a small portion of what we’ve invested in battling the unlawful MLPA process so far,” said David Elm, Chairman of United Anglers of Southern California and director of the Ocean Access Protection Fund. “Even more important than the financial ramifications of this decision is the signal that it sends. The court has now decided in our favor twice, :rofl3:based on the merits of our original case against the BRTF and MPT,” added Elm.
Elm was quick to remind anglers that this in no way should slow the pace of contributions to the Ocean Access Protection Fund, the non-profit organization established to finance legal action, on behalf of recreational fishermen, challenging the Fish and Game Commission's decisions under the MLPA. In fact, he suggested, it should do the opposite.
“This latest court decision has given both encouragement and additional resources to our efforts,” said Elm. “But we have a long way to go, and continued success will only be possible with ongoing support from anglers across California. We will continue our aggressive awareness and fundraising campaigns, allowing us to keep up our ‘full court press’ on the flawed MLPA process.”

Following the successful Public Records Act suit, on January 27, 2011, United Anglers of Southern California, Coastside Fishing Club and Robert Fletcher filed a lawsuit in the San Diego County Superior Court seeking to set aside the MLPA regulations for the North Central and South Coast study regions. This currently pending lawsuit cites a lack of statutory authority for the Fish and Game Commission to adopt the regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in the commission's environmental review of the regulations.
This is great news the SCUM is starting to rise to the top ! Now lets hope they start talking to the people who know the truth.
 
I guess I know one dive boat I won't be diving from...
 
We have a bunch here on the Sonoma coast and North, along with a bunch around Monterey. They do not stop fishing at all. It gives the scientists a nice place to run base fish counts off of. There are thousands of places a fisherman can go to enjoy fishing.
This is simply not true. The goal of the MLPAs, at least from Santa Barbara on north, has been to reduce rockfishing, which is habitat-localized, unlike pelagic species like salmon . The DF&G website has maps that show the hard bottom habitat for the Central and North Central regions (Santa Barbara to Pt. Arena - they may also be there for the other regions, I haven't looked) - if you look at the resulting SMAs (no fishing zones, everything else allowed) and SMCAs (no rockfishing, some salmon fishing, everything else allowed), you can see that with exception of one or two 'bones' thrown to the fishermen in the handful of most heavily accessed areas, ALL the prime hardbottom habitat was put off limits. Fishing access for rockfish has been profoundly restricted, and made more dangerous from every port.
. There are groups out there like Reef Check that are bringing scientific data to the plate that is unbiased and over many years will show the true trends of our ecosystems underwater.
This is an appealing thought, but fantasy. No scrape-the-surface survey is remotely unbiased, and the idea that 'true' trends will be revealed by this approach, or that closing off half the rockfish habitat to fishing is somehow a pre-requisite for good analysis of the fisheries is without foundation.
They need to be supported by all sides, and the results should be used by all sides to find a sustainable future for all species.
I think all will agree to this. From what I see, the record shows the job was being more than adequately done before the rogue MLPA effort was implemented. NOAA and many fisheries scientists seem to say so.
I don't care if someone spear fishes, as long as they are not taking species that are rare. Heck take all the Blue's, within reason, you want out of our local waters. Now Vermillion are a different story as they are not common at all.
More FUD - there are no open seasons for any rare fish. There are many common fish (canary, yelloweye) for which there are also no open season. Vermillion are quite a common fish, not at all like blues, but still common enough. Rockfish season just opened south of Pigeon Point. For many of the boats reporting, vermillion was the fish they caught the most of.
The pollution issue is one of the largest issues the earth is facing and unless we get together as an entire society will help lead to the human races demise. Unfortunately I do not see it happening soon enough. Who here is willing to quite using plastic bags, and cut their fossil fuel use by 60% this year? FWIW I did so a few years ago. Since no one is willing to make the changes on their own regulations must be put in place to force the changes.
The MLPA act was a political spawn - it wasn't requested by fisheries managers, there wasn't any data to say it was needed - it didn't even ask about that - and none of it was integrated into existing fisheries management... the same management that had already made the California fisheries the least-exploited in the world, according to a recently published peer-reviewed study by academic fisheries scientists. The MLPA act was intended to set up a limited exercise in adaptive management, to learn about MPAs. Instead, with the influence of private money and back-room corruption, it was implemented at large scale as a wholesale permananent ban on fishing, with no ability and scant indication of intention to fulfill the actual mandates of the Act. They're being sued for that, or will be.

You can be happy that the process has resulted in the kind of MPAs we now have, many are. No doubt, conditions will change within those areas (what happens outside them remains to be seen). This was ideologically driven - you can't claim that there was a compelling reason for them. With scant, highly localized exception, they don't solve anything that was actually a problem over the vast majority of the waters they encompass. In return for that emotional and symbolic victory, the traditional pastime and livelihood of many innocent and only modestly privileged people has been impaired. The commercial fishermen will still get their fish - this wasn't so much their kind of fishing, the party boats will still get their fish - at lower profit but they can go the extra mile, some of the rec guys with the bigger, faster boats will still see to it that they get their fish, spending more and burning more fuel - it's the retired guy whose boat isn't fit to travel 20 miles, and the young guy with kids who doesn't have the budget for the boat and distance and additional trips, who have been most impaired.

Rant off.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom