Sunday, 20 of May of 2012
Latest News About California Wetfish
Steve Scheiblauer, Monterey’s harbormaster, discusses environmental groups efforts to stop a lawsuit that aims to massively curtail sport and commercial fishing in California on KION 1460 AM in Monterey, CA.
Listen to the interview online.
“This is a great day for the California coast, which is far too precious a resource to be used as a dumping ground,” said Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). “This ‘No Discharge Zone’ – the largest in the nation – protects our coastal economy, our environment and our public health.”
Local beach off Crissy Field in San Francisco, CA. Courtesy of the U.S. EPA.
Written by Dan Bacher | Staff Writer
The federal government on February 9 approved a landmark California proposal banning the discharge of more than 22 million gallons of treated vessel sewage to shorelines and shallow marine waters in California every year, drawing praise from environmental and shipping industry groups alike.
U.S. EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld signed a rule that will finalize EPA’s decision and approve a state proposal to ban all sewage discharges from large cruise ships and most other large ocean-going ships to state marine waters along California’s 1,624 mile coast from Mexico to Oregon and surrounding major islands.
The action established a new federal regulation banning even treated sewage from being discharged in California’s marine waters.
“This is an important step to protect California’s coastline,” said Governor Jerry Brown. “I want to commend the shipping industry, environmental groups and U.S. EPA for working with California to craft a common sense approach to keeping our coastal waters clean.”
“By approving California’s ‘No Discharge Zone,’ EPA will prohibit more than 20 million gallons of vessel sewage from entering the state’s coastal waters,” said Jared Blumenfeld. “Not only will this rule help protect important marine species, it also benefits the fishing industry, marine habitats and the millions of residents and tourists who visit California beaches each year.”
This action strengthens protection of California’s coastal waters from the adverse effects of sewage discharges from a growing number of large vessels, according to an announcement from the the U.S. EPA.
Read the rest of the story on Alternet.
California spiny lobsters are the subject of a study by San Diego scientists and lobstermen to assess the impact of marine reserves on sealife. - Photo courtesy of California Sea Grant
Hotly contested fishing restrictions take effect across Southern California waters on Sunday, when stretches of ocean offshore of La Jolla, Point Loma and elsewhere will be closed to harvest.
New and expanded sanctuaries were designed to improve marine life and coastal ecosystems, but there’s sharp disagreement about how well they will work.
That debate has spurred a multimillion-dollar network of research projects designed to look across several species and types of habitats — an initiative that includes an unusual alliance between lobstermen and San Diego scientists.
Despite harvesters’ dislike of no-fishing rules, some of them are helping tag tens of thousands of lobsters in the expanded reserve system so their growth and movement patterns can be tracked.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to establish a good baseline,” said Rodger Healy, president of the California Lobster and Trap Fishermen’s Association, who is based in Dana Point. “It seems like it’s working. Hopefully, this is something that is going to be a template for the future.”
Like many other recreational and commercial fishermen, Healy distrusted the reserve-setting process, which started in Southern California three years ago and included several emotionally charged public meetings. Ocean “users” said the process was rigged against them, while conservation groups urged larger off-limits zones.
In the end, the state Fish and Game Commission adopted 52 marine protected areas and special closures that cover roughly 354 square miles of state waters. That’s about 15 percent of the nearshore region from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Efforts by some anglers to invalidate the process in court so far have failed, leaving lobstermen such as San Diego-based Shad Catarius to fret about their livelihoods. He figures he’ll lose a third of his income when traps are outlawed in customary harvest spots and open zones become more crowded.
“Instead of there being 100 traps in an area, you could have 200 or 300 traps,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of tempers out there.”
Read the rest of the story on the San Diego Union-Tribune.
August 26, 2011
by Dan Bacher
Governor Jerry Brown has appointed Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, 43, of Albany, as director of the California Department of Fish and Game
Bonham has served in multiple positions at Trout Unlimited, a national trout advocacy organization, since 2000, including California director and senior attorney, according to a August 26 news release from Governor Jerry Brown’s Office.
He was an instructor and trip leader for the Nantahala Outdoor Center from 1994 to 1997 and was a small business development agent for the United States Peace Corp in Senegal, West Africa from 1991 to 1993.
Bonham was not available for comment at press time, but representatives of recreational and commercial fishing groups praised his appointment by Brown.
“I think he’s a good choice,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA). “I hope that he’s able to resolve the funding issues that plague the Department of Fish and Game. How can you run a department when there is no money for research and enforcement?
Read the rest of the story here.
Trinidad Head PHOTO BY RYAN BURNS
BY RYAN BURNS
It’s been almost a dozen years since the California legislature approved the Marine Life Protection Act, a momentous piece of legislation designed to help coastal ecosystems rebound from decades of overfishing and ecological abuse. The Act was based on a model that’s proved effective elsewhere, including the oceans off New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef, where fishing is limited or prohibited inside designated marine reserves. Establishing such a network of Marine Protected Areas here in California has been slow and tumultuous as virtually every resident with a toe in the Pacific has lodged objections to the process or the outcome or both.
The latest attempt to unravel the work done so far came last week when a group of southern California fishermen filed suit against the state Fish and Game Commission. The anglers argue that the MLPA work completed in their region last year should be nullified because the process violated the California Environmental Quality Act. Tensions between commercial fishermen and environmentalists have accompanied nearly every step of the MLPA initiative.
Read the rest of the story here.
By Mike Lee
February 2, 2011
Ron Baker, a fishing boat captain out of Point Loma, is opposed to the state’s decision to expand marine protected areas: “It’s going to affect a lot of people, not just sportsfishermen.” Photo by K.C. Alfred
Making good on a pledge, angler advocacy groups have sued the California Fish and Game Commission in an attempt to invalidate a sweeping marine protection plan for Southern California that was adopted by the state in December and another set covering the north Central Coast.
United Anglers of Southern California, the Coastside Fishing Club and San Diego fishing activist Robert Fletcher filed the lawsuit late last week in San Diego Superior Court.
“We think that the process is flawed — they didn’t follow the regulations,” said John Riordan, treasurer for United Anglers. “It’s restricting access to recreational fishermen (and) ocean users.”
Read the rest of the story in the San Diego Union Tribune here.
The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) adopted regulations to create a new suite of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Southern California. At a Commission meeting in Santa Barbara today, the regulations were adopted as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which requires California to reexamine and redesign its system of MPAs with the goals to, among other things, increase the effectiveness of MPAs in protecting the state’s marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage.
Informed by recommendations generated through a two-year public planning process, the regulations will create 36 new MPAs encompassing approximately 187 square miles (8 percent) of state waters in the study region. Approximately 116 square miles (4.9 percent) have been designated as no-take state marine reserves (82.5 square miles/3.5 percent) and no-take state marine conservation areas (33.5 square miles/1.4 percent), with the remainder designated as state marine conservation areas with different take allowances and varying levels of protection. In addition to approving the MPA regulations, the Commission also certified the environmental impact report prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.
Read the rest of the news release here.
December 15, 2010
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — State wildlife regulators voted Wednesday to create a zone of protected areas off the Southern California coast where fishing and other activities will be restricted or banned.
The Fish and Game Commission listened to hours of public comment before approving the marine protected area along a 250-mile arc of coastline from the Mexican border to Santa Barbara County.
To comply with the state’s Marine Life Protection Act of 1999, California’s 1,100-mile coast was divided into five sections. Two protected areas were previously created in Northern and Central California. Southern California is the third area to undergo the process.
The establishment of such areas has been a particularly thorny issue in Southern California, where conservationists, fishermen and seaside business interests have collided.
The commission voted 3-2 in favor of the protected area. Supporters clapped when the vote was cast. Many had urged the panel to increase the size of the protected locations within the reserve.
The process appeared to have done little to quell opposition, even though the proposal has been in the works for two years and was aired at dozens of public hearings.
Fishing industry experts expressed concern about the survival of their industry. California Fisheries Coalition manager Vern Goehring and others predicted lawsuits.
“The public image or message that proponents are giving is this is a great thing protecting the ocean,” Goehring said. “But in reality, most people know if you regulate fishing — which is already regulated — it doesn’t do anything new about water quality, coastal development and other threats.”
Read the rest of the story here.
By Mike Lee
December 15, 2010
Underwater state parks will nearly double in size across Southern California under a lightning-rod plan
approved Wednesday by California’s Fish and Game Commission to boost ocean health.
The strategy is less aggressive than what many conservationists wanted, but they praised it as a
good start toward recovering numerous species, from lobster to sheephead. The biggest impacts will be
felt by fishermen who said they will be squeezed into less-fertile waters, creating economic losses
and crowding.
Read the rest of the story here.
Date: December 17, 2010
Categories: Breaking News, Uncategorized, View from the Ocean
By Joshua Molina Correspondent
December 15, 2010
Wearing droopy gray sweatpants and with a chewed up toothpick dangling from his mouth, 63-year-old Ace Carter sat on a folding chair in front of the Hotel Mar Monte proudly waving a protest sign — “Stop the enviro Nazis!”
A third-generation fisherman and licensed private detective, Carter arrived in front of the Santa Barbara hotel at 7 a.m. Wednesday to protest the California Fish and Game Commission’s vote on marine protected areas.
“There are plenty of fish,” Carter said. “This whole thing is a sham. It’s a done deal.”
About eight hours later, Carter’s fears came true.
In a historic vote, the Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 to approve a series of marine protected areas — essentially underwater parks designed to protect fish and block out fishermen.
The ocean, advocates say, has become polluted and the sheer numbers of fish have diminished because of overfishing. Critics of the plan say that the health of the ocean is fine and that creating protected areas only harms people who make a living off the sea.
The commission’s approval of the Integrated Preferred Alternative paves the way for the creation of more than four dozen marine protected areas over more than 300 miles, from Point Conception to Mexico along the Southern California coastline.
Read more here.
Date: December 17, 2010
Categories: Breaking News, Uncategorized, View from the Ocean