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California Assembly Speaker Perez Backs Marine Life Protection Act
Urges adoption of "strongest possible network of marine protected areas”
In a major boost for coastal business owners and ocean protection advocates, California Assembly Speaker John Perez today called on the California Fish and Game Commission to adopt "the strongest possible network of marine protect areas based on science" along California's southern Coast.
In a letter to the commission, Perez noted that fisheries are in decline, and that marine protected areas will "ensure that fisheries can recover and be healthy for generations to come."
Said the Speaker: "...You have a historic opportunity to create a legacy for southern California's oceans and generations to come ... Please adopt the protections most likely to provide lasting benefits for all Californians by choosing the strongest possible option of Marine Protected Areas in southern California."
The Fish and Game Commission is expected to finalize plans for southern California’s new marine protected areas in November. The Marine Life Protection Act is being implemented regionally, with local divers, fishermen, conservationists and business leaders developing marine protected area proposals for review by science and policy experts. Each plan undergoes a thorough scientific and economic review to ensure it maximizes environmental benefits and minimizes short-term costs.
In southern California, policy experts have recommended that the Fish and Game Commission adopt a compromise plan that protects iconic coastal areas like south La Jolla, Point Dume and Naples Reef while leaving nearly 90% of the coastline open for fishing.
A strong marine protected area plan will help rebuild California’s struggling fishing industry (statewide revenues are down 50% since 1990 ). It will also boost tourism and recreation, which drive 75% of ocean-related jobs, and account for 90% of coastal visits in the Los Angeles area.
For more information, visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa or http://www.caloceans.org.
In a letter to the commission, Perez noted that fisheries are in decline, and that marine protected areas will "ensure that fisheries can recover and be healthy for generations to come."
Said the Speaker: "...You have a historic opportunity to create a legacy for southern California's oceans and generations to come ... Please adopt the protections most likely to provide lasting benefits for all Californians by choosing the strongest possible option of Marine Protected Areas in southern California."
The Fish and Game Commission is expected to finalize plans for southern California’s new marine protected areas in November. The Marine Life Protection Act is being implemented regionally, with local divers, fishermen, conservationists and business leaders developing marine protected area proposals for review by science and policy experts. Each plan undergoes a thorough scientific and economic review to ensure it maximizes environmental benefits and minimizes short-term costs.
In southern California, policy experts have recommended that the Fish and Game Commission adopt a compromise plan that protects iconic coastal areas like south La Jolla, Point Dume and Naples Reef while leaving nearly 90% of the coastline open for fishing.
A strong marine protected area plan will help rebuild California’s struggling fishing industry (statewide revenues are down 50% since 1990 ). It will also boost tourism and recreation, which drive 75% of ocean-related jobs, and account for 90% of coastal visits in the Los Angeles area.
For more information, visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa or http://www.caloceans.org.
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This does nothing but kill the 18.9 Million dollars brought to the beach by fishermen, there has been ZERO peer reviewed science given to back any of the MLPA push. This is another example of extreme environmentalist who twist the facts and take away what is an American right.
Santa Cruz Island is 76% off limits and now more of the coast, ruled by the liberal elite. I used to be a Dem - will vote for every GOP person I can find from now on!
Santa Cruz Island is 76% off limits and now more of the coast, ruled by the liberal elite. I used to be a Dem - will vote for every GOP person I can find from now on!
I have repeatedly challenged MLPA proponents to answer the following questions that cut to the core of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrupt MLPA process. None have responded to the specific questions, but only continue to repeat their unsubstantiated claims that the Initiative is "open, transparent and inclusive" and that anybody who criticizes the initiative is an opponent of "ocean protection." Here are the questions:
Why did the Governor and MLPA officials install an oil industry lobbyist, a marina developer, a real estate executive and other corporate interests as "marine guardians" to remove Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters from the water? Isn't this very bad public policy?
Why is Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, allowed to make decisions as the chair of the BRTF for the South Coast and as a member of the BRTF for the North Coast, panels that are supposedly designed to "protect" the ocean, when she has called for new oil drilling off the California coast? Do we want to see oil rigs off Point Arena, Fort Bragg and other areas of some of the most beautiful coastline of North America?
Why is a private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, being allowed to privatize ocean resource management in California through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DFG?
Why do the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) and Science Advisory Team continue to violate the California Public Records Act by refusing to respond to numerous requests by Bob Fletcher, former DFG Deputy Director, for key documents and records pertaining to the MLPA implementation process?
Why do MLPA staff and the California Fish and Game Commission refuse to hear the pleas of the representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, who oppose the creation of any new MPAs until they have enough funding for wardens to patrol existing reserves?
Why did MLPA staff until recently violate the Bagley-Keene Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by banning video and audio coverage of the initiative's work sessions?
Why has the Initiative shown no respect for tribal subsistence and ceremonial rights? This is an overt violation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Why are there no Tribal scientists on the MLPA Science Advisory Team and why were there no Tribal representatives on the Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast or South Coast MLPA Study Regions?
Why does the initiative discard the results of any scientists who disagree with the MLPA's pre-ordained conclusions? These include the peer reviewed study by Dr. Ray Hilbert, Dr. Boris Worm and 18 other scientists, featured in Science magazine in July 2009, that concluded that the California current had the lowest rate of fishery exploitation of any place studied on the planet.
Why does the MLPA Initiative refuse to acknowledge California Indian Tribes as sovereign nations?
Finally, why did 300 Tribal members, fishermen, immigrant workers and environmentalists on July 21 feel so left out of the MLPA process that they had to organize a march and direct action to take over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg so their voices would be finally heard?
I will keep asking these questions of MLPA officials, corporate "environmental" NGO representatives and political hacks everywhere I can until I get some answers!
I’ll leave you with a quote from Frankie Joe Myers, a Yurok Tribal citizen and organizer of the Coastal Justice Coalition:
“This is about more than a fouled-up process that attempts to prohibit tribes from doing something they have done sustainably for thousands of years. It is about respect, acknowledgement and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights.”
For more information about the Coastal Justice Coalition's battle against the MLPA's institutional racism and violation of Tribal rights, go to: http://www.klamathjustice.blogspot.com.
Why did the Governor and MLPA officials install an oil industry lobbyist, a marina developer, a real estate executive and other corporate interests as "marine guardians" to remove Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters from the water? Isn't this very bad public policy?
Why is Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, allowed to make decisions as the chair of the BRTF for the South Coast and as a member of the BRTF for the North Coast, panels that are supposedly designed to "protect" the ocean, when she has called for new oil drilling off the California coast? Do we want to see oil rigs off Point Arena, Fort Bragg and other areas of some of the most beautiful coastline of North America?
Why is a private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, being allowed to privatize ocean resource management in California through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DFG?
Why do the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) and Science Advisory Team continue to violate the California Public Records Act by refusing to respond to numerous requests by Bob Fletcher, former DFG Deputy Director, for key documents and records pertaining to the MLPA implementation process?
Why do MLPA staff and the California Fish and Game Commission refuse to hear the pleas of the representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, who oppose the creation of any new MPAs until they have enough funding for wardens to patrol existing reserves?
Why did MLPA staff until recently violate the Bagley-Keene Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by banning video and audio coverage of the initiative's work sessions?
Why has the Initiative shown no respect for tribal subsistence and ceremonial rights? This is an overt violation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Why are there no Tribal scientists on the MLPA Science Advisory Team and why were there no Tribal representatives on the Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast or South Coast MLPA Study Regions?
Why does the initiative discard the results of any scientists who disagree with the MLPA's pre-ordained conclusions? These include the peer reviewed study by Dr. Ray Hilbert, Dr. Boris Worm and 18 other scientists, featured in Science magazine in July 2009, that concluded that the California current had the lowest rate of fishery exploitation of any place studied on the planet.
Why does the MLPA Initiative refuse to acknowledge California Indian Tribes as sovereign nations?
Finally, why did 300 Tribal members, fishermen, immigrant workers and environmentalists on July 21 feel so left out of the MLPA process that they had to organize a march and direct action to take over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg so their voices would be finally heard?
I will keep asking these questions of MLPA officials, corporate "environmental" NGO representatives and political hacks everywhere I can until I get some answers!
I’ll leave you with a quote from Frankie Joe Myers, a Yurok Tribal citizen and organizer of the Coastal Justice Coalition:
“This is about more than a fouled-up process that attempts to prohibit tribes from doing something they have done sustainably for thousands of years. It is about respect, acknowledgement and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights.”
For more information about the Coastal Justice Coalition's battle against the MLPA's institutional racism and violation of Tribal rights, go to: http://www.klamathjustice.blogspot.com.
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