Posted on 08/12/2006 7:29:43 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Federal officials released a proposal Friday to double the size of protected waters within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary — a plan they say will help restore sea life and have minimal effect on the local fishing industry.
The draft plan, written by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is the latest piece of a state and federal seven-year effort to preserve essential fish habitat circling the chain of islands. The protected areas of the Channel Islands make up the largest marine reserve network on the West Coast.
The new boundaries would add 141 square nautical miles to restricted areas established by the state three years ago.
If adopted, the new protected area would contain 232.5 square nautical miles of marine reserves where no fishing is allowed. Another 8.6 square nautical miles would be designated marine conservation areas, limited to lobster harvesting and hook-and-line fishing for pelagic species such as mackerel, sardines and anchovies. A nautical mile is slightly bigger than a mile.
"Research shows if you protect an area, species will become more abundant, larger, and the hope is that will increase their resilience," said Chris Mobley, sanctuary superintendent with NOAA. "So if there's an El Niño or a major oil spill, having a sanctuary kept in reserve would greatly benefit the species recovery."
Mobley emphasized the plan is only a draft. The public has two months to comment on it before NOAA, which oversees the sanctuary's management, considers it for approval. The process of drawing up the plan has taken seven years, during which time fishermen, scuba divers, ecologists and others were asked for their input as part of the sanctuary advisory board.
The federal expansion could cost commercial fishermen about $939,000 in annual income and 28 jobs in seven coastal counties from Monterey to San Diego, according to the draft environmental impact statement. That number is a fraction — less than 1 percent overall — of all catch hauled into port.
In Ventura County, the new restrictions would have the largest impact, costing commercial fishermen $632,678 in lost annual income and 19 jobs.
The biggest impact came three years ago, when the state imposed the initial reserve boundaries near the shores where most fishing occurs. Those restrictions cost commercial fishermen $8.5 million in lost yearly income and 246 jobs, according to NOAA's calculations.
Commercial fishermen had mixed reaction to the proposed expansion, saying the additional restrictions will further damage a business already struggling from increasing regulation. Several believe politics more than science is driving the fishing limits.
"I don't think you can remove politics from some of their decisions," said Jim Marshall, a former abalone fisherman now harvesting sea urchins. "There's certainly a political wind that's blowing" to establish marine reserves.
But Marshall said the results aren't in yet to prove that reserves have any benefit in an ocean under siege from a multitude of threats, including pollution and rising ocean temperatures.
California was the first state to establish marine reserves, in 1913. Since the enactment of the Marine Life Management Act in 1999, the effort has intensified.
Sean Hastings, resource protection coordinator for NOAA, said a monitoring program overseen by the National Parks Service was put in place three years ago when the first reserves were created. A five-year progress report will be released in 2008, to be followed by another in 2018.
"Good science takes time," Hastings said.
California plan creates vast network of no-fishing zones off coast
Contra Costa Times ^ | Aug. 12, 2006 | Paul Rogers
Posted on 08/12/2006 7:05:23 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Commercial fishing is already about dead in CA and this should kill in off totally.
bttt
ping
Congress DOES have to approve this doesn't it??
That is why we have a Congress, after all.
Dateline 2011: Governor Charlie Sheen today anounced the last of his green initiatives, declaring all of California's remaining 2.7 square miles of unprotected coastal waters, and all 75 square miles of California's unprotected land to be under separate protective conservencies.
"From this day forward, individual land ownership is a thing of the past. Greedy individuals will no longer be able to buy and sell property. All land ownership has been deeded to the state and private ownerships have been converted to leases."
And so it goes...
Lugar/Fecha: Sacramento 2011:Dateline 2011: El gobernador de California, Antonio Villaraigosa, hoy anunció el último de sus iniciativas verdes, declarando todas millas cuadradas restantes de California 2.7 de aguas costeras desprotegidas, y 75 millas cuadradas de la tierra desprotegida de California para estar debajo de conservencies protectores separados.
"De de este día …
Yep, you're probably on the right track there...
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