Laguna Beach MLPA Workshop Report

[Billy V]

At last nights meeting in SD a fellow fisherman ask specifically what could be taken from the Blue Colored Reserves.

The answer he received was Spiny Lobster, and Sea Urchin.
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I was trying to get the answer to the same question from RSG members there as well, their answer to me was.

"I don't know"
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Yes, there is a problem with the Lapis 1 SMR 2 LJ Reserve.
It goes like this:

The reserve only extends 2 miles from shore, this is because the Navy has electronic gear buried in the area 2-3 miles from shore to monitor LJ Canyon, and they don't want to relocate it.

The MPA guidelines state that the reserve needs to extend 3 miles from shore, and be a minimum of 9 square miles. So they were trying to move it south, but that would require a 4 1/2 mile stretch north to south to total 9 miles. Not easy to do.

In addition to that I suspect there is yet another obstacle in their way.
The water quality was a reoccurring issue during the last SAT meeting in L.A. Scientists strongly suggested that the RSG do not locate an MPA in an area that has poor water quality.
-The Children's Pool has Terrible Water Quality, and the bacteria levels have been well documented over the years.
The dirty little secret.