Monday, May 4, 2009

Tensions climb at marathon MLPA stakeholder session

"There was no hugging and singing of campfire songs..."

That's how my news story about the recent stakeholder meetings in Oxnard starts. I've watched just about every meeting in this damn Marine Life Protection Act process and I've never seen one this edgy. But, hey, the stakes are the highest yet, what with so little quality habitat out there and so many already using it. The full story is below.

Anyway, the next huge meeting in the process actually goes back to the North Central Coast as the Fish and Game Commission finally begins the official regulatory hearings to make those closures a reality Thursday, May 14 in Sacramento. At least that's the agenda now.

Much of proposal 2XA, which was the middle ground proposal designed by fishermen in that process, was adopted into the preferred proposal, but a huge piece of 2XA was left out. It's a huge chunk of public access to the best abalone diving in California and the BRTF gift-wrapped it for Karen Garrison and the NRDC. Garrison was a stakeholder in the North Central Coast. The 2XA solution provides plenty of protection and folks up there hope the Fish and Game Commission will finally show some initiative and do the right thing and go with 2XA "all the way."

You can lend your support by sending a letter to the commission via the following link: http://capwiz.com/keepamericafishing/home/

Meanwhile there are SAT and BRTF meetings May 5 and May 8 via webinar and teleconference and the hope is the issue of the closures at the military islands will finally be resolved as well as some other habitat questions that could provide much needed guidance for the South Coast stakeholders. Stay tuned or look for more info yourself at htttp://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa.

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