Rocky Point fishing plan slated for discussion

By Melissa Pamer, Torrance Daily Breeze
December 7, 2009

A plan to halt or restrict fishing in 387 square miles of ocean - but leave open the rich, popular waters off the Palos Verdes Peninsula's western face - will be up for a public discussion Wednesday.

The state Fish and Game Commission will receive public comment and officials' reports on a compromise plan that closes some Southern California fishing grounds and leaves others open.

The plan was approved last month at a meeting of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, a panel that is overseeing the lengthy implementation the Marine Life Protection Act. The controversial, 10-year-old law was designed to create a network of marine preserves with the intent of protecting habitat and helping fish populations recover from overfishing.

The commission has final approval over the plan, but no vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

Instead, the panel is expected to ask for an extensive environmental review of the proposed closures. That resulting report and the new regulations will be subject to a final vote sometime next summer at the earliest, a commission official said.

Public comment will be taken from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; speaker cards must be submitted by 10:10 a.m.

The meeting will be held at the Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles Airport, 6225 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles.