top
North Coast
North Coast
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Don Koch Appoints North Coast 'Science' Panel for Corrupt MLPA Process

by Dan Bacher
As one of his last actions before resigning as Fish and Game Director on November 1, Donald Koch announced on October 27 the appointment of a panel of science advisors to assist in "redesigning marine protected areas" along the northern California coast under the corrupt MLPA process.
donkoch_1.jpg
Don Koch Appoints North Coast 'Science' Panel for Corrupt MLPA Process

by Dan Bacher

Donald Koch, California Department of Fish and Game Director, announced on October 27 the appointment of a panel of science advisors to assist in "redesigning marine protected areas" along the northern California coast. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Master Plan Science Advisory Team (SAT) will provide "scientific support" for the MLPA Initiative, apparently just like the Bechtel-funded Delta report issued by the Public Policy Institute of California provided the "scientific" justification for the peripheral canal.

"The scientists I have appointed to the advisory team are each uniquely qualified for this important task," Koch gushed. "Their experience and expertise in marine resources conservation make them well suited to provide accurate, insightful advice and will help ensure that all decisions made in the coming months will be firmly rooted in the best available science."

Koch made the announcement prior to resigning from his position as Director on November 1. Koch had earned the reputation for being a "yes man" to whatever Governor was in power, having presided over massive fish kills on the Scott and Shasta rivers in 2001 when he was a regional director under the Davis administration.

Most recently, Koch approved a plan by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) to issue a blanket permit for agricultural practices that kill salmon or destroy habitat in the Shasta and Scott, two of the Klamath’s key salmon spawning tributaries. A coalition of tribes, conservationists, and commercial fishing groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court to block Koch's precedent-setting proposal to strip endangered species protections from threatened coho salmon in northern California’s Klamath River watershed.

“These proposed permits are essentially licenses to kill salmon,” said Erica Terence of Klamath Riverkeeper, lead plaintiff on the case. “With conditions deteriorating for fish every year on the Scott and Shasta, CDFG should be proposing programs that expand protections for fish, not destroy them as these watershed-wide permits would do.”

The MLPA process takes place in the larger context of Schwarzenegger's war against endangered salmon and steelhead populations in the Scott and Shasta rivers and his campaign to build a peripheral canal and more dams to increase water exports from the California Delta. Rather than appointing a "science advisory team" to justify the corrupt MLPA process, Koch should have had the courage to ask for a suspension of the process, since the state of California does not have enough game wardens to patrol existing Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) on the Central Coast.

The California Fish and Game Wardens have asked for a suspension of the process, due to lack of funding for wardens. A broad coalition of North Coast environmentalists, fishermen, seaweed harvesters and Indian Tribes have also asked for a suspension of the initiative, a process rife with conflicts of interest, mission creep, racism and corruption of the democratic process.

Koch also should have shown some integrity by strongly opposing Schwarzenegger's support of the peripheral canal and more dams, a plan that will only exacerbate the collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, striped bass, green sturgeon and the southern resident population of killer whales.

Finally, he should have shown some integrity by standing up for endangered coho and chinook salmon on the Shasta and Scott rivers, rather than approving a license to kill by irrigators.

Rather than taking long needed actions that would actually help restore California's fish populations, Koch perpetuates the lie that the MLPA process is guided by "science" by appointing a panel that will give "scientific" cover to MLPA corporate greenwashing.

The first of the five study regions to be redesigned under the MLPA fiasco was the Central Coast. The California Fish and Game Commission adopted a final package of MPAs for this region in April 2007, in spite of strong opposition from fishermen, Indian tribal members and environmental justice advocates.

The next study region to be redesigned was the North-central Coast, for which regulations were adopted on August 5, 2009. In a grotesque parody of justice, the Kashia Tribe and other Indian Nations will be banned from the traditional areas off Stewarts Point in Sonoma County and Point Arena in Mendocino County where they have sustainably harvested seaweed, abalone and mussels for centuries. Recreational fishermen, seaweed harvesters, commercial fishermen and recreational divers, who have stood up against pollution, clearcutting forests and offshore oil drilling for decades, will also be removed from the ocean in key areas.

The South Coast is nearing the end of the process as the North Coast begins the process. The San Francisco Bay will be the last region to be studied.

In an classic example of egregious conflicts of interests under the Schwarzenegger administration, the Governor recently appointed Kathy Reheis-Boyd, the executive director of the Western States Petroleum Assocation, to be the chair of the South Coast Blue Ribbon Task Force. How can anybody claim that having an oil company lobbyist heading a so-called "marine protection" panel is anything but corporate greenwashing, especially when the oil companies are trying to install more oil drilling rigs off the northern and southern California coast?

Real environmentalists don't support Schwarzenegger's corrupt MLPA process, just like they don't support the peripheral canal, more dams and killing off endangered salmon on the Scott and Shasta rivers.


Below is the DFG press release:


NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 27, 2009

Contacts:
Annie Reisewitz, MLPA Initiative, 858-228-0526
Kirsten Macintyre, California Dept. of Fish and Game, 916-322-8988

Marine Life Protection Act Science Advisory Team Members Announced for North Coast

California Department of Fish and Game Director Donald Koch announced today a panel of science advisors to assist in redesigning marine protected areas along the northern California coast. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Master Plan Science Advisory Team (SAT) will provide scientific support for the MLPA Initiative.

"The scientists I have appointed to the advisory team are each uniquely qualified for this important task," Koch said. "Their experience and expertise in marine resources conservation make them well suited to provide accurate, insightful advice and will help ensure that all decisions made in the coming months will be firmly rooted in the best available science."

The appointed members of the SAT include:

- Larry Allen, California State University at Northridge, Department of Biology (Terminal Island)
- Eric Bjorkstedt, National Marine Fisheries Service (Trinidad)
- Mark Carr, University of California at Santa Cruz, Long Marine Lab (Santa Cruz)
- Chris Costello, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management (Santa Barbara)
- Kevin Fleming, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Natural Resources Division (Sacramento)
- Steve Gaines, Marine Science Institute (Santa Barbara)
- Dominic Gregorio, State Water Resources Control Board (Sacramento)
- Dawn Goley, Humboldt State University, Marine Mammal Education and Research Program (Arcata)
- David Hankin, Humboldt State University, Fisheries Biology Department (Arcata)
- John Largier, University of California at Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory (Bodega Bay)
- Ron LeValley, Mad River Biologists (Eureka)
- Phillip Levin, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries (Seattle, Washington)
- Steven Morgan, University of California at Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory (Bodega Bay)
- Steven Murray, California State University at Fullerton, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Fullerton)
- Karina Nielsen, Sonoma State University, Department Of Biology (Rohnert Park)
- Peter Raimondi, University of California at Santa Cruz, Long Marine Lab (Santa Cruz)
- Steven Rumrill, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (Charleston, Oregon)
- Astrid Scholz, Ecotrust, Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (Portland, Oregon)
- Craig Strong, Crescent Coastal Research (Crescent City)
- Stephen Wertz, California Department of Fish and Game (Los Alamitos)
- Will White, University of California at Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory (Bodega Bay)

Their first meeting will be on October 30 in Eureka. This will be a joint meeting of the North and South Coast SATs. More information and an agenda may be found at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/meetings_n.asp.

The MLPA, enacted into law in 1999, directs the state to reexamine and redesign California's system of marine protected areas (MPAs), which are discrete geographic marine or estuarine areas designed to protect or conserve marine life and habitat. The purpose of the Act is to protect the state's marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage, as well as to improve recreational, educational and research opportunities provided by marine ecosystems.

A regional approach is being used to implement the MLPA along the state's coastline, with the current efforts focusing on the north coast from the California/Oregon border to Alder Creek near Point Arena in Mendocino County. Though the California Fish and Game Commission is the ultimate decision-making authority for implementing the MLPA, the extensive stakeholder-driven planning process will include a region-specific Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), SAT and stakeholder group charged with providing information and recommendations to the Commission.

SAT members are charged with providing scientific advice to the regional stakeholder group regarding issues such as MPA placement and size and habitat considerations, and assist by reviewing draft documents and addressing scientific questions raised by the BRTF or the regional stakeholder group. The SAT members will also work closely with the stakeholder group to guide stakeholder development of draft MPA proposals.

The biologists, ecologists, oceanographers and economists who have been appointed to the North Coast SAT are scientists with specific expertise in marine life protection, the use of MPAs as a management tool, underwater ecosystems found in California waters, the biology and habitat requirements of major species groups in the states waters, and water quality and related issues. Their expertise is specific to the North Coast region.

The Commission will be asked to adopt MPAs in each study region along California's coast. Recommendations for the current Northern Study Region will be developed between now and late 2010, when the BRTF is expected to make a final recommendation on the North Coast MPA proposals.

The first of the five study regions to be redesigned was the Central Coast; the California Fish and Game Commission adopted a final package of MPAs for this region in April 2007. The next study region to be redesigned was the North-central Coast, for which regulations were adopted on August 5, 2009. The South Coast is nearing the end of the process as the North Coast begins the process. The San Francisco Bay will be the last region to be studied.

###
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Tomas DiFiore
Tue, Nov 10, 2009 12:45AM
vespa
Thu, Nov 5, 2009 3:08PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network