Harbor District forms committee for ocean conservation planning

The Harbor District should pay attention to the Marine Life Protection Act - the law will affect how and where folks can fish along the north coast. If done right, marine protected areas can help restore the ocean. And local folks need to be at the table to make sure it does get done right. Other countries are are way ahead of us on this - including countires that rely heavliy on their fisheries for tourism and food. Marine protected areas have been shown to work all over the world. Its just common sense that some areas - like nursery grounds should be set aside. Lets make a marine protected areas plan that works for us on the north coast.

Could this be the same fisheries biologist who, when gazing upon a local river, declared the River devoid of all salmon. That was just before just a run of coho went splashing upstream right past his feet.

Patrick Higgins couldn't find his way back to the Harbor if his boat was tied to the dock.

if mr higgins assertion that Schwarzenegger appointed blue ribbon panel members are preserving too much fishing ground because they are all industry hacks sounds incredulous? It is because it is incredulous. His statements belie an agenda to pack the norhtcoast panel with preservation interests (read his associates) to drive the process.

check the experience of the members at

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/brtf_bios_phase1.a...

do not be fooled by his blatant misrepresentation of the panel. Once more fat piggins proves that politics come before science.

Thank you again Pat!!!Nice to know some local reps are doing their homework!!

I've watched the local catches become younger and younger. No more 60 pound Anaplapoma Fimbria! Before the big ones disappeared, they were often full of parasites and tumors, thus, your point about pollution is well taken. But, how do we get that cat back in the bag?

Unless we can get the science right, I would rather err on the side of protection and conservation.

This is off point, but since the fiasco of hiring/firing a marketing person for the District I've been wondering - what the hell does David Hull do to justify the expense of his position? Why couldn't he do some marketing? In my opinion, this guy is the posterchild for an ineffective bureaucrat. He can talk all day and say nothing.

KnowItAll wrote:

This is off point, but since the fiasco of hiring/firing a marketing person for the District I've been wondering - what the hell does David Hull do to justify the expense of his position? Why couldn't he do some marketing? In my opinion, this guy is the posterchild for an ineffective bureaucrat. He can talk all day and say nothing.

The commission majority and its appointees are still right-wing. They will protect their own government waste as long as possible.

The local anglers concerns are the virtual loss of the majority of accessible rock fishing here on the North Coast through the implementation of a poorly thought out and mismanaged MLPA.

The MLPA is an attack on sustainable fisheries by those who want to convert the ocean to industrial uses like wave energy and oil development.

As an environmental activist and investigative journalist, I applaud your superb article. The corrupt MLPA process should be throughly investigated for conflicts of interest before it proceeds forward.

There is no doubt that Schwarzenegger's fast-track MLPA process is an egregious example of corporate greenwashing where the most vocal defenders of fish and the environment - sustainable recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed harvesters - are kicked off the water to pave the way for offshore oil drilling, wave energy projects and corporate aquaculture.

The fast track MPLA process is being pushed by the same "Green Governor" who has presided over the collapse of Central Valley Chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, striped bass, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other California Delta fish populations. Schwarzenegger and his henchman helped to engineer the unprecedented collapse of these fish species by increasing Delta water exports in recent years, while allowing corporate agriculture to continue to pollute our public trust waterways.

I find it ironic that with one or two exceptions (NRDC in particular), the same corporate-funded NGOs that are pushing the MLPA process are doing little or nothing to stop the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon and Bay-Delta fish populations. North Coast and Oregon salmon fisheries are heavily dependent on a healthy Bay-Delta Estuary, as are California's herring, anchovy, Dungeness crab and halibut fisheries. I find it disgusting that many of the same "environmentalists" who show en masse at Fish and Game Commission and MLPA meetings to push for the more restrictive MLPA packages refuse to take the Governor and his staff to task for the administration's role in this unprecedented fish disaster.

What good will it be to close more fishing areas on the North Coast when the rockfish season is already limited now to a 3 to 4 month season, the continental shelf is completely closed to groundfish anglers and salmon season is closed for the second year in a row? How will imposing more MPAs help restore collapsing salmon and other fisheries when the cause of the decline is not overfishing, but massive water exports, decades of cut and run logging and declining water quality?

Again, the fast-track, corrupt MLPA process is nothing other than corporate greenwashing by the worst Governor for fish and the environment in California history and I'm appalled that some "environmental" NGOs are collaborating with the Governor in kicking recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed harvesters off the water. This is the same Governor that is pushing for a peripheral canal and more dams, a move that is expected to pound the final nail in the coffin of Central Valley salmon and California Delta fish populations.

However, when it comes to the peripheral canal and more dams, many of the national "environmental" NGOs are either on the fence, praising the Governor for his "visionary" Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes that support a peripheral canal, or in the case of the Nature Conservancy, backing the canal outright.

FAIR POLITICAL PRACTICES COMMISSION OPENS INVESTIGATION OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER MIKE SUTTON

Sutton Violated Conflict of Interest Laws
FPPC Opens Formal Investigation
SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, May 19, 2009, the California Fair Political Practices Commission disclosed that the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (the “FPPC”) has opened a formal investigation into Fish and Game Commissioner George Michael Sutton. This action is in response to the sworn complaint against Sutton filed by the Central Coast Fisheries Conservation Coalition.
Sutton is charged with violating the Political Reform Act (PRA) of 1974 because of his conflicts of interest on votes on the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) while serving on the Fish and Game Commission.
"The CCFCC has more aggressive legal avenues to pursue if Commissioner Sutton does not resign," said CCFCC President Melvin de la Motte. "Such measures could result in civil money damages against Sutton, but we are hopeful that he will do the right thing for California."
Specifically, Sutton’s action in voting to approve the Draft Master Plan of the MLPA violated the PRA because it was reasonably foreseeable that the decision would have a material financial effect on his own income and on his employer and source of income, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation (Aquarium). As Vice President and founding director of the Aquarium’s Center For the Future of the Oceans, Sutton is paid a salary to influence policy and to support efforts to create a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in California and offshore waters, including fully protected marine reserves.
Had Sutton voted to amend the existing MPAs for the Central Coast (which are included in the Master Plan), he would have been voting to gut or weaken a system of MPAs in which, his employer exults, the Center for the Future of the Oceans, under his stewardship, played a “key role” in having adopted.
Sutton’s conflicts do not derive solely from the mere fact that he is a salaried employee of the Aquarium. He is in fact closely connected to many of the key players involved in the process of implementing the MLPA and these connections create conflicts under the Political Reform Act.
Sutton also violated the Fish and Game Commission’s own conflict code by failing to disclose as required by law his employment with the Aquarium.
Sutton’s participation in any Fish and Game Commission decision relating to MPAs or to the establishment of limitations on fishing is prohibited under the PRA and a cease and desist order must be issued restraining Sutton from participating in such decisions.

Part 2
Half Of The Fish Consumed Globally Is Now Raised On Farms; 'Aquaculture Is Set To Reach A Landmark' Underwatertimes.com News Service September 7, 2009

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php...

In the early 1990s, vegetarian fish farms began adding small amounts of fishmeal in their feed to increase yields. However, between 1995 and 2007, farmers actually reduced the share of fishmeal in carp diets by 50 percent and in tilapia diets by nearly two-thirds, according to the PNAS report. Nevertheless, in 2007, tilapia and carp farms together consumed more than 12 million metric tons of fishmeal more than 1.5 times the amount used by shrimp and salmon farms combined.

"Our assumption about farmed tilapia and carp being environmentally friendly turns out to be wrong in aggregate, because the sheer volume is driving up the demand." On the policy front, Naylor pointed to California's Sustainable Oceans Act and the proposed National Offshore Aquaculture Act, which call for reductions in the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds. "You won't prevent the collapse of anchoveta, sardine and other wild fisheries unless those fisheries are carefully regulated."

Fish oil is the main source of lipid in salmonid diet. Marine fish oils are, in general, excellent sources of long chain n-3 PUFA (EPA & DHA), fatty acids required by salmonid. Other types of oils and fats can be used in salmonid diets. Vegetable (canola, soya, safflower, etc.) oils and animal fats (tallow, lard, poultry fat) can also be used at certain levels in feeds without effect on growth performance and health of the fish.

http://fishnutrition.uoguelph.ca/feedint.html

Which opens the discussion of GMO canola and soya! See my article:
Fishing Down The Food Web to Reduction Fisheries:
The MLPA Initiative Entropy Coefficient

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/27/1...

Tomas DiFiore
Seaweed Rebellion North Coast MLPA Resources

http://www.astral-arts.com/resources.html