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O.C. fishermen protest possible fishing bans
October 21st, 2009, 3:12 pm · 31 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, green living, environment editor
Passing drivers honked in support as about 50 members of the Southern California fishing community rallied in Long Beach on Wednesday, protesting proposed coastal fishing bans. 
The protesters, including a strong contingent from Orange County, held up signs and banners along the sidewalk outside the Hilton Long Beach, where a three-day meeting is being held by the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative.
The meeting is expected to result in a decision Thursday on proposed fishing-closure areas from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, likely including the Laguna Beach coast. (Watch the meeting live via webcast.)
“Orange County is slated for a massive closure,” said spear fisherman Daniel Burke, 24, of Dana Point, who was among the protesters. “They say it’s a compromise, but it’s not a compromise. Mainly it’s just a closure. This process doesn’t seem fair.”
Inside the Hilton, a blue ribbon task force listened to testimony from a variety of interests as it prepares to render a decision Thursday: choose one of three proposed maps of fishing restrictions or closures, create a new one drawing from one or more of the three, or create an entirely new map of proposed marine protected areas.
Whatever boundaries the panel settles on will be sent to the state Fish and Game Commission for final approval.
A large group of stakeholders that included the fishing community, environmental activists, government officials and others spent the past year crafting the proposed maps. They divided themselves into three groups, one of mixed interests, one dominated by the fishing community and one dominated by environmental activists and conservation groups.
The protesters advocate choosing the map produced by the fishing group, known as group 2, because it would bring fewer restrictions and closures.
Organizer Paul Romanowski, of Huntington Beach, said he and other members of the fishing community are not opposed to the Marine Life Protection Act, or MLPA, process.
“We’re opposed to excessive closures,” he said. “It will cut down on public access.”
But behind him as he spoke, fishermen waved signs saying, “MLPA is un-American,” and “Recreational Anglers Against MPAs.” “MPA” is short for marine protected areas.
Commercial fishermen are also worried. Josh Fisher of Fullerton, one of about 35 licensed commercial lobster fisherman in the area, said that if the proposal crafted by conservation groups is chosen, “we’re done” — meaning out of business.
He was a stakeholder in group 2, dominated by fishing interests.
“Group two will be detrimental to fishing,” Fisher said. “But it is something we all came together to be worked on.”
It was not only fishing interests on the street outside the hotel as the protest drew toward an end. About 10 members of the environmental group, Greenpeace, appeared as well, waving their own signs in support of increased ocean protection. Some were dressed as mermaids and one wore a full turtle suit.
“We just wanted to get our name up there,” said Jennica Hill, a student from San Francisco who wore the suit.
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i smelt this one coming !
Fishermen and women pay more than their fair share for conservation through taxes paid on their equipment and licenses. If massive closures are approved, less people will buy fishing licenses and/or tackle….meaning even less money in the general DFG fund to protect fish. Seems like a vicious cycle to me. I wonder if the Greenpeace closure advocates thought this through. Sportspeople know about the Pittman- Robertson, Dingell-Johnson, and the Wallop-Breaux Acts….and the monies they provide for the CONSERVATION of habitat and game species…as well as other species using the habitat…..what has Greenpeace and their supporters done other than stop people from enjoying the outdoors?
Jeffery: Not to mention the amount of money from fishing licenses that goes to the general fund. One would think that one’s license fees would go toward conservation and enforcement - wrong!
Hey GREENPEACE:
Endangered Turtle soup;
Large pot @ medium boil.
2- medium to large endangered turtles.
2- med onions finely chopped……
the best thing about eating turtles - They come in their own bowl…….
AAAHHHHHHHHha ha ha ha !!!!
I saw this coming, I sold my skipjack a couple years ago. Pretty soon your going to be able to get a small sportfisher for a few grand. Wont matter though, you’ll only be able to use it in sterile waters.
How about another option…leave things as they are. I don’t seem to recall hearing of any negative impact from what currently is being carried on off shore by fishermen from Santa Barbara to Mexico.
This seems to be just another group of people trying to justify themselves and whatever grants they are getting from the government. In other words it’s all for nothing.
I think that the CA Dept. of Fish and Game is doing a great job regulating what’s going on out there, this in and of itself will probably cut their budget because less people will be buying licenses, therefore less enforcement will be needed.
After all this, at sometime the ban will be lifted and then the commercial industry will get priority, and the angler will get squat.
dfg is a joke - they can’t even enforce the laws they already have - The easiest thing for them would be to close the whole ocean. The are understaffed. Ihave called cal-tip many times from catalina and they say they don’t have any wardens in the area. And the poachers know it!!!!!!
such communism ………………………….
sMELLS FISHY TO ME
I wonder if the beef industry is behind this proposed ban???
Nothing would surprise me anymore in this upsidedown society.
Maybe a the fish and game commissioner has connections to the beef industry, eh???
Who knows???
From what I’ve seen in the last couple years we are no better than Tijuana.
Or aliens from mars!!!! Could be that too…..
With the way Orange County has destroyed the ocean front with the additions of hotels and housing, it’s really laughable that people from that area would object to this! Go to Surf City and complain about how they want to annex Surf Side if you really want an agenda. As for the sorry lobster fisherman. I can’t afford the ridiculous price they charge now, why should I care.
With all of the recent social pressure put on people eating red meat, the fisheries have experienced an unsustainable amount of pressure. Sports fishing has almost no effect whatsoever on the overall fish population.
Doesn’t anyone notice fewer fish, smaller size, more people fishing? This isn’t like it was 40 years ago, wake up, the whole area is over fished.
gettingold; You ARE OLD!
Sound like you might be “gettingsenile” too.
I say start grinding up the old people & feeding the fish to restore the fish population.
Lets see - less sharks - way more sea lions - Less fish. You don’t think they are ruining our fishery? Wonder why the near shore fish are declining everywhere there is a large population of sea lions. It’s not over fishing it’s too many sea dogs and too much polution. They are blaming it on the fisherman and wont even look at the water quality reports.
spear fishermen? c’mon really it’s 2010… how badly do we really need spear fishermen really in this day and age and what do they make, $300 a week? I’d like to know how you live in O.C. on $15,600 a year please.
Save a fish… eat a Greenpeace protester!!
All you have to do is check out the fish counts at the local sportfishers for the last few years to realize there’s a problem (often average 1 fish per rod ). I started going on party boats back in 1971 when we’d typically limit on bass. Problem is we were taking too many fish (10 bass limit) for too long and screwed our future… which is now. It’s time to pay the piper.
Mmmmmm… Soylent Green.
Abalone used to be prevalent in northern CA. We started protecting the sea otters and they ate up all the abalone. Go figure.
If we protect the sea urchin, they will eat up all of the kelp beds. Go figure.
If we protect the sea lions, they will take all of the fish off of sport fishermen’s lines. Go figure.
If we outlaw sport fishing, the sea lions will have to work for a living. Go figure.
CA and State Fish and Games want to increase more taxes and fees to fullfil its lavish spendings. Just give it to them or get out business.
Obviously there’s nothing anyone can do to reverse this disastrous, runaway train that is the MLPA, but has anyone thought of reducing take limits and upping legal sizes? It would make way too much sense to up the legal size of sheephead, for example to 15″ and reduce the limit to 2-3. But then again, that would be using facts and logic, which I know liberals, hippies and green activists don’t take too kindly too. So yeah, let’s just screw over all the evil fishermen!
does this mean I can’t go smelt fishing
It isn’t the beef industry behind this move - it is the vegetarians and PETA. Man should live by fruits, nuts, berries, etc.
You know what this sounds like? The initiatives that closed down vast stretches of the California desert back in the late 80’s early 90’s and has since spread to a majority of federally owned land. Fight now fishermen, because if you lose this battle the war ahead will be long and costly.
Did you ever ponder that our local environmental groups are using this as a financial mechanism for future studies/grant/project funding? The MLPA is supposed to be a hands off solution, but activist groups are trying to get “earmarked” MLPA sanctions/permissions for growing kelp or abalone, so they can justify having it all to themselves. As one mainstream OC water quality activist put it, “Im not going fishing, Im just getting tissue samples”. Also the MLPA area measurement of tidelands is a terrible formula, that why Newport’s upper bay is on the list, its daily polluted and a flood control system for the county, but if they throw that area in, it will reduce closing another area like Little Corona.
What a scam! to cover-up the 1973 written study for OC Supervisors that predicted over populating by 1.6 million OC will cause detrimental effects to the coastal eco-system/water quality environment.
We need to support F&G to keep these folks out of any MLPA’s and
only F&G does the studies and work, like they do.
Does this proposal also ban shore fishing in the protected area? If it does then that is a shame. It makes me want to punch someone in the face. It doesn’t make sense. it is un-American. It hurts the local economy. It takes away our god given rights to use the ocean for our pleasure and sustenance.
This is a joke! This environmentalist wak jobs are just trying to ruin something else. They just want attention at the expense of people’s own livelihood.
The MLPA process is runaway militant environmentalism at it’s finest. One thing these people do not realize is that when you remove people from the environment they become much less interested in saving it. Fishermen were the first conservationists on the west coast. The Tuna Club of Avalon, The International Gamefish Association, and Trout Unlimited all started life as a groups of conservation minded sportsmen. They did so voluntarily without any cajoling from the Sierra Club, Earth First, The Center for Biological Diversity, or the Government. Sportsmen in southern california have also played an enormous role in the white seabass recovery along our coast. I have never seen a member of the Laguna Beach City Council, Peta, or the World Wildlife Fund donate one second of thier time to raise, catalog, and release these fish into the sea. It has been fishermen and thier children who have done the heavy lifting and made real contributions to restoring out coastal environment. Just remember, every toilet that get’s flushed, toll road that get’s built, and bmw that goes to the car spa contributes to our declining water quality. Banning families from from a day’s fishing will not cure what ails our coastline. It will only deminish the number of people willing to do something about it!