!!!MLPA reserve process coming to SoCal in 2008

[Adam]

I agree that arguing the "kayak only" position should be more of a last resort. However, I caution against a "no MPA" position. There will be more MPAs down here, the only question is where and how much. Even though the science will be poor, it will be important to understand what is being proposed and to counter (where necessary) from an objective / non-emotional perspective as much as possible. Regulators will be more receptive to well drawn arguments than "not in my back yard" or "I love that fishing spot" positions. Additionally, we should be aware that arguments may be made that the best fishing spots may also be the most "important" as these are productive spots not only for fishing but possibly also for reproduction. I will try to determine what research has been conducted regarding the fishery in La Jolla, I doubt there is much, but I think it is important for us to be on top of this. The previous points about separating rockfish from migratory pelagics are also very relevant. I think fisheries which were previously target by nearshore gill nets have probably improved since the ban on nearshore gill nets (white seabass, halibut, etc.). I am sure others disagree with me here, but I do think that rockfish populations are in less good shape. In my short life time I have noticed that I need to fish deeper for rockfish and what I catch is smaller. These are not good signs of fisheries health and the quality of our fishing has suffered.

Adam

[lamb]

Great discussion.

Looking at what happened up North, the only question is how big of a hit are we going to get. We ought to come together and do everything in our power to try to “minimize the damage”.

"United sport-fishing anglers front" approach has its values, but I don’t think it is bad to have kayak fishing community interests represented from sort of a separate body. Yes we are tiny compared to boaters, but we’re another interested party. We share concerns of other sport fishing folks, but we’re rather different. The impact on kayakers will be much greater if they put certain inshore areas off limits to fishing. Boaters will just motor away further out; the kayakers don’t have that option.

The Jewel, having existing preserve, is probably among the 1st things they’ll be looking at. Expanding preserve lines sure seems like an easy road for these committees to turn to. We, the kayak fishing community, have to make sure they understand that expending those preserve lines for even a few miles can effectively put the fishing grounds out of kayakers’ reach.

Not sure whether they would consider it or even understand it, but it could be argued that the distance from the (relatively) “shielded” kayak beach launch is something they should be sensitive of... I’m not a lawyer, but I would think you could make a case that we’re being discriminated against?! I don’t know, but playing the discrimination card seems to work in arguing rights discussions.

We have The Battle For La Jolla coming up ladies and gents.

I don't have a great record - lost more than a few things in my life...

But I'm ready to fight for LJ like a lion. Let me know how can I help.

[Useful Idiot]

I was very involved in the process when I lived in Santa Barbara. I went to every meeting and public hearing from Sacramento to San Diego and the stakeholder meetings in SB and wrote up full reports of each meeting to post online.

Overall a very frustrating and pointless process. In the end whatever they want to do is what gets done. Public input had virtually zero impact. Every public hearing was overwhelmingly anti-reserve (besides one where a UCSB professor gave students extra credit to attend and lobby for reserves... pretty funny when I asked how many in the audience had ever visited the areas in question...) but none of that was reflected in any type of action regarding maps or reserves in general. On the day of the final vote 3 of the 5 original committee were "coincidentally" absent and replaced by pro-reserve fill ins. Of course the proposal passed. All said and done an enormous waste of time just to put on a show for the sake of legal process.

The only time we got anything close to being accomplished was through personal meetings with committee members and DFG reps at a sit down meeting. We had very little impact on size and locations of reserves, that was all pretty much hammered out by the stakeholders themselves.

The only thing we did get accomplished was the types of reserves. There are varying levels of reserves that they set up: no take, rec. only, shore based only, etc. We were able to define some reserves as shore based angling only, especially if we used the angle of low income families depending on the bounty of the sea, etc. I really believe we need to look out for our own best interest first and foremost and if anyone else's agenda lines up with ours on any certain situation then so be it. But locking into the motor boat agenda or commercial agenda or whatever could come back to bite us. None of the fishing org's really have enough power to combat the enviro org's anyway, so as far as jumping onboard for the clout factor, forget about it. Not to say it's not worth joining org's like UASC but don't count on your dues out-spending NRDC.

We tried the united front angle with both rec and commercial, then eventually commercial kind of started looking out for themselves so it was all rec. anglers but for our interest we were really most aligned with freedivers by the end. My opinion is that we need to decide right now who we're aligning ourselves with and stick to it. I highly suggest advocating as specialized a need as possible so that we're not stuck trying to minimize the amount of reserves and can rather focus on allowing kayaks at la jolla for example. If we can hammer a few small points home repeatedly it has a much better chance of getting through than being anti-reserve in general.

Another thing we need to do is get some good people on that stakeholder board and setup meetings with them as well as any DFG officials and politicians that have any say in the matter. If we can work with somebody that has any amount of pull it will be much more effective than whining at public hearing meetings every month.

OEX will be happy to facilitate any meetings or offer any services we can. Paul, please continue to keep the boards posted on the process. I'll jump back in and see if we can get anything done this time.
-Brian