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Guide to new "marine protected areas" available online

by Dan Bacher
Unfortunately, the DFG failed to point out that the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative that created the South Coast "marine protected areas" is privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and backed by some of the worst corporate greenwashers on the planet, including the Western States Petroleum Association, Walmart and Safeway Stores.
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Guide to new "marine protected areas" available online

by Dan Bacher

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) on February 27 announced that its "Guide to Southern California Marine Protected Areas" is now available online at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/scmpas_list.asp#brochures .

"New and revised marine protected areas went into effect January 1, 2012 from Pt. Conception south to the California/Mexico border," the DFG proclaimed. "The Guide includes in-depth information about Southern California marine protected areas (MPAs), including:
- Individual maps and regulations for each MPA, and satellite imagery focusing on MPA borders
- Area maps of the Southern California coast MPAs and Channel Islands MPAs
- Frequently asked questions
- General rules that apply to all MPAs
- Common terms and definitions
- Marine Life Protection Act goals."

Unfortunately, the DFG failed to point out that the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative that created the South Coast "marine protected areas" is privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and backed by some of the worst corporate greenwashers on the planet, including the Western States Petroleum Association, Walmart and Safeway Stores.

In an overt case of corporate greenwashing, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association and a big advocate for new oil rigs off the California coast and the Keystone XL Pipeline, served as chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force that created the questionable “marine protected areas” that went into effect on the Southern California coast on January 1, 2012.

She also served on the task forces for the North Central Coast and North Coast. The Western States Petroleum Association represents California’s major refiners including BP Plc, Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Tesoro.

The so-called “marine protected areas” created under the corrupt MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, water pollution, wave and wind energy projects, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and all other human impacts upon the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

These “marine protected areas” are in reality “marine polluted areas,” due to the lack of aggressive water quality protections allowed under the Initiative, and “marine poaching areas,” due to the lack of enough DFG wardens to enforce the new fishing regulations along the California coast.

Just days before the DFG announcement, Ron LeValley, the co-chair of the Science Advisory Team for the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative on the North Coast, was arrested on a $1 million warrant accusing him of burglary, embezzlement and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The Del Norte County District Attorney alleges that LeValley and another biologist, Sean McAllister, participated in an elaborate embezzlement scheme headed by former Yurok Tribe Forestry Director Roland Raymond that bilked the tribe out of $900,000. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/02/26/arrest-of-mlpa-science-team-member-should-be-no-surprise)

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