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North Coast MLPA milestone: Protecting the ocean and traditional tribal gathering
The Marine Life Protection Act implementation process on California's north coast took a great step forward today when the Fish and Game Commission voted to support the community's unified marine protected area plan and allow traditional tribal gathering within protected areas.
At today’s Fish and Game Commission meeting, Resources Secretary Laird unveiled a plan to support both continued traditional tribal gathering and improved ocean protection via a system of marine protected areas on California’s north coast, earning the approval of tribal leaders, elected officials, and conservationists.
Everyone involved in the Marine Life Protection Act planning process on the north coast has been unanimous on the importance of respecting traditional tribal cultural practices. The unified community plan put forth by local stakeholders was designed to avoid favored gathering grounds (as well as local harbors, to minimize impacts on both tribes and fishing fleets), and was praised by Secretary Laird, tribal leaders, and representatives from Senator Evans and Assemblymember Chesbro’s offices.
Secretary Laird’s proposed approach to ensure continued tribal harvest built on the community plan, providing a way for the state to implement critically needed protections for iconic sites like south Cape Mendocino, Ten-Mile Beach, and Pyramid Point while preserving traditional cultural practices.
“Getting to this point has taken the sweat and work of many many groups, including the stakeholders, tribal representatives, Commission and Department staff, and others… Everyone has really put their best foot forward to bring us this close to a solution,” said Secretary Laird.
Hawk Rosales, Executive Director of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council said, “You have listened carefully to our concerns. Together we have achieved an extraordinary result. The approach we endorse today is result of an historic level of cooperation between the state and many California tribes. We will build on these strong relationships together so we can achieve our shared goals of protecting marine resources and while at the same time honoring traditionalways.”
“We second Secretary Laird’s comments about the need to look at the science, keep building trust, and keep the momentum going,” said Karen Garrison of NRDC. “We’re looking for solutions that are good for the ocean, good for tribal traditional use, andgood for the region. This is a critical milestone; let’s finish the job.”
“Secretary Laird’s leadership, and the goodwill and tireless commitment of the tribes, fishermen, divers and environmentalists who worked so hard to come to agreement, have created a historic opportunity to protect both the north coast’s unsurpassed ocean wildlife and rich cultural history of traditional tribal gathering,” said Kaitilin Gaffney of Ocean Conservancy.
The Commission voted four to one to adopt the community plan, with Secretary Laird’s tribal overlay, as their “preferred project.” That project, along with two alternatives, will now undergo environmental review. There will be several more opportunities for public comment before a final decision is made in early 2012.
Everyone involved in the Marine Life Protection Act planning process on the north coast has been unanimous on the importance of respecting traditional tribal cultural practices. The unified community plan put forth by local stakeholders was designed to avoid favored gathering grounds (as well as local harbors, to minimize impacts on both tribes and fishing fleets), and was praised by Secretary Laird, tribal leaders, and representatives from Senator Evans and Assemblymember Chesbro’s offices.
Secretary Laird’s proposed approach to ensure continued tribal harvest built on the community plan, providing a way for the state to implement critically needed protections for iconic sites like south Cape Mendocino, Ten-Mile Beach, and Pyramid Point while preserving traditional cultural practices.
“Getting to this point has taken the sweat and work of many many groups, including the stakeholders, tribal representatives, Commission and Department staff, and others… Everyone has really put their best foot forward to bring us this close to a solution,” said Secretary Laird.
Hawk Rosales, Executive Director of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council said, “You have listened carefully to our concerns. Together we have achieved an extraordinary result. The approach we endorse today is result of an historic level of cooperation between the state and many California tribes. We will build on these strong relationships together so we can achieve our shared goals of protecting marine resources and while at the same time honoring traditionalways.”
“We second Secretary Laird’s comments about the need to look at the science, keep building trust, and keep the momentum going,” said Karen Garrison of NRDC. “We’re looking for solutions that are good for the ocean, good for tribal traditional use, andgood for the region. This is a critical milestone; let’s finish the job.”
“Secretary Laird’s leadership, and the goodwill and tireless commitment of the tribes, fishermen, divers and environmentalists who worked so hard to come to agreement, have created a historic opportunity to protect both the north coast’s unsurpassed ocean wildlife and rich cultural history of traditional tribal gathering,” said Kaitilin Gaffney of Ocean Conservancy.
The Commission voted four to one to adopt the community plan, with Secretary Laird’s tribal overlay, as their “preferred project.” That project, along with two alternatives, will now undergo environmental review. There will be several more opportunities for public comment before a final decision is made in early 2012.
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Unfortunately, the author of this "article" failed to talk to the Chairman and other representatives of the Yurok Tribe, the largest tribe in California, about their view about the Commission's decision on the North Coast MLPA network.
Yurok Tribe Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact Matt Mais
(707) 482-1350 ext. 306
Cell: (707) 954-0976
Fish and Game Commission fails to affirm tribal rights
(Stockton) The California Fish and Game Commission accepted a preferred alternative Wednesday, June 29 that failed to affirm traditional tribal gathering in the North Coast Study Region of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
According to Option 1, tribal members would have to use a state fishing license in addition to a Tribal ID for those sixteen or older and be limited by state regulations.
“I cannot accept the part about the fishing license. The Fish and Game has taken an unjust and patronizing step,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “No one can separate these resources from our culture.”
Option 1 states “tribal gathering to continue in SMCAs (not SMRs), by specific tribal users, where a factual record can be established that shows ancestral take or tribal gathering practices by a federally-recognized tribe in that specific MPA (marine protected area), and by allowing only those tribes to take specified species with specified gear types.”
The Northern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the Inter-Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, which represent all of the recognized tribes in the study region, proposed a motion that would have affirmed traditional tribal harvest managed by individual Tribal governments.
The motion states: “Consistent with the tribal gathering general concepts described in Option 1…Traditional, non-commercial tribal uses shall be allowed to continue unimpeded within the proposed SMCAs and SMRMs in the MLPA’s North Coast Study Region for all federally recognized tribes that can establish that they have practiced such uses within a specific SMCA or SMRMA.”
The motion was supported by California Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro and California Senator Noreen Evans.
Northern California Tribes, which have much more stringent marine harvest guidelines than the state, depend on coastal resources for ceremonial, medicinal and subsistence purposes. In other words, having safe access is indivisible from tribal culture.
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative is a public-private partnership between the State of California and a hand-full of private foundations to implement the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which was signed into law in 1999.
Throughout the process there have been proposals to aggressively reject existing native rights. There were also proposals to support Native rights such as the North Coast Regional Stakeholder Group’s Unified Proposal.
The 28 member stakeholder group, comprised of fishing industry representatived, environmental groups and tribes, was the only stakeholder group in the entire MLPA process to develop a singular proposal. The Unified Proposal is supported by 41 city and county governments, tribes, conservation groups and fishing organizations.
“We’ve said from the beginning tribal rights are nonnegotiable,” Chairman O’Rourke Sr. said. “We’ve said that because we are in charge of our destiny.”
The amendment and preferred alternative for marine protected areas will now be vetted through the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Yurok Tribe, the largest tribe in California, has 5,500 members. The Tribe’s ancestral territory runs eighty-three miles along the California coastline from the Little River to Damnation Creek. To the east the Tribe’s ancestral lands reach above the Klamath River’s confluence with the Trinity River. For more information about the Yurok Tribe, please visit http://www.yuroktribe.org.
Yurok Tribe Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact Matt Mais
(707) 482-1350 ext. 306
Cell: (707) 954-0976
Fish and Game Commission fails to affirm tribal rights
(Stockton) The California Fish and Game Commission accepted a preferred alternative Wednesday, June 29 that failed to affirm traditional tribal gathering in the North Coast Study Region of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
According to Option 1, tribal members would have to use a state fishing license in addition to a Tribal ID for those sixteen or older and be limited by state regulations.
“I cannot accept the part about the fishing license. The Fish and Game has taken an unjust and patronizing step,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “No one can separate these resources from our culture.”
Option 1 states “tribal gathering to continue in SMCAs (not SMRs), by specific tribal users, where a factual record can be established that shows ancestral take or tribal gathering practices by a federally-recognized tribe in that specific MPA (marine protected area), and by allowing only those tribes to take specified species with specified gear types.”
The Northern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the Inter-Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, which represent all of the recognized tribes in the study region, proposed a motion that would have affirmed traditional tribal harvest managed by individual Tribal governments.
The motion states: “Consistent with the tribal gathering general concepts described in Option 1…Traditional, non-commercial tribal uses shall be allowed to continue unimpeded within the proposed SMCAs and SMRMs in the MLPA’s North Coast Study Region for all federally recognized tribes that can establish that they have practiced such uses within a specific SMCA or SMRMA.”
The motion was supported by California Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro and California Senator Noreen Evans.
Northern California Tribes, which have much more stringent marine harvest guidelines than the state, depend on coastal resources for ceremonial, medicinal and subsistence purposes. In other words, having safe access is indivisible from tribal culture.
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative is a public-private partnership between the State of California and a hand-full of private foundations to implement the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which was signed into law in 1999.
Throughout the process there have been proposals to aggressively reject existing native rights. There were also proposals to support Native rights such as the North Coast Regional Stakeholder Group’s Unified Proposal.
The 28 member stakeholder group, comprised of fishing industry representatived, environmental groups and tribes, was the only stakeholder group in the entire MLPA process to develop a singular proposal. The Unified Proposal is supported by 41 city and county governments, tribes, conservation groups and fishing organizations.
“We’ve said from the beginning tribal rights are nonnegotiable,” Chairman O’Rourke Sr. said. “We’ve said that because we are in charge of our destiny.”
The amendment and preferred alternative for marine protected areas will now be vetted through the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Yurok Tribe, the largest tribe in California, has 5,500 members. The Tribe’s ancestral territory runs eighty-three miles along the California coastline from the Little River to Damnation Creek. To the east the Tribe’s ancestral lands reach above the Klamath River’s confluence with the Trinity River. For more information about the Yurok Tribe, please visit http://www.yuroktribe.org.
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