danbacher “There is no evidence that tribes have had a negative impact upon the ecosystem,” said Thomas O’Rourke, Chair of the Yurok Tribal Council. “They have been part of the ecosystem since time immemorial. Science needs to recognize people as part of the ecosystem. If you don’t include people, the proposal will fail. Our rights are not negotiable.”
Photo: “When grandma wants mussels, it will take a lot more than Wild Justice to prevent me from doing this,” said Sammy Gensaw Jr., Yurok Tribal Member. Photo by Dan Bacher.
Commission Adopts Unified MLPA Proposal Amidst Charges of Secret Meetings
The proposal would create marine protected areas in approximately 13 percent of the North Coast state’s waters. It was the first MLPA proposal to acknowledge tribal gathering rights on the ocean since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger privatized the MLPA process in 2004.
Michael Sutton, Fish and Game Commissioner, made the following motion, supported by the Commissioners Dan Richards, Jim Kellogg, Jack Baylis and Richard Rogers.
“The Fish and Game Commission, consistent with the direction we received this morning from Secretary Laird, requests staff to work closely with the MLPA Initiative and Department of Fish and Game to:
1. Develop a revised MPA network proposal for the North Coast Study Region, based on and consistent with the Unified North Coast proposal from the RSG and BRTF, that accommodates the stakeholders’ expressed intent to allow for traditional, non-commercial subsistence, ceremonial, cultural and stewardship uses by Tribal people;
2. Bring that revised proposal to the April Commission meeting so that we can adopt a preferred alternative and move forward with both the CEQA and regulatory processes;
3. In developing this revised proposal, address to the extent practicable, the shortcomings identified in the Department’s Feasibility Evaluation dated January14, 2011.”
Telling members of the California Fish and Game Commission “the North Coast Unified Plan is unprecedented and deserves to be supported,” First District Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) testified in support of the local unified proposal.
“The North Coast Regional Stakeholders Group accomplished what no other region has been able to do – generate a single Unified Array proposal,” Chesbro said. “The Unified Array is an unprecedented accomplishment and provides a wonderful opportunity for this Commission to also act in unity. On behalf of the overwhelming consensus on the North Coast, I urge you to support our community’s request.”
Yurok Chair Says Tribe Doesn’t Endorse Proposal, But Accepts It
Chesbro also told Commissioners that additional concessions must be made to protect the traditional fishing and gathering rights of North Coast tribes.
“These tribes are willing to work with you to administratively resolve these issues in order to provide support for the Unified Array,” Chesbro said.
The Yurok and other North Coast Tribes did not endorse the proposal, but accepted it, providing that the state formally acknowledges the sovereign rights of Tribes to gather along the coast as they have done from thousands of years.
“There is no evidence that tribes have had a negative impact upon the ecosystem,” said Thomas O’Rourke, Chair of the Yurok Tribal Council. “They have been part of the ecosystem since time immemorial. Science needs to recognize people as part of the ecosystem. If you don’t include people, the proposal will fail. Our rights are not negotiable.”
He emphasized, “The Tribe doesn’t endorse the unified proposal, but it accepts the proposal.”
“Nothing is final until it’s final,” O’Rourke said after the meeting, in responding to the Commission’s decision to move the unified proposal forward. “We are as comfortable as we can be in this stage of the process.”
In reference to the recent lawsuit filed by United Anglers of Southern California, the Coastside Fishing Club and Robert C. Fletcher against the MLPA Initiative, O’Rourke stated, “If the state doesn’t listen to us and tries to impose regulations on the Tribes, the fishermen’s lawsuit is possibly one of many they will have to deal with.”
Tribal members indicated they were willing to engage in civil disobedience if tribal rights weren’t protected. “When grandma wants mussels, it will take a lot more than Wild Justice to prevent me from doing this,” quipped Sammy Gensaw Jr., Yurok Tribal Member.
Option Zero Supporters Felt Short-Changed
The Commission also heard from supporters of Option Zero, who felt shortchanged because they were only given one minute each to comment at the end of the public comment period. This was done in spite of a letter from Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro and Senator Noreen Evans urging the Commission to “allow for a briefing from Option Zero supporters.”
Tomas di Fiore, longtime North Coast environmentalist, asked to be read into the record supporting statements for Option Zero and the CEQA Analysis, supported by 1200 signatures, to be considered by the Commission.
“Option Zero is an opportunity for the North Coast to develop an alternative plan that reflects the knowledge base and commitment to conservation and use of marine resources of North Coast communities and produce a timely, well informed consensus plan to bring back to the Fish & Game Commission and the MLPA Initiative process,” he stated.
Option Zero proponents, including environmentalists, recreational anglers, and commercial fishermen, support managing fisheries on the North Coast through existing regulations – and criticize the MLPA process for setting up marine protected areas that fail to protect the ocean from water pollution, oil spills and drilling, military testing, wave energy projects and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
MLPA critics also slam the process for its many conflicts of interest, including the domination of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces by oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate interests.
The MLPA process was privatized in 2004 when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger directed the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a private corporation that North Coast environmental leader John Stephens-Lewallen described as a “money laundering operation for corporations,” to fund the controversial process through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Fish and Game.
Since then, the MLPA Initiative has violated numerous state, federal and international laws, including the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, the California Public Records Act, the State Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Illegal Private Meetings of MLPA Exposed
During the public comment period, George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), presented a 25 page document documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative officials to the Commission.
United Anglers of Southern California, the Coastside Fishing Club and Robert C. Fletcher filed suit in San Diego Superior Court in late January, seeking to overturn South Coast and North Central Coast MLPA closures, alleging violations of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
During his brief public testimony, Osborn exposed the corruption and violations of law by the MLPA’s Blue Ribbon Task Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_04BC1acA).
“After reviewing the documents turned over to us, which previously the BRTF had improperly withheld from the public, we now have evidence, indicating that the public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged Kabuki performance, choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions, in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF,” said Osborn. “Clearly, this has not been the most open and transparent process, as it has so often been described.”
“The BRTF’s behavior taints the regulations that are the end product of its work, and these regulations must be reversed,” he emphasized. “The PSO respectfully requests that the Commission begin the process to un-do these wrongs committed against California’s recreational anglers and all Californians, see that the MLPA is implemented properly, and reverse actions that unnecessarily close areas to fishing.”
“Let’s work with Governor Brown and direct California’s meager resources to solve real problems that harm the ocean we love,” he concluded.
Commissioner Dan Richards asked Osborn for proof about the secret meetings that PSO has accused the privately funded MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force of conducting.
Osborn then submitted to the Commissioners the copies of emails and correspondence by MLPA officials documenting private, non-public meetings. Secret meetings of the Blue Ribbon Task Force were held in April 2007 and on November 3, 2008, December 10, 2008, February 25, 2009, October 20, 21 and 22, 2009.
The documents included correspondence by Ken Wiseman, MLPA executive director, Don Benninghoven, former Fish and Game Commissoner, Melissa Miller-Henson, program manager of the MLPA Initiative, Meg Caldwell, BRTF member and others.
The documents also include the email by Fort Bragg City Council member Jere Melo on November 5, 2009, regarding his resignation from the MLPA Statewide Interest Group (SIG) for its failure to obey state laws.
“I cannot continue on a body that advertises its functions as ‘public’ and then provides very little or no public notice of its meetings,” said Melo. “There is a real ethics question for a person who holds a public office.”
danbacher While I agree with the draft plan’s conclusions that California’s water supply is oversubscribed and that there is no regional emergency plan for the Delta, I take strong issue with the co-equal goals that the document is based upon and the claim that some native species may not survive.
Photo courtesy of the Delta Stewardship Council.
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Co-equal goals doom plan to failure
by Dan Bacher
The Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) on February 14, Valentines Day, released the first draft of the Delta Plan and posted it onto the DSC website.
For those fighting against the construction of the peripheral canal and the export of more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the release of the document was anything but a “Valentine.”
The document is the first of four drafts that will be developed and released over the next three months before the plan, part of a thinly veiled process to build a peripheral canal/tunnel around or through the Delta, goes under an environmental review in June.
Although the canal/tunnel was not mentioned specifically in the initial recommendations, the document is based on achieving the co-equal goals of water supply and ecosystem restoration. The objectives of achieving these goals include building a peripheral canal/tunnel – “improved conveyance” – as noted in the draft plan.
The plan “is designed to put the key issues on the table for the Council to discuss and receive input from stakeholders and the public,” according to a statement from the DSC. “It’s expected that three subsequent drafts will be released following the environmental review, according to a statement
“This is just the beginning of the process and it is expected the final Delta Plan will be considerably different,” said Joe Grindstaff, Executive Officer of the Delta Stewardship Council. “The final Delta Plan will be released on Jan. 1, 2012 as directed by the Delta Reform Act of 2009. It will be a major step toward furthering the coequal goals that will be used in guiding actions impacting the Delta.”
“‘Coequal goals’ means the two goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. The coequal goals shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place,” according to CA Water Code 85054.
The document has four preliminary staff draft findings, according to Grindstaff.
1. “California’s total water supply is oversubscribed. California regularly uses more water annually than is provided by nature.” This reality makes the management of our limited surface water supplies and the Delta even more critical. When water exports from the Delta are reduced, the unintended consequence is increased demand on an already overused and unsustainable groundwater system.
2. “California’s water supply is increasingly volatile. Precipitation and runoff patterns are changing, increasing uncertainty for water supply and quality, flood management, and ecosystem functions.” We must adapt our management practices in order to protect ourselves against present and future risk and if we are to achieve the coequal goals.
3. “Even with substantial ecosystem restoration efforts, some native species may not survive.” Best available science indicates that some stressors are beyond our control and the system may have already changed so much that some species may never be able to recover.
4. “There is no comprehensive state or regional emergency response plan for the Delta.” In spite of all the analysis that says that we have greater risk than New Orleans, all we have at the state and regional level are plans to develop plans.
“On the positive side, I do believe the Delta Plan finally offers California an opportunity to address some of the Delta’s most vexing problems, specifically, achieving the co-equal goals,” claimed Grindstaff.
While I agree with the draft plan’s conclusions that California’s water supply is oversubscribed and that there is no regional emergency plan for the Delta, I take strong issue with the co-equal goals that the document is based upon and the claim that some native species may not survive, in spite of restoration efforts.
First, these same co-equal goals are precisely the ones that doomed the CalFed process, a joint federal-state Delta “restoration” plan, to failure. The state and federal governments, by making the delivery of subsized water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies on equal par with fish and ecological restoration, helped to engineer the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass and other species by allowing record water exports from 2003 to 2006.
These increased exports, combined with declining water quality and poor ocean conditions, set in stage the unprecedented Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon collapse that resulted in the closure of commercial and recreational salmon seasons off the California and southern oregon Coast in 2008 and 2009 and in limited seasons in 2010.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and Delta Vision processes and the legislative water package, passed in a special session called by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in November 2009, enshrined the co-equal goals just like the CalFed process did.
Amidst some pseudo-environmental language to give the plans to build the environmentally destructive and costly peripheral canal/tunnel a green veneer, the real goal of the legislation that created the Delta Stewardship Council is revealed in the legislation’s language that is included in the Chapter 6 of the draft plan document.
In the “inherent objectives” to achieving the co-equal goals in Water Code Section 85020, section (f) states, “Improve the water conveyance system and expand statewide water storage.”
“Improving the water conveyance system” is a euphemism for the peripheral canal, a project that was overwhelming voted down by the voters in November 1982. Recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers and Delta residents oppose the construction of the peripheral canal because they believe is will lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta pelagic (open water) species and the degradation of Delta water quality.
Second, to say that “some native species may not survive,” even with restoration efforts, appears to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. What the Council staff appears to be saying is that they’re willing to sacrifice some endangered and threatened species to further the Delta’s role as a water supply for subsidized corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water privateers.Of course, if you build a canal to divert more northern California water, a number of species are bound to become extinct!
As Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, said at a protest against the canal at the State Capitol in July 2009, “The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn’t make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective. Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand– it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die.”
“If the canal is built, it will turn the Delta into a cesspool and send the remnants of Delta fisheries to the scaffold,” said Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).
I wish the Legislators and the Brown and Obama administrations would heed the words of Franco and Jennings, rather than only listen to the agribusiness executives, water agency officials and corporate environmental NGO leaders that are pushing for the construction of the canal/tunnel.
The Delta Stewardship Council process:
The issues encompassed on the first draft will be discussed in public Delta Stewardship Council meetings. During the Council meetings, specific components of the Delta Plan will be discussed and debated in a workshop environment. Overall the Delta Plan addresses: 1) key findings relating to the objectives set for the in the Delta Reform Act; 2) an overview of the kinds of strategies necessary to achieve those objectives.
Following the Council meetings and workshops revisions will be made and three subsequent drafts of the Delta Plan will be released in March, April and May. An administrative draft Delta Plan will be released in June as part of the formal environmental review process. Subsequent drafts will address: 1) performance measures and targets; 2) linkages and integrations of components; 3) phasing of various components; 4) cost sharing among all interests.
A copy of the first draft of the Delta Plan and a full release schedule of subsequent draft Delta Plans can be found on the DSC website athttp://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov
About the Council
Created by the legislature in 2009, the Delta Stewardship Council is composed of members who represent different parts of the state and offer diverse expertise in fields such as agriculture, science, the environment, and public service. Of the seven, four are appointed by the Governor, one each by the Senate and Assembly, and the seventh is the Chair of the Delta Protection Commission.
danbacher
For Immediate Release: February 13, 2011Contact: Victor Gonella, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 707-762-2300Zeke Grader, GGSA, PCFFFA, 415-606-5140Dick Pool, GGSA, Pro Troll, 925-963-6350House of Reps Funding Measure Attacks SalmonFishing Group calls on Senate to keep salmon protections in placeSan Francisco — Salmon fishermen and related businesses and communities throughout California oppose legislative language added to a must-pass federal spending bill that would seize water needed for salmon and hand it to corporate agribusinesses.Members of the House of Representatives attached the salmon-jobs-killing language to a continuing resolution (CR) needed to fund the federal government. The continuing resolution must be signed into law by March 4 in order to guarantee the government meets its fiscal obligations.The Golden Gate Salmon Association, comprised of salmon fishermen and related businesses, is asking members of the Senate to make sure this salmon job killing language doesn’t make it into the final version of the CR that is sent to the White House for the president’s signature.“We’ve just come through the three worst years in history for salmon businesses, families and communities due to the type of water mismanagement the House is now trying to force on us,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA). “If the Senate doesn’t block these efforts, our salmon will die and so will the tens of thousands of jobs salmon provide.”An estimated $1.4 billion in economic activity was lost in both 2008 and 2009 due to the forced diversion of water from salmon streams to a handful of junior water rights holders in California’s San JoaquinValley. These figures are based on state and federal data analyzed by the economists at Southwick Associates.This same analysis showed 23,000 jobs were lost because of the very ill-informed water mismanagement decisions the House legislation calls for. Rules governing water diversions were rewritten in 2008 and 2009 leaving more water to restore the salmon fishery. The salmon job killing proposals from the House seek to turn back the clock by wiping out the new, better rules.“My business has been hurt badly by the salmon closures and we’ve barely been keeping our head above water the last three years because the water needed to give us a decent run of salmon has been hijacked by a handful of millionaires and billionaires who covet that same water,” said Dick Pool, president of Pro Troll Fishing Products, Concord California.“After a few really bad salmon fishing years, things were just starting to look a little better for the year ahead. Now we learn about this move in Congress to kill our salmon, which kills our jobs,” said Jonah Li of Hi’s Tackle in South San Francisco.“We provide service to boat owners throughout California and salmon fishing is what motivates most of these people to invest in their boats,” said Galen Onizuka of Johnson Hicks Marine. “Coastal communities throughout the state and far up into Oregon all rely on the salmon that some members of the House now want to wipe out. We need the Senate to save our salmon.”“We represent thousands of fishermen and related business people and we ask Senators Feinstein and Boxer to work on our behalf to make sure this bad salmon job-killing is stripped out of this bill,” said Victor Gonella, president of the Golden Gate Salmon Association.Senator Dianne Feinstein passed legislation to fund an independent scientific investigation into the current federal rules governing water diversions in the Sacramento/Bay delta. The scientific body doing the investigation is made up of specialists from across the country from the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council.This independent scientific body issued an interim report last March finding that the current rules governing balancing of delta water to satisfy both the needs of salmon while allowing some exports to San Joaquin Valley junior water rights holders are “scientifically justified” and have a “sound conceptual basis.” This research group is continuing to analyze the rules and will have a final report later this year.###The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) is made up of fishermen and environmentalists working together on behalf of the Central Valley salmon to protect its habitat, aid in its revival and recovery, and provide for its long-term sustainability as a recreational, commercial and cultural resource. Our partners are elected officials, regulatory agencies, as well as legal, educational, and outreach organizations.
danbacher 
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Brown turns peripheral canal into metaphor for budget ballot measure
by Dan Bacher
“Make it bigger and you get support from those down stream, but increase the opposition at the same time – and vice versa,” according to Brown.
“The genius is in determining the size of the pipe,” he said.
However, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director for Restore the Delta, wasn’t impressed by the metaphor nor those “geniuses” advocating for the canal/tunnel that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned so relentlessly for.
“So far, we aren’t too confident in the geniuses advocating for the pipe,” quipped Barrigan-Parrilla.
“A Delta solution with a conveyance system as large as previously described in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process will destroy Delta fisheries, working fishing families and working Delta family farms,” emphasized Barrigan-Parrilla. “Regional self-sufficiency is the answer – not building a conveyance system that is subject to seismic threat, or spending too much money on energy moving water from one part of the state to the other, and destroying all that exists in between.”
One of the “geniuses” advocating for the peripheral canal/tunnel is Gerald Meral, a controversial figure who appears to have an obsession with building this government boondoggle, regardless of the cost to the state’s environment or economy.
Unfortunately, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Meral as the Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency in charge of the Bay Delta Conservation Planning and Funding program in January.
Meral, a scientist who has a PHD in zoology, was a strong supporter of the canal to deliver more water to southern California and corporate agribusiness when he was deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources from 1975 to 1983. He has also served in leadership positions in some environmental NGOs, adding a green facade to the campaign to build the canal.
“I don’t want to prejudge this,” Meral recently told Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times, “but something like a facility roughly of the size in the earlier documents will be proposed, will be permitted and be built.”
Meral isn’t the only scientist who supports the peripheral canal. U.C. Davis scientists, in a 2008 Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report funded by Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, also recommended building a canal to achieve the “co-equal goals” of providing water supply and ecosystem restoration. Canal supporters got the best “science” that big corporate money can buy, and have used the badly-flawed report ever since to buttress the campaign to build the peripheral canal.
Fortunately, most Californians aren’t fooled by the “scientific” and “environmental” veneer that some choose to bestow upon plans to build peripheral canal/tunnel around or through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.
The story of the “world’s smartest man”
During his testimony in a Legislative hearing on the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in Eureka on January 21, Yurok Tribal elder Walt Lara told a great story about four people on an airplane.
“One was a Doctor, the second was a Scientist, the third was a Boy Scout and the fourth was an Indian,” said Lara. “When the plane started to go down, they discovered there were only three parachutes.”
Lara continued, “The Doctor said he had saved many lives, and would continue to save many people, so he had to live. The Doctor grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane. The Scientist said he had made a lot of important discoveries and he was the smartest guy in the world, so he grabbed the second parachute and jumped.”
“The Indian told the Boy Scout, ‘Look, I’ve lived a long life, and you have your whole life ahead of you. You take the last parachute.’”
“The Boy Scout said, ‘No need for that. The smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.’”
Although story was directed at the absurdity of the MLPA Initiative, a process corrupted by numerous conflicts of interests and violations of state, federal and international laws that has completely excluded tribal scientists from its so-called “Science Advisory Team,” it could have just as well applied to the peripheral canal and other similiar fiascos.
Real ‘geniuses’ don’t support the canal
Like Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla and Walt Lara, I’m not very confident of the so-called “geniuses,” who like the arrogant scientist in the plane who insisted that he was the “smartest person in the world,” try to impose their will on other people by promoting projects that have no basis in natural science, but only in political science.
The canal/tunnel would cost $23 billion to $53.8 billion, according to a 2009 study by economist Steve Kasower, at a time when California is in its worst ever budget crisis. Critics of the canal, including fishermen, Tribal members, environmentalists, Delta residents and family farmers, fear that the construction of the canal/tunnel will lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and the southern resident population of killer whales by taking more water out of the imperiled estuary.
Unlike what Jerry Brown contends, the real genius is not found in the “size of the pipe,” but is displayed when one completely abandons the insane plan to build a peripheral canal!
For more information about the campaign to stop the canal and restore the delta, go to: http://www.restorethedelta.org.
danbacher 
Kashia Pomo Tribe Wins Victory in Defense of Tribal Gathering Rights
by Dan Bacher
The Kashia Pomo Tribe in Sonoma County won a major victory in defense of their tribal fishing and gathering rights on Thursday, February 3.
The California Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento voted to allow the Tribe to continue gathering and conducting ceremonies in a marine protected area at Stewarts Point. The decision made permanent an emergency provision that the Commission approved last year to allow the Tribe to continue fishing and gathering off the site for one year.
“Our people believe we first walked onto the Earth right there at Stewarts Point, and a lot of our traditions are passed down along that coast,” said Reno Franklin, vice chair of the tribe, as quoted in the February 9 article by Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/09/3387802/state-officials-allow-kashia-pomo.html).
Archeological evidence indicates the tribe has used Stewarts Point and the surrounding shoreline for 12,000 years, according to Franklin. It has been a source of food including mussels, abalone, seaweed and fish, as well as a place for ceremonies.
The Commission voted to create a “marine conservation area” ribbon near shore, within the larger marine protected area, where limited gathering and fishing are permitted. Since the MLPA does not mention tribal gathering, the exemption is for recreational purposes and applies not just to the Tribe, but to the public in general.
The Commission decision followed the joint meeting by the Commission and the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force regarding the North Coast MLPA process on February 2. At the beginning of the hearing, Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, recently appointed by Governor Brown, said he was committed working with Tribes and Tribal communities to protect their fishing and gathering rights. He has already met with a number of Tribes and plans to hold more meetings to resolve the issue of tribal use in marine protected areas.
“I believe they are listening and I believe they are hearing us,” said Thomas O’Rourke, chair of the Yurok Tribe. “Bottom line, we all want the same thing, and that’s to protect our resources. We understand each other there.”
Though not mentioned in Matt Weiser’s article, it is important to note that this victory against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fast-track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative would not have occurred except for two major actions by the Tribe and their allies.
First, Kashia Pomo Tribal elders, hosted by landowner Archie Richardson, conducted a historic blessing ceremony off Stewarts Point last April 30, the day prior to the closure of the sacred site by the Fish and Game Commission.
The ceremony drew members of the Kashia Pomo, Point Arena Reservation and other Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, environmentalists and human rights activists to stand in solidarity against the unjust closure. This closure openly violated the American Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Tribal elders Violet Chappell and her sister Vivian Parrish Wilder presided over the ceremony that drew 145 people to thank and bless the ocean for the food it has provided to native peoples for thousands of years.
“This food was created by our creator – we treated it with care and respect,” said Chappell on April 30, 2010. “We are here to say respect us for our food – don’t close this area down because it’s part of our religion. I don’t think the Fish and Game Commission would be allowed to close down a Catholic Church, would they?
Second, Reno Franklin, vice-chair of the Tribe, and their lawyer gave an excellent presentation documenting the Tribe’s historic use of the area to the Fish and Game Commission in June 2010, putting the Commission in the situation where they really had no other choice than to allow the Tribe to continue gathering as they have done for thousands of years.
This victory by the Kashia Pomo sets a good precedent in allowing for continued gathering and ceremonies by other Indian Tribes in California marine protected areas. The threat to Tribal fishing and gathering rights has been one of the most controversial aspects of the MLPA Process. On July 21, over 300 members of Indian Tribes and their allies peacefully took over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force in Fort Bragg to speak out in defense of tribal rights.
Unfortunately, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative has completely taken water pollution, oil spills and drilling, military testing, corporate aquaculture and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering in its bizarre concept of “marine protected areas.” The officials that implemented the MLPA Initiative included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest.
For more information and to view photos of the historic ceremony at Danaka, go to Violet Wilder’s facebook page, “KEEP THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHES ACCESSIBLE FOR THE COASTAL TRIBES” (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105945012781743).
danbacher 
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Legislative Hearing to Discuss South Coast MLPA Initiative
by Dan Bacher
Fishermen, environmentalists, Tribal members and the public will have to chance to speak to the Legislature about their concerns regarding the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative on the South Coast during a special hearing at the State Capitol in Sacramento in Room 4202 on Thursday, February 17 from 10 a.m. to noon.
Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), the chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Assemblymember ) said the hearing will focus exclusively on the South Coast Study Region.
“This is an opportunity for everyone who has an interest in the Marine Life Protection Act on the South Coast to talk to the Legislature,” Chesbro said. “The Joint Fisheries Committee will be meeting its responsibility to provide oversight of the Marine Life Protection Act.”
The hearing will start with brief presentations by staff of the MLPA Initiative and the California Department of Fish and Game. Public testimony will follow.
The hearing follows by a day the Committee’s 38th Annual Fisheries Forum, scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the State Capitol, also in Room 4202.
The Feb. 16 forum will include an update and public comment on the MLPA statewide.
The Feb. 16 forum and Feb. 17 hearing follow a Jan. 21 hearing the Committee held in Eureka on the MLPA’s North Coast Study Area.
For more information, call Tom Weseloh, Legislative Fisheries Committee consultant, (707) 445-7014, Andrew Bird, Chesbro communications director, (916) 319-2001.
The Marine Life Protection Act was a law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999 to protect California’s marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage. The program is divided into five study areas. The South Coast Study Area starts at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and stretches south to the border with Mexico.
MLPA critics point out that the MLPA Initiative under Schwarzenegger took water pollution, oil spills and drilling, habitat destruction, corporate aquaculture, military testing, coastal development, wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its strange concept of marine protection.
Critics have also charged the MLPA Initiative, funded privately by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, with the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. These include the Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act, the California Public Records Act, the California Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
While MLPA advocates claim the initiative is based on “science,” the process, has completely excluded Tribal scientists from the Science Advisory Teams that oversee the MLPA (blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/07/3020).
Conflicts of interests by MLPA officials have abounded in all five study regions. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that directed the process included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF)!
However, the violations of law and corruption that underlie the MLPA process are finally being exposed. George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), presented a 25 page document documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative officials to the California Fish and Game Commission during its meeting on February 2 in Sacramento.
The PSO, a coalition of national and regional fishing organizations including the Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California, filed suit in San Diego Superior Court in late January, seeking to overturn South Coast and North Central Coast MLPA closures, alleging violations of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
During his brief public testimony, Osborn exposed the corruption and violations of law by the MLPA’s Blue Ribbon Task Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_04BC1acA).
“After reviewing the documents turned over to us, which previously the BRTF had improperly withheld from the public, we now have evidence, indicating that the public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged Kabuki performance, choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions, in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF,” said Osborn. “Clearly, this has not been the most open and transparent process, as it has so often been described.
In the South Coast MLPA hearing, Osborn will be presenting the same 25 page set of documents that he distributed to the Commission. “We’re pleased to have the hearing and we applaud the Chairman for calling it,” said Osborn.
To see the entire set of BRTF private meeting documents, go to the San Diego Freedivers website:http://www.sandiegofreedivers.com/MLPABRTFofflinemeetingdocumentation.pdf
danbacher Fisheries Forum Set for Feb. 16
| Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, will convene a hearing to focus on South Coast Marine Protected Areas under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative on Feb. 17, 2011 in Sacramento.The hearing of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the State Capitol Building, Room 4202. The hearing will complement the Jan. 21, 2011 North Coast MLPA hearing as well as the February 16 Annual Fisheries Forum where a brief coast wide MLPA presentation will be provided by MLPAI staff.
The South Coast MPA hearing will include brief presentations by MLPAI and Fish and Game Commission staff followed by public testimony. The Joint Committee will convene the 38th Annual Fisheries Forum at the California State Capitol, Room 4202, on February 16 beginning at 10:00 a.m. This hearing will allow the opportunity to address issues currently facing the California fishing and aquaculture industry. The agenda will include many speakers providing testimony on Fisheries and Aquaculture issues throughout California. Speakers include: John Laird, Secretary of Resources; John McCamman, Director Department of Fish and Game; and Adrianna Shea, Fish and Game Commission. Additional panels will include: Resource Agencies Funding/and Implementation of AB 2376, Ocean Science and Monitoring, Committee reports, MLPA Overview, Fish Passage Improvements for Salmon and Steelhead, Watershed Restoration and Coho Salmon, California Sustainable Fisheries, Squid, Sardine and California Wetfish, and Aquaculture Development and Genetically Modified Salmon. For additional information, contact: Tom Weseloh at Tom.Weseloh [at] asm.ca.gov or 707-445-7014. |
danbacher 
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Photo: Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, testifies at the Fish and Game Commission’s MLPA Initiative in Sacramento on February 2.
MLPA officials refused to include Tribal scientists in process
by Dan Bacher
One of the most persistent myths promulgated by advocates of the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative is that the fake “marine protected areas” created under the process are “based on science.”
However, the “science” that the MLPA is based on is extremely shaky. In the 7 years since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger privatized the process by directing the Department of Fish and Game to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the shadowy Resources Legacy Foundation, MLPA officials have refused to consult with Tribal scientists and integrate Tribal knowledge into the process.
No Tribal scientists were allowed to serve on the MLPA Science Advisory Teams, in spite of the fact that North Coast Indian Tribes have large natural resources and fisheries departments staffed with many fishery biologists and other scientists. And it wasn’t until 2010, six years after the MLPA process was privatized, that the first Tribal representative on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In fact, MLPA officials turned down a request by Yurok Tribe lawyers and scientists last August to make a presentation to the MLPA Science Advisory Team. The Yurok Fisheries Department alone has a staff of over 70 people. Among other data, they were going to present data of test results from other marine reserves regarding mussels.
“The data would have shown that there was not a statistically difference in the diversity of species from the harvested and un-harvested areas,” wrote John Corbett, Yurok Tribe Senior Attorney, in a letter to the Science Advisory Team on January 12. “The presentation would have encompassed the work of Smith, J.R. Gong and RF Ambrose, 2008, ‘The Impacts of Human Visitation on Mussel Bed Communities along the California Coast: Are Regulatory Marine Reserves Effective in Protecting these Communities.’”
However the “scientists” and MLPA officials didn’t want to see data that conflicted with their pre-determined conclusions.
“The Yurok Tribe feels an opportunity was lost to work collaboratively to come up with an improved Level of Protection conceptional model,” concluded Corbett. “Although the time is past with the SAT, we will continue to work with the California Fish and Game Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game.”
Thomas O’Rourke, chair of the Yurok Tribe, exposed the ridiculousness of the contention by some scientists that the Tribes, who have been harvesting seaweed, mussels, abalone and other species for thousands of years, are “negatively impacting” the ecosystem during his presentation at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Sacramento on February 2.
“There is no evidence that tribes have had a negative impact upon the ecosystem,” said O’Rourke. “They have been part of the ecosystem since time immemorial. Science needs to recognize people as part of the ecosystem. If you don’t include people, the proposal will fail. Our rights are not negotiable.”
Likewise, Mike Belchik, fisheries biologist and head of the Yurok Fisheries Program, criticized the “flawed assumptions and flawed science” underlying the MLPA. “ The idea that to get a natural baseline you subtract humans has been largely discredited,” emphasized Belchik.
During the historic direct action protest by a coalition of over 50 Tribes and their allies in Fort Bragg, Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, exposed the institutional racism and refusal to incorporate Tribal science that underlies the fake “science” of the MLPA process.
“The MLPA process completely disregards tribal gathering rights and only permits discussion of commercial and recreational harvest,” he said. “The whole process is inherently flawed by institutionalized racism. It doesn’t recognize Tribes as political entities, or Tribal biologists as legitimate scientists.”
On a lighter note, during his testimony in a Legislative hearing about the MLPA in Eureka on January 20, Yurok Tribal elder Walt Lara told a story about four people on an airplane.
“One was a Doctor, the second was a Scientist, the third was a Boy Scout and the fourth was an Indian,” said Lara. “When the plane started to go down, they discovered there were only three parachutes.”
Lara continued, “The Doctor said he had saved many lives, and would continue to save many people, so he had to live. The Doctor grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane. The Scientist said he had made a lot of important discoveries and he was the smartest guy in the world, so he grabbed the second parachute and jumped.”
“The Indian told the Boy Scout, ‘Look, I’ve lived a long life, and you have your whole life ahead of you. You take the last parachute.’”
“The Boy Scout said, ‘No need for that. The smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.’”
Walt Lara has been a relentless defender of tribal rights and advocate for salmon for decades – and provided me and other reporters with a detailed first person account of the Klamath River fish kill in September 2002 as the unprecedented environmental tragedy unfolded.
Under Schwarzenegger, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was eviscerated. MLPA officials took water pollution, oil spills and drilling, corporate aquaculture, wave energy projects, habitat destruction and all other human uses of the ocean than fishing and gathering off the table in their bizarre concept of “marine protection.” The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the process included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interests.
The MLPA Initiative has violated numerous state, federal and international laws. These include the California Public Records Act, Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, California Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
danbacher | 640_img_1685.jpg original image ( 3456×2304) MLPA officials refused to include Tribal scientists in process by Dan Bacher |
| One of the most persistent myths promulgated by advocates of the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative is that the fake “marine protected areas” created under the process are “based on science.”However, the “science” that the MLPA is based on is extremely shaky. In the 7 years since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger privatized the process by directing the Department of Fish and Game to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the shadowy Resources Legacy Foundation, MLPA officials have refused to consult with Tribal scientists and integrate Tribal knowledge into the process. No Tribal scientists were allowed to serve on the MLPA Science Advisory Teams, in spite of the fact that North Coast Indian Tribes have natural resources and fisheries departments staffed with many fishery biologists and other scientists. And it wasn’t until 2010, six years after the MLPA process was privatized, that the first Tribal representative on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In fact, MLPA officials turned down a request by Yurok Tribe lawyers and scientists last August to make a presentation to the MLPA Science Advisory Team. The Yurok Fisheries Department alone has a staff of over 70 people. Among other data, they were going to present data of test results from other marine reserves regarding mussels. “The data would have shown that there was not a statistically difference in the diversity of species from the harvested and un-harvested areas,” wrote John Corbett, Yurok Tribe Senior Attorney, in a letter to the Science Advisory Team on January 12. “The presentation would have encompassed the work of Smith, J.R. Gong and RF Ambrose, 2008, ‘The Impacts of Human Visitation on Mussel Bed Communities along the California Coast: Are Regulatory Marine Reserves Effective in Protecting these Communities.’” However the “scientists” and MLPA officials didn’t want to see data that conflicted with their pre-determined conclusions. “The Yurok Tribe feels an opportunity was lost to work collaboratively to come up with an improved Level of Protection conceptional model,” concluded Corbett. “Although the time is past with the SAT, we will continue to work with the California Fish and Game Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game.” Thomas O’Rourke, chair of the Yurok Tribe, exposed the ridiculousness of the contention by some scientists that the Tribes, who have been harvesting seaweed, mussels, abalone and other species for thousands of years, are “negatively impacting” the ecosystem during his presentation at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Sacramento on February 2. “There is no evidence that tribes have had a negative impact upon the ecosystem,” said Thomas O’Rourke, Chair of the Yurok Tribal Council. “They have been part of the ecosystem since time immemorial. Science needs to recognize people as part of the ecosystem. If you don’t include people, the proposal will fail. Our rights are not negotiable.” During the historic direct action protest by a coalition of over 50 Tribes and their allies in Fort Bragg, Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, exposed the institutional racism and refusal to incorporate Tribal science that underlies the fake “science” of the MLPA process. “The MLPA process completely disregards tribal gathering rights and only permits discussion of commercial and recreational harvest,” he said. “The whole process is inherently flawed by institutionalized racism. It doesn’t recognize Tribes as political entities, or Tribal biologists as legitimate scientists.” On a lighter note, during his testimony in a Legislative hearing about the MLPA in Eureka on January 21, Yurok Tribal elder Walt Lara told a story about four people on an airplane. “One was a Doctor, the second was a Scientist, the third was a Boy Scout and the fourth was an Indian,” said Lara. “When the plane started to go down, they discovered there were only three parachutes.” Lara continued, “The Doctor said he had saved many lives, and would continue to save many people, so he had to live. The Doctor grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane. The Scientist said he had made a lot of important discoveries and he was the smartest guy in the world, so he grabbed the second parachute and jumped.” “The Indian told the Boy Scout, ‘Look, I’ve lived a long life, and you have your whole life ahead of you. You take the last parachute.”" “The Boy Scout said, ‘No need for that. The smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.’” Walt Lara has been a relentless defender of tribal rights and advocate for salmon for decades – and provided me and other reporters with a detailed first person account of the Klamath River fish kill in September 2002 as the unprecedented environmental tragedy unfolded. Under Schwarzenegger, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was eviscerated. MLPA officials took water pollution, oil spills and drilling, corporate aquaculture, wave energy projects, habitat destruction and all other human uses of the ocean than fishing and gathering off the table in their bizarre concept of “marine protection.” The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the process included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interests. The MLPA Initiative has violated numerous state, federal and international laws. These include the California Public Records Act, Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, California Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. |
danbacher Salmon Water Now’s Part 1 of 6: Salmon Speak to Governor Brown
With a new administration in Sacramento, there is a chance that the collapse of California’s wild salmon runs can be reversed, according to Bruce Tokars of Salmon Water Now.
“New eyes looking at the problem and potential solutions bring a prospect of hope,” said Tokars. “Salmon Water Now is presenting a six-week, six-part video series beginning today. We will be presenting one new video each week as individual short pieces. After all have been made available we will, on the seventh week, tie them all together as one.”
Tokars is now pleased to present: Salmon Speak to Governor Brown: Part One.
Here is more detail about the series along with links to the video on Vimeo and YouTube. As always, sharing and embedding is encouraged!
If Salmon Could Speak to Governor Brown: A six-part series
“What if salmon could speak?” said Tokars. “We imagine that they would have a lot to say about how difficult their lives have been because of the way humans have treated their environment. The past decade has not been kind to salmon but it is not too late to fix the problems that have pushed wild California salmon to the edge of extinction.”
“The person who can have the greatest impact on reversing salmon’s march to oblivion is California’s past and current governor, Jerry Brown. The people he hires or appoints to manage and repair California’s water system can make a difference. But they need to follow sound science and reject the hysterical political grandstanding of those who only care about their own greedy ambitions,” noted Tokars.
This six-part series of short videos explains what needs to be done to help salmon recover. The five parts are:
Fix the Delta
Habitat Restoration
Building Things
Water Conservation
The Best Science
The Human Costs
Part One: Fix the Delta This is the starting point. Getting the Delta back to health will require stronger flows and much less water diversions. But if sound, peer-reviewed science is followed, then we believe that salmon can come back to health, too.
Watch it here:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5eefne0hA&hd=1
Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/19564781
Bruce Tokars www.salmonwaternow.org
