Community Digital Democracy Portal On The Albion River

Always appreciate having a good story as a lead in.
"Locals, Students, Navigate Choppy Seas of MLPAi"

http://www.topix.com/city/fort-bragg-ca/2009/12/locals-students-navigate-choppy-seas-of-mlpai

by Frank Hartzell 12/11/2009
Staff writer for the Fort Bragg Advocate News and Mendocino Beacon

http://www.topix.com/city/fort-bragg-ca

"Even the most critical of participants have become overwhelmed by both the huge amount of process data coming out and the lack of scientific data by which they must make decisions in very short order."

"One group that has separated itself from a process they don't trust are Albion residents, represented at the meeting by Mike Carpenter, who said their website is up at albionharbor.org."

Yes, please visit us at

http://albionharbor.org

We've tried to organize useful info and recently experiences on the Central Coast, North Central Coast, and the South Coast - see the easily accessible information and links to sources of data from both sides of the situation.

The story of Albion River Campgrounds and commercial dock, and the Albion Harbor Regional Alliance involvement in the Marine Life Protection Act initiative is too big to tell in Frank Hartzell's almost 40 articles on the MLPA initiative. Albion residents have been involved in the process officially for every iteration over the course of 10 years. Strong community ties and social networking capabilities have been the hallmark of Albion's involvement in any issue.

Current AHRA members have worked together wearing many hats under many slogans and organizations for many community projects, not just fishing - but included here are the California Fisheries Coalition, Recreational Fishing Alliance, Salmon Restoration Association and the North Coast Fishermen’s Association not to mention members holding commercial and or recreational fishing licenses in every open fishery.

This summer/fall heated up with the "Take A Stand" concert, also known as Mike Carpenter's Awareness Concert when over 500 people came to learn about the MLPA initiative and enjoy a Wild Food and Seafood Tasting Event. AHRA members were part of the Seaweed Stewardship Alliance and Kashia Tribe (Seaweed Rebellion) that halted the MLPAi process back in Oct 2008 for 4 months. Oh yes, watch the Oct 2nd 2008 video. Stewards Point and Point Arena Sea Lion Cove were eventually closed to Seaweed and Abalone gathering August 5th, 2009.

http://www.cal-span.org/cgi-bin/media.pl?folder=CFG

Members of AHRA are listed members of MOCA and some are RSG nominees. We have been before the Board of Supervisors along with MOCA and the CFC in November. We currently are receiving support and encouragement from Point Arena to Noyo from recreational, commercial, and subsistence sectors including tour operators. We are all in this together. Since the beginning, that has been AHRAs' claim along with a goal to work with MOCA and groups in Humboldt and Del Norte, as stated by myself, Mike Carpenter, Terry Nieves. We get plenty of thank you kudos for our site, the many brochures throughout the summer, and our continuing efforts are gaining momentum.

Before MOCA had it's name, it's vision statement, it's funding apparatus, AHRA had direction and experience. It is a real pleasure to work with the many people in MOCA that I have known through the years. Bill Heil and Linda Perkins, Mayor Doug Hammerstrom and Linda Ruffing, new folks I have met like some of the fishers. It's a small community. We are lucky to have some astute process oriented people in the crowd like Dr Jeanine Pfeifer, and Jim Martin. Also many thanks are due Dave Wright who has great area connections, a mild disposition (useful as group facilitator), tech skills, and in the beginning was the first to invite the Mendocino Ocean Community Alliance to do outreach to local businesses with an educational daylong event.

Critics or not of the process, every fishing coalition, family angler, diver, coastal community and marina or harbor district maritime related businesses in the previous 3 "study regions" are already suffering economic impacts from recent implementation protocols. And everyone reluctantly, participated in being processed.

The only thing we at AHRA have separated ourselves from is the "green money". Yeah, those green collar jobs, backed by payroll science as policy, employing locals and closing cultural place based social structures and local food movements. Fishermen were some of the first against "offshore oil" attested to by an early "NO OIL" sticker found in David Gurney's archives.

We have been busy, we don't stop. Crabbers and Urchin divers are losing money every day they don't work to attend meetings of the external array working group, the MOCA meetings, the BRTF meetings, the SAT meetings, the DFG Commission meetings.

Just the Draft North Coast profile document is almost 170 pages. It must be read, adjusted by comments, corrected, and augmented by the RSG, SAT, BRTF, etc..., all a massive undertaking.

And then there are the Goals and Objectives of the Master Plan Framework. More data to be adjusted for the North Coast region. But the science isn't available. We been asking for it, along with Wes Chesbro for a year. This reality of the grounds for this complaint continues to overshadow the transparency of the process. Cause it ain't. We're just trying to survive it.

Just the process itself keeps fishers out of the water and ought to be considered as an "adaptive management tool and temporal MPA".

The Albion Flats Cafe at the Albion River Campground is our Community Digital Democracy Portal (CDDP) thanks to Bruce Campbell. Albion River Campground is the home of the "Take A Stand Concert".

http://www.albionrivercampground.com/index.html

Science Politics and Salmon: A YouTube Video from Salmon Water Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc5LC3HGWgE&fmt=18

Tomas DiFiore