GeordyBass
10-22-2009, 09:18 PM
I got this out of an article off another site and this is what it said....
I'm sure meeting went very well yesterday(I hope!) so were still screwed by the Eco-Nuts and our government....:Angry:
Here's the quote kids:
Fishermen contest plans for Calif. ocean reserves
By JOHN ANTCZAK
Associated Press Writer
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- There's nothing pacific about the ocean off Southern
California these days.
A battle over how to establish marine reserves along the coast has roiled the
waters with the competing interests of environmentalists, fishermen and seaside
businesses.
The fight comes to a head Thursday when a panel is scheduled to recommend to
the California Fish and Game Commission one of three hotly debated plans for a
Marine Protected Area in the Southern California Bight.
Stretching from Point Conception northwest of Los Angeles to the Mexican
border, the 250-mile-long arc of alternately scenic and heavily urbanized coast
embraces islands and reefs in waters prized for fishing, recreation,
conservation and research.
Environmentalists put forward the most restrictive plan while the fishing
industry reluctantly backed a proposal it viewed as moderating economic
impacts. A third plan was considered middle-of-the-road.
Hundreds of people with a stake in the decision packed lengthy meetings leading
up to the decision, which is likely to be substantially affirmed when it goes
to the commission in December.
Some feared extensive bans on fishing with serious financial consequences for
commercial and sport fishing operators, harbor businesses and even tourism.
Environmentalists pushed for stringent protections to prevent the decline of
hard-pressed species and argued that the concept of Marine Protected Areas has
been successful elsewhere in the world, ultimately benefiting fishing.
Differences in the plans outwardly appeared small, but fishing industry
representatives said some locations are so significant that putting them off
limits would have a huge impact.
"What most people don't stop to think is that fish don't live and spread
themselves evenly in the ocean, they congregate in choice areas," said Vern
Goehring, manager of the California Fisheries Coalition, an association of 27
commercial and recreational fishing organizations.
The controversy stems from the state's 1999 Marine Life Protection Act, which
found that existing protected areas had been established on a piecemeal basis
and without sound scientific guidelines.
California's 1,100-mile coast was divided into five regions for re-evaluation
and new Marine Protected Areas have so far been established in two of them, the
central and north-central coasts.
For Southern California, three work groups created plans for a checkerboard of
locations in state waters _ three miles out but including islands _ to protect
marine life and habitat with a range of restrictions on use. Individual sites
will receive various types of designation such as state marine reserve or
marine conservation area.
The California Fisheries Coalition, which claims its members have a $5.5
billion impact on the state's economy, objected to the process as focusing too
much on fishing and not on other things that impact the ocean, such as coastal
development, water pollution and shipping.
"The way this process is being implemented the last five years is it only
considers one variable affecting the ocean, and that's fishing," Goehring said.
"What we've been arguing is that the enhanced protections or regulations need
to be allocated according to the degree of threat and the degree of impact," he
said.
Goehring said all the proposals would have huge direct impact on fishing
operators that would spread to shore-based businesses.
The coalition, however, backed one that sought "to make it so that no one fish,
no one fishery, no one community or no one business takes an overwhelming hit."
I'm sure meeting went very well yesterday(I hope!) so were still screwed by the Eco-Nuts and our government....:Angry:
Here's the quote kids:
Fishermen contest plans for Calif. ocean reserves
By JOHN ANTCZAK
Associated Press Writer
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- There's nothing pacific about the ocean off Southern
California these days.
A battle over how to establish marine reserves along the coast has roiled the
waters with the competing interests of environmentalists, fishermen and seaside
businesses.
The fight comes to a head Thursday when a panel is scheduled to recommend to
the California Fish and Game Commission one of three hotly debated plans for a
Marine Protected Area in the Southern California Bight.
Stretching from Point Conception northwest of Los Angeles to the Mexican
border, the 250-mile-long arc of alternately scenic and heavily urbanized coast
embraces islands and reefs in waters prized for fishing, recreation,
conservation and research.
Environmentalists put forward the most restrictive plan while the fishing
industry reluctantly backed a proposal it viewed as moderating economic
impacts. A third plan was considered middle-of-the-road.
Hundreds of people with a stake in the decision packed lengthy meetings leading
up to the decision, which is likely to be substantially affirmed when it goes
to the commission in December.
Some feared extensive bans on fishing with serious financial consequences for
commercial and sport fishing operators, harbor businesses and even tourism.
Environmentalists pushed for stringent protections to prevent the decline of
hard-pressed species and argued that the concept of Marine Protected Areas has
been successful elsewhere in the world, ultimately benefiting fishing.
Differences in the plans outwardly appeared small, but fishing industry
representatives said some locations are so significant that putting them off
limits would have a huge impact.
"What most people don't stop to think is that fish don't live and spread
themselves evenly in the ocean, they congregate in choice areas," said Vern
Goehring, manager of the California Fisheries Coalition, an association of 27
commercial and recreational fishing organizations.
The controversy stems from the state's 1999 Marine Life Protection Act, which
found that existing protected areas had been established on a piecemeal basis
and without sound scientific guidelines.
California's 1,100-mile coast was divided into five regions for re-evaluation
and new Marine Protected Areas have so far been established in two of them, the
central and north-central coasts.
For Southern California, three work groups created plans for a checkerboard of
locations in state waters _ three miles out but including islands _ to protect
marine life and habitat with a range of restrictions on use. Individual sites
will receive various types of designation such as state marine reserve or
marine conservation area.
The California Fisheries Coalition, which claims its members have a $5.5
billion impact on the state's economy, objected to the process as focusing too
much on fishing and not on other things that impact the ocean, such as coastal
development, water pollution and shipping.
"The way this process is being implemented the last five years is it only
considers one variable affecting the ocean, and that's fishing," Goehring said.
"What we've been arguing is that the enhanced protections or regulations need
to be allocated according to the degree of threat and the degree of impact," he
said.
Goehring said all the proposals would have huge direct impact on fishing
operators that would spread to shore-based businesses.
The coalition, however, backed one that sought "to make it so that no one fish,
no one fishery, no one community or no one business takes an overwhelming hit."