Monday, October 19, 2009

Dana Point City Council Endorses Marine Protection Area Map 2 for MLPA

By Andrea Swayne, Dana Point Times
October 15, 2009

Dana Point City Council on October 12 voted unanimously to endorse the “Map 2” Marine Protection Area (MPA)—with the caveat that the presented scientific information supports it—proposed in round three of the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s preparation of recommended MPAs to be implemented in accordance with the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The council’s vote to support Option 2 came after hearing public commentary and reviewing the staff report on the issue which confirmed that Option 2 is widely regarded locally as the best compromise of the three proposed options due to a longer, narrower shaped “no fishing zone” with a smaller near shore footprint. According to the presented data, the option will lessen the economic impact of the MPA while still protecting marine species in the area from over fishing. The other two options call for no fishing zones to extend along a larger stretch of coastline, which would have a heavily negative economic impact on local fishing operations.

An official letter of endorsement by city council will be prepared and sent for inclusion in the October 20-22 California Fish and Game Department meetings in Long Beach.

For more information on the Long Beach meetings go to www.dfg.ca.gov. Go to http://www.danapoint.org/ to see a full staff report on the issue, including Option Maps 1, 2, and 3.

No comments:

Post a Comment