Please Attend A Critical Meeting To Protect Our Precious California Coast!

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brianmeux

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The State of California has convened a process to establish “underwater parks” in the ocean off southern California. These parks protect the sea life and our economy by ensuring healthy fish populations for future generations. Please support scientifically sound marine protected areas, SUPPORT MAP 3.

• MAP 3 Provides the strongest protections and ample opportunities for commercial and recreational fishing.

Attend this crucial meeting, Wednesday October 21st.
(Public comment 1:30–4:30 pm and 7:00–10:00 pm)

Meeting Location
Hilton Long Beach
701 W. Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90831

If you cannot attend the meeting please write a letter of support for a strong system of underwater parks: visit CalOceans - Protecting California's Yosemites of the Sea to easily send a support letter and more information.

Mail Letters to:
MLPA Initiative c/o California Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814 Letters may also be submitted via:
Email: MLPAComments@resources.ca.gov
Website: California Department of Fish & Game, Marine Life Protection Act Initiative
Fax: 916-653-8102 Attn: MLPA Initiative
 
So tell me, why are underwater parks necessary? Sounds like an expensive and restrictive complication that will be a great barrier to actually using the ocean. Whats next, water use taxes and fees? What are the benefits to this, protecting fish and the economy is a little ambiguous in the face of giving up access. IMO.
 
My wife and I will be there. (evening)
 
So tell me, why are underwater parks necessary? Sounds like an expensive and restrictive complication that will be a great barrier to actually using the ocean. Whats next, water use taxes and fees? What are the benefits to this, protecting fish and the economy is a little ambiguous in the face of giving up access. IMO.

It is because decades of largely unrestricted consumptive activities, as well as urban pollution, have left fish (and some invertebrate) stocks at far lower levels than they were just 50 years ago. Through the cumulative effect of consumptive users over a long time period, the health of our nearshore marine ecosystems has declined.

By creating marine reserves totaling 20-30% of our coastline, we can ensure healthy fish populations within them... and spillover of the fish into adjacent unprotected areas where anglers can benefit.
 
bill, i've seen the effects of what restricted areas have on unrestricted areas. they attempt to support the extra pressure given them by the pressure that was once spead over greater areas, with greater difficulty. instead of boxing in an area that will be pounced upon with unfavorable results, open the areas. i wouldn't spend much time on unproductive fishing grounds nor i'm sure by word of mouth anyone else would, and while the sites are vacated they will recover as any cycle will. i live in southern california, did you see the el nino cylcle that came in 97 and had residual effects for several years later, with residential species we haven't seen in 20 some years, our fishing pressure had nothing to do with that. nutrient rich warm water came overnight, with it came baitfish of all types and the palagics came in force. just a simple cycle we cannot restrict, the ocean appears to be a big girl. take pictures of our ever changing reefs for our young not yet arrived, as even all of the governmental restricted regulations cannot guarantee the changes that our ocean in fact is in complete control of. just an observation that i had the chance to closely view.
 
H2Ocean... you should look at longer baselines to judge the impact of a marine reserve. I'cve been diving Catalina waters for over 40 years. I have seen the decimation of several species by over fishing (we have little pollution or other human impacts here since 95% of the land mass is in a protected and undeveloped state). I've talked to anglers who began fishing our waters as early as 1919 and they are well aware of the loss of species and population size for many fish and invertebrate stocks.

Properly sized marine reserves can and do result in remarkable comebacks in numbers.Look at the work of Dr. Bill Ballantine in New Zealand. When he first started working to get marine reserves there, the crayfish (lobster) fishermen opposed them. Now they are supporting even more of the reserves after seeing the impact on their take through spillover.

Rotation of fishing areas is a poor "management" tool, especially with a local SoCal population in the tens of millions accessing the coast.
 
So tell me, why are underwater parks necessary? Sounds like an expensive and restrictive complication that will be a great barrier to actually using the ocean. Whats next, water use taxes and fees? What are the benefits to this, protecting fish and the economy is a little ambiguous in the face of giving up access. IMO.

Fortunately here in the Late Great State of Caleefornyia, the imposition of fees for access to the ocean is not legal. Several of us would love to create an annual tag for access to the local dive park, but it can't be done because of that policy (which I support).
 
hi bill,(drbill), excellent response! i will carefully consider that. i hope not to be bothering you with my corespondance as i do hope to accompany you on some tours i'm sure you have along your treasured shorelines there in sci. take me to some of your favorite please! in your response above, as easy as it may have been to overlook or not address my point, i'm sure wasn't intentional. yes we see what the fishing and ocean stocks were then in 1919, impressive or so it seems by what we see today. i'll bet those guys that fished then "if" they witnesses the effects of what the cycle 1997 el nino brought to our dead sea, even if they were too excited, would have been able to note that it wasn't the effects of any reserves. the only thing difficult for me to obviously see a huge difference would have been in obviously in mollusk growth. every thing that could move just pounced the area, quite possibly what was seen in 1919 and in other yrs like 97 (98,99,00,01,02,) like in the 60's, you remember the abundance of yellow tail. overfishing or little fishing on species specifics like black sea bass has had its devistating results, they're like a cow in pasture (not cowcod) and much too docile of a critter to withstand the energy potential that a human would see in its easy harvest, using a sharp tree branch is all that was needed to bring 400lbs of flesh back to the kitchen. i just see the trends of pacific decadal oscillations or el ninos affecting both the leaving and the returning of masses of ocean life. i probably beat around the bush too much to understand. i know that even during this conversation i don't remember what species i googled but the first entry was the endangered conditions of the species, latin and scientific names. and the second entry was a recipe. its an uphill battle for every thing involved. thanks for replying though, i am interested learning. and i am open to the fact that i may be wrong, me or anyone. thats why i'm here.
 
No question that the repeated El Ninos (which appear to be coming more frequently) have an impact on the local species. In a strong one our giant kelp, one of the primary sources for the nearshore food webs, disappears.

This is certainly an impact that must be considered... but it is short-term and cyclical. The continual and increasing (as population in SoCal has skyrocketed following WWII) impact of humans via overfishing, pollution and other impacts is on-going.
 

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