A final decision on recommendations for fishing restrictions off the coast will not be made until the end of next year.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
The California Fish and Game Commission received an earful from stakeholders at last week’s hearing on the Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force’s proposal on Southern California fishing restrictions. The session lasted more than seven hours and concluded with the commission’s 3-1 vote to begin the environmental analysis of the task force’s recommendation. The South Coast Regional Stakeholder Group’s three proposals will be reviewed as alternatives to the task force’s recommendation. Fish and Game officials said three more meetings will take place on the matter and a final vote could take place by fall next year, but possibly as late as December 2010.
Locally, the task force’s proposal calls for a State Marine Reserve, or SMR, designation for the ocean from Malibu’s Westward Beach to just outside Paradise Cove. A SMR is a “no take zone” in which fishing of all kinds is prohibited. Recreational activities such as boating, swimming, diving or kayaking are allowed. Also, boats with caught fish onboard can pass through the area.
A less restrictive State Marine Conservation Area, or SMCA, has been proposed for the stretch of ocean from Westward Beach to Lechuza Beach. This allows for the recreational take of pelagic finfish, Pacific bonito and white sea bass. Commercial fishermen could take coastal pelagic finfish, market squid and swordfish.
The task force members during last week’s session, which took place at the Radisson Hotel LAX, explained to the commission why they decided on their recommendation, which takes into consideration the three stakeholder proposals. Most of the fishing advocates and environmentalists who spoke favored one of the three proposals, with many complaining that the task force’s version was either too restrictive or not restrictive enough.
“If we want a future with abundance, not scarcity, we need better fishery management and we need the oasis of productivity in Proposal 3,” said Karen Garrison, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, referring to the most restrictive of the stakeholder proposals. Proposal 1 is the least restrictive and Proposal 2 is the moderate version.
Malibu area resident Charles Volkens, who enjoys taking East Coast family members on kayak fishing adventures when they visit, spoke against the Point Dume portion of the task force proposal. “I won’t be able to take inexperienced kayakers to kayak fish anywhere in Malibu,” Volkens said. “That’s the closest thing we have there to a safe harbor.”
Greg Bennett, a spear fisherman, endorsed Proposal 2. He said the restrictions of the task force proposal were influenced by bad science. Bennett compared the situation to the recent e-mail scandal regarding climate change research.
“If you’ve read the Wall Street Journal the last two weeks … you know how politicized and bastardized science has become,” Bennett said. “But you don’t need a Wall Street Journal to see how biased the task force’s official science is. If you’ve been to [task force] meetings, you see these scientists, scientists on the agenda payroll, continue to weasel their way to a preordained outcome.”
Those advocating for restrictions say various marine life species have declined in recent years due to excess catching. Meanwhile, recreational and professional fishing advocates say restrictions will lead to job losses and raise the prices of seafood for customers. Both sides say the others are exaggerating their cases.
There were a handful of people outside the task force who advocated for the task force’s proposal. Roxy Carter, a staff member for the San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said it was the best option. “Although I believe that the conservation can afford to be strengthened a little bit more … I do support the [task force recommendation] because of the sustainability,” Carter said. “Our precious marine resources and ecosystem can be sustained by the conservation measures based in solid science. And the network itself is sustainable by taking various stakeholders’ opinions into consideration and guaranteeing community buy-in and compliance.”