What are the Dec 16th MLPA results?

[lbsurf2ca]

Still trying to understand what the difference between the reserve and conservation (blue and red).

[Ohana]

Originally Posted by lbsurf2ca

Still trying to understand what the difference between the reserve and conservation (blue and red).

My understanding is the reserves or SMR's mean nothing can be touched or taken whereas the SMCA/No-Take mean that certain groups can touch and take, but no recreational/commercial fishing of any kind is allowed.

What is really tricky is the SMCA's. They can allow recreational fishing, but you need to read the regulations. I put in a separate post how the Newport Back Bay used to say fishing is allowed with hook and line, but apparently the language may change to where this allowed only from shore. Why this distinction is being added is confusing because they are not restricting boats from going into the back bay.

Kevin

[PAL]

^No, that's not quite right.

Unfortunately, each one of those blue areas can have different rules.

Some are virtually the same as reserves, allowing only things such as sewage outlet maintenance and sampling.

Others, like the one over Scripps Pier, allow some fishing. Crucially for us, we can fish bait there. That didn't happen by accident. We battled for it.

[blackcloud9]

@Aaron The buoys are piled on top of each other at the La Jolla Cove
boundary, San Diego Bay commercial boundary, and the Santa Monica
Bay commercial boundary. Are they there by accident?

It took me 5 minutes to google this up.

http://cmbc.ucsd.edu/Students/Curren...llEtAl2007.pdf

From page 36,

"The last important pattern is that fishing is concentrated near the western edge
of the Reserve. This area has good lobster habitat (as defined in Parnell et al.
2006), but it is still fished disproportionately higher than similar habitat further
south. This suggests that the fishermen are targeting spillover from the reserve.
This argument is further supported by the fact that fishermen are concentrating
their traps near the Reserve proportionately more during the middle and latter
stages of the season suggesting that most of the legal-sized lobster left by the end
of the season are those moving out of the Reserve. Traps were also observed
immediately north of the northern boundary of the Reserve during the latter half
of the season. This entire area is a sandy shelf and devoid of lobster habitat and
therefore was not surveyed for traps. However, the presence of traps in such poor
habitat during the latter part of the season, and not near the beginning, further

suggests that the fishermen are fishing spillover from the Reserve."


The most important question is: Do you really think that any statement
made by me would change the vote of the 5 people that really matter?

[GregAndrew]

For the most part, the blue areas are closed to fishing for us. Unless you plan on harpooning billfish which is allowed in several of them.

I don't think that even the most avid anti-MLPA people would argue that the perimeters of the reserves would likely provide a better opportunity to catch fish than the barren sand they are leaving us in between. Their arguement is that overall fishing will be better with MPAs. And they incorrectly use the best possible example (the perimeter) of current reserves as indication of how our entire coastline will respond. Just like all their other arguments, 2 half truths do not make the truth that they want to imply.

[Ohana]

I do not know how much this will change, but here is a link to the DFG's list of options they had with will be allowed in the various MLPA's and the "scorecard" which shows what options they selected:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/section632title14.pdf

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/scmp...0scorecard.pdf

[blackcloud9]

Thanks GregAndrew. Thats what I meant to say

So Aaron, if someone uses that "Edges of The Reserve" argument on you,
you have a softball pitch to hit out of the park.

(On the other hand, I also understand the sensitive nature of some of the
'activists' - even a picture of a great kayak catch is enough to
bring them to tears. Like my brother, who can't wait to get his
Nissan Leaf next year. )

[Ohana]

Originally Posted by PAL

^No, that's not quite right.

Unfortunately, each one of those blue areas can have different rules.

Some are virtually the same as reserves, allowing only things such as sewage outlet maintenance and sampling.

Others, like the one over Scripps Pier, allow some fishing. Crucially for us, we can fish bait there. That didn't happen by accident. We battled for it.

Thanks for the clarification.

I spent some time this afternoon going over the DFG descriptions for some of the SMR's/SMCA's actions and it is confusing what they do and do not restrict. I focused primarily on the areas I fish in Orange County and it seemed the rules were written using the same thought process as in Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22.

Kevin