Hot off the press! The environmentalist are taking off strong on the first day of the year as they have secured the coastline from these awful recreational and commercial fishermen that are “destroying the coastline.”
Three of five regions in California are closed to any fishing for perpetuity (forever)! 1,100 miles of coastline, mostly in southern California!
No other stated reason than they want to protect the “underwater parks” and to restock the fish supply! That was it! Based on what? Wasted false and inaccurate scientific data?
What if they just decide to do this anywhere? Let’s say Bradley County! No fishing in the lakes! Starting tomorrow! Think anybody would care? I can tell you by past examples of federal intrusion into our lives our elected officials will not say a word, because they fear they will fall out of favor with the givers of grant money! During the last love fest over the Chattanooga Regional Growth Plan, they cut off anything that may dangle from their mid section!
Why do we allow this? I gaurantee you we are not to far off from the day when we will not be able to fish our waterways! The EPA is all over us now! It is just a matter of time and when they do!
When that day comes and it will, and it makes you really mad, make four phone calls immediately when you have to hang up the pole and tackle! First call me and say “you said it was coming, just because my childish ego wants you to know I knew! Second call should be to your mayors x 2 and the elected councils and commissions and say “why did you remain silent and complicit?” , third call to our State Representatives Kevin Brooks, Eric Watson and Mike Bell and say “why didn’t you stop this while it was still in it’s infancy and was that little bit of grant money worth our freedom!”, fourth call to your momma, cause you are going to need a shoulder to cry on!
Limits on coastal fishing take effect
COUNTY: Waters off Peninsula are among newly protected areas.
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/01/2012 01:00:00 AM PST
Updated: 01/01/2012 09:56:59 AM PST
Part of Point Dume off Malibu, where a canyon and kelp reef provide a fish nursery, will be protected under a new law. (Michael Owen Baker / Staff Photographer)
Starting today, fishing will be halted or limited in some 15 percent of Southern California’s most bountiful ocean waters under a new landmark environmental protection initiative.
From Point Conception in Santa Barbara County south to the Mexico border, more than 350 square miles of open sea will become state marine protected areas. These underwater parks, the result of a long-running planning process that often pitted fishermen against environmentalists in a passionate tug-of-war, are meant to protect crucial marine habitat and boost fish stocks.
Los Angeles County will see two marine protected areas on the edges of Santa Monica Bay: off Point Vicente and Abalone Cove on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and off Point Dume in Malibu.
“It’s hugely important,” said Sarah Sikich, coastal resources director with the environmental advocacy group Heal the Bay. “We’re very excited that the MPAs that have been worked on so deeply over the past several years in Southern California are finally taking effect.”
But most fishermen aren’t so excited.
Joel Greenberg, chairman of the Southern California chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, said there’s broad reaction among recreational and commercial fishermen to the new MPAs.
“There’s everything from `Oh, my bacon didn’t get fried’ to real misery because their best fishing grounds appear to be closed for perpetuity,” Greenberg said.
A longtime fisherman, Greenberg maintains that despite dozens of public meetings, the process in the end was “top down” – meaning the closures were imposed by state officials despite the outcry of many fishermen.
Sikich and Greenberg were among 60-plus stakeholders who began meeting in 2008 to debate, draw and redraw boundaries of proposed closure areas as part of the implementation of a 1999 law called the Marine Life Protection Act. Meetings of a committee overseeing the process sometimes drew more than 1,000 attendees.
In December 2010, the state Fish and Game Commission approved boundaries for MPAs in the South Coast region, the third of five regions along the state’s 1,100-mile coastline to undergo the process. Densely populated and heavily used, the Southern California coast proved especially contentious.
The final decision, approved on a split vote and billed as a compromise between fishing and environmental groups, left some unsatisfied. Overall, 37 new protected areas were established, extending to the edge of state waters, 3 miles from the coastline.
Battles were intense over Rocky Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a prime fishing spot that has some of the most pristine habitat in Southern California, and over Point Dume, where a submarine canyon and kelp reef provide a fish nursery and rich waters for anglers.
Ultimately, Rocky Point was left open while a less productive area off the Peninsula will be protected.
About 15 square miles off Point Vicente will be closed to fishing; an adjacent 5 square-mile conservation area at Abalone Cove will allow some spearfishing and take of squid, as well as some commercial fishing.
Greenberg questioned whether the state would create a “poacher’s haven” by creating additional responsibilities for fish and wildlife wardens without providing new funding and resources.
Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fish and Game, said there are 75 wildlife officers in Southern California, along with three large patrol boats and fleet of skiffs. Patrols are deployed to best protect state resources, she said.
Beginning today, enforcement is at the discretion of wardens and can range from a warning to arrest, depending on the situation, she said. Fishermen, she said, are generally “self-regulating.”
Witnesses to poaching or polluting are encouraged to call the department’s confidential tip line at 888-DFG-CALTIP.
“We’ve done our best with outreach,” Traverso said. “I’m sure that there will be different challenges. I don’t think we have any expectations of things that can’t be overcome through education.”
Funding for wildlife enforcement in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 budget will be unveiled in coming weeks.
Bradley County News Network 