Fishermen Converge on Dana Point for MLPA Rally October 18

Fishermen Converge on Dana Point for MLPA Rally October 18

by Dan Bacher

Anglers from throughout Southern California will converge on Dana Point Harbor in Orange County at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 18 for a rally of angler solidarity and a show of support for the plan put forth by Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Workgroup 2. This rally is part of a campaign to get anglers ready for the MLPA meeting in Long Beach on October 21.

“We’re not out here saying ‘no’ to conservation — we’re saying ‘YES’ to a plan that achieves the MLPA’s mandated conservation goals while minimizing the economic and social impact on Southern Californians,” said Steven Fukuto, president of United Anglers of Southern California (UASC). “This is a very important distinction, and one that shouldn’t be lost on anglers or the general public."

"Angler’s groups have been involved in this process from the start and have learned to accept that meeting the MLPA’s conservation goals means a certain level of sacrifice for fishermen," Fukuto explained. "Workgroup 2’s Plan is still going to hurt — but we can live with the fact that it offers the best level of conservation while striving not to severely restricting recreational angling."

Fukuto said Dana Wharf Sportfishing was chosen as the rally site because it, along with landings in nearby Newport Harbor, would be among the businesses most severely affected by proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Orange County component of Group 1 and Group 3’s plans. Dana Wharf Sportfishing’s and Newport Harbor’s 1/2- and 3/4-day boat fleet - the "bread and butter" of the landing’s business - would be shut out of many local areas. And the many families who embark daily on these easy, affordable fishing trips would be left high and dry.

“What would happen here is not exclusive to Orange County either,” warned Fukuto. “Under the most restrictive of these plans, similar situations would occur at landings and harbors across Southern California, with devastating economic results and loss of recreational opportunities. It also would impact private boaters and kayak anglers, forcing them to travel further and further from their launch sites, sometimes in rough conditions."

Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and a growing number of elected officials are showing support for Proposal 2, the MLPA alternative supported by UASC.

"I am writing to support Proposal 2 presented to you by the South Coast Regional Stakeholder Group in September, 2009," said Lieu in a letter to the South Coast Blue Ribbon Task Force, chaired by Cathy Reheis-Boyd, Executive Vice President of the Western States Petroleum Association. "I am very concerned that Proposals 1 and 3 will have immediate and devastating impacts to our community. More specifically, I request that the Blue Ribbon Task Force exclude the Rocky Point area of the Palos Verdes Peninsula from consideration for a Marine Life Protection Area for socioeconomic reasons."

In a protest by the California Fisheries Coalition on September 30, Southern California fishermen, kayakers and surfers picketed in front of the Hyatt Regency Plaza in Los Angeles during the Global Climate Summit to expose the environmental hypocrisy of "Green" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The protesters charged that Schwarzenegger is ignoring ocean pollution while at the same time pushing massive no fishing zones through his fast track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process.

“Governor Schwarzenegger is trying to build his legacy as a green governor while he simultaneously ignores all the ocean pollution plaguing California’s beaches and coastal waters,” said Wendy Tochihara, coordinator of the protest. “As anyone in Southern California who enjoys the ocean knows, poor water-quality and resulting beach closures are all too common, especially during the rainy season."

The North Coast Seaweed Rebellion Builds Momentum!

The upcoming rally and meeting in Southern California will take place at a time when North Coast environmentalists, fishermen, seaweed harvesters and Indian Tribes are charging that Governor Schwarzenegger's fast-track MLPA process is rife with mission creep, conflict of interest, racism and environmental elitism.

The California Fish and Game Commission in August voted to ban the Kashia Tribe and other North Coast Indian Nations from harvesting seaweed, abalone and mussels in their traditional areas off Stewarts Point and Point Arena on the North Central Coast as they have done for centuries. This process, presided over by an oil company lobbyist and other corporate interests, has no respect for the culture and rights of indigenous people, nor for the rights of sustainable recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed harvesters. The widely-criticized initiative, which aims to privatize public trust resources, is privately funded by the Resource Legacy Fund Foundation. The process has now moved from the North Central Coast to the North Coast and Southern California.

"I’m warning you and my fellow Californians that this Ecotrust study is the first justification for unconstitutional and unfounded permanent closures of ocean food-gathering areas sustaining coastal humanity since time immemorial," said John Lewallen, veteran North Coast environmental leader, seaweed harvester and strong opponent of MLPA greenwashing, in a letter to the Ecotrust Corporation that is now conducting a "socioeconomic study" of the North Coast for the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force. He accused Ecotrust of justifying "fisheries fascism" and "green genocide."

"These closures are 'green genocide,' threatening the complete extinction of several Native American traditional cultures that depend on ancient ocean food gathering sites for cultural survival," Lewallen said. "The Ecotrust study is blind to Northcoast tribal ocean harvest. Nor, I’m afraid, could my friends from the North Coast First Nations reduce the sacred and intimate relation they have with the natural environment to a cash value."

Lester Pinola, the past chairman of the Kashia Pomo Tribe, exposed the racism and environmental injustice that Schwarzenegger's fast-track MLPA initiative is based on when he addressed the Fish and Game Commission at their August meeting.

“What you are doing to us is taking the food out of our mouths,” said Pinola. “When the first settlers came to the coast, they didn’t how to feed themselves. Our people showed them how to eat out of the ocean. In my opinion, this was a big mistake.”

Jim Kellogg, Fish and Game Commission Member, the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, North Coast environmentalists, fishing groups and numerous others have called for a suspension of the $35 million per year process at time when the state doesn't have money to pay game wardens to enforce the existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the Central Coast. Of course, Schwarzenegger, who has been busy campaigning for the construction of the environmentally devastating peripheral canal while waging war on the federal government's court-ordered biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt, has rebuffed these requests.

I hope that Southern California anglers are able to rally enough people and momentum to stop Schwarzenegger's corrupt MLPA process from rolling over them like it did to the North Central Coast's Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed gatherers. But I fear that Schwarzenegger's hand picked task force will dismiss their proposals and concerns as they did in the North Central Coast MLPA fiasco.

For more information about the Dana Wharf rally and plans for public attendance at the Long Beach MLPA meeting, call the UASC office (562) 494-9900 or visit the organization’s website at http://www.unitedanglers.com.