danbacher “Our study shows that the international community is faced with a choice between two paths,” Dr. Sale says. “One option is to continue a narrow focus on creating more protected areas with little evidence that they curtail biodiversity loss. That path will fail. The other path requires that we get serious about addressing the growth in size and consumption rate of our global population.”
Photo: Last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an unprecedented disaster for fish, wildlife, fishing communities and the entire ecoystem. Unfortunately, the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in southern California was chaired by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association and an ardent advocate of new oil drilling off the West Coast. What type of marine “protection” is overseen by a big oil lobbyist?
burning-oil-rig-explosion…
by Dan Bacher
While some governments and environmental NGOs have pushed controversial “marine protected areas” in the U.S. and throughout the world as the solution to “protecting” the ocean and maintaining biodiversity in marine ecosystems, a United Nations study released on July 28 said continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as “protected areas” is “insufficient” to stem global biodiversity loss.
The assessment offers a challenge to those who promote projects like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in California, a privately funded program that creates so-called marine protected areas that fail to protect California marine waters from oil spills and drilling, wave and wind energy projects, water pollution, habitat destruction, military testing and all other human impacts upon the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Despite impressively rapid growth of protected land and marine areas worldwide – today totalling over 100,000 in number and covering 17 million square kilometers of land and 2 million square kilometers of oceans – “biodiversity is in steep decline,” according to a comprehensive assessment published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
“Expected scenarios of human population growth and consumption levels indicate that cumulative human demands will impose an unsustainable toll on the Earth’s ecological resources and services accelerating the rate at which biodiversity is being loss,” stated a news release from the United Nations University.
The scientists say current and future human requirements will also “exacerbate the challenge of effectively implementing protected areas while suggesting that effective biodiversity conservation requires new approaches that address underlying causes of biodiversity loss – including the growth of both human population and resource consumption.”
“Biodiversity is humanity’s life-support system, delivering everything from food, to clean water and air, to recreation and tourism, to novel chemicals that drive our advanced civilization,” says lead author Camilo Mora of University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Yet there is an increasingly well-documented global trend in biodiversity loss, triggered by a host of human activities.”
“Ongoing biodiversity loss and its consequences for humanity’s welfare are of great concern and have prompted strong calls for expanding the use of protected areas as a remedy,” says fellow author Peter F. Sale, Assistant Director of the United Nations University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health. “While many protected areas have helped preserve some species at local scales, promotion of this strategy as a global solution to biodiversity loss, and the advocacy of protection for specific proportions of habitats, have occurred without adequate assessment of their potential effectiveness in achieving the goal.”
Drs. Mora and Sale warn that long-term failure of the “protected areas” strategy could “erode public and political support for biodiversity conservation and that the disproportionate allocation of available resources and human capital into this strategy precludes the development of more effective approaches.”
The authors based their study on existing literature and global data on human threats and biodiversity loss. “Protected areas are very useful conservation tools, but unfortunately, the steep continuing rate of biodiversity loss signals the need to reassess our heavy reliance on this strategy,” stated Dr. Sale.
The five limitations of reliance on protected areas
The study says continuing heavy reliance on the protected areas strategy has five key technical and practical limitations. The first of these limitations is that “protected areas only ameliorate certain human threats.”
“Biodiversity loss is triggered by a host of human stressors including habitat loss, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive species,” according to the study. “Yet protected areas are useful primarily against overexploitation and habitat loss. Since the remaining stressors are just as deleterious, biodiversity can be expected to continue declining as it has done until now. The study shows that approximately 83% of protected areas on the sea and 95% of protected areas on land are located in areas with continuing high impact from multiple human stressors.”
This conclusion by the scientists echoes one of the key criticisms of California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative – the “marine protected areas” created by this widely-contested process don’t comprehensively protect the ocean from the main threats to the ocean and marine life in California. These threats include massive water diversions out of the Bay-Delta Estuary, water pollution, oil spills and drilling, wave and wind energy projects, military testing, habitat destruction and all other human impacts other than sustainable fishing and gathering.
Ironically, even before the imposition of these largely redundant ocean closures that are now being contested by coalition of fishing organizations in court, California marine and anadromous fisheries had the strictest recreational and commercial fishing regulations on the entire planet. MLPA advocates refuse to acknowledge the existence of one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, the Rockfish Conservation Area, that encompass the entire continental shelf of California from the Oregon border to the Mexican border!
A second limitation cited in the study is “underfunding.” “Global expenditures on protected areas today are estimated at US $6 billion per year and many areas are insufficiently funded for effective management,” the assessment notes.
“Effectively managing existing protected areas requires an estimated $24 billion per year – four times current expenditure. Despite strong advocacy for protected areas, budget growth has been slow and it seems unlikely that it will be possible to raise funding appropriate for effective management as well as for creation of the additional protected areas as is advocated,” according to the report.
Again, the assessment echoes the criticism by fishermen and grassroots environmentalists that there is not sufficient funding for enforcement of new marine protected areas (MPAs) under the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. The game wardens refer to these new MPAs as “marine poaching areas,” since they will only spread a force of wardens already unable to effectively monitor existing reserves even thinner. In fact, Jerry Karnow, the president of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, has repeatedly asked the California Fish and Game Commission to not create new marine protected areas unless sufficient funding is provided to hire new wardens.
The three other limitations pinpointed by the scientists are:
• the expected growth in protected area coverage is too slow
• the size and connectivity of protected areas are inadequate
• conflicts with human development.
“Humanity’s footprint on Earth is ever expanding in efforts to meet basic needs like housing and food,” the scientists stated. “If it did prove possible to place the recommended 30% of world habitats under protection, intense conflicts with competing human interests are inevitable – many people would be displaced and livelihoods impaired. Forcing a trade-off between human development and sustaining biodiversity is unlikely to lead to a solution with biodiversity preserved.”
Conclusion: biodiversity loss underestimated, effectiveness of protected areas overestimated.
“Given the considerable effort and widespread support for the creation of protected areas over the past 30 years, we were surprised to find so much evidence for their failure to effectively address the global problem of biodiversity loss,” Dr. Mora concludes. “Clearly, the biodiversity loss problem has been underestimated and the ability of protected areas to solve this problem overestimated.”
The authors underline the correlations between growing world population, natural resources consumption and biodiversity loss to suggest that biodiversity loss is unlikely to be stemmed without directly addressing the ecological footprint of humanity. Based upon previous research, the study shows that under current conditions of human consumption and conservative scenarios of human population growth, the cummulative use of natural resources of humanity will amount to the productivity of up to 27 Earths by 2050.
“Protected areas are a valuable tool in the fight to preserve biodiversity. We need them to be well managed, and we need more of them, but they alone cannot solve our biodiversity problems,” adds Dr. Mora. “We need to recognize this limitation promptly and to allocate more time and effort to the complicated issue of human overpopulation and consumption.”
“Our study shows that the international community is faced with a choice between two paths,” Dr. Sale says. “One option is to continue a narrow focus on creating more protected areas with little evidence that they curtail biodiversity loss. That path will fail. The other path requires that we get serious about addressing the growth in size and consumption rate of our global population.”
Tribal scientists and indigenous knowledge often ignored
The conclusions of this assessment will be debated widely in the months and years to come. However, one shortcoming of studies by these and other scientists is that they persistently fail to include traditional knowledge and scientific data available from indigenous communities throughout the world in developing solutions to protecting land-based and marine ecosystems.
One of the most extreme examples of this institutional racism and scientific arrogance is in California where MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist from the Yurok Fisheries Program, dispelled the false notion that the MLPA is a “science-based” process when he gave a brief presentation challenging the assumptions of the MLPA “science” at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Stockton on June 29 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/07/15/tribal-science-challenges-mlpa-initiative-assumptions).
One of these assumptions is: “For the purpose of comparison, an unfished system is a marine reserve that is successful in protecting that ecosystem from all effects of fishing and other extractive uses within the MPA.”
“With regard to local shoreline systems, where there is access, there are no ‘unfished’ systems,” said Belchik. “People have coexisted with these resources for many thousands of years; the appropriate conceptual organization foundation is that systems have been managed, and what is seen is the result of millennia of management.”
One key reason why marine protected areas aren’t producing the results that scientists predicted is because the governments and NGOs didn’t consult with indigenous people who successfully managed marine and land ecosystems for thousands of years.
In the infamous case of the Chagros Islands Marine Protected Area, Greenpeace and other corporate environmental NGOs collaborated with the British and U.S. governments to deny the native Chagossians the right of return to their homeland. While US and British government and NGO representatives claimed that the marine protected areas were designed to “protect” the ocean, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and published on the UK Guardian website reveal that they were actually used to protect U.S. and British “interests” in the Indian Ocean.
The use of a marine reserve to deny the Chagossians their human rights has a direct parallel in efforts to deny indigenous people their rights in controversial “marine protected areas” being implemented under the MLPA Initiative in California and in the Colorado River Delta in Baja California in the “Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California.” For a complete discussion of the Wikileaks cables regarding the Chagos Marine Protected Area scandal, go to:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/12/23/18667425.php.
For the UN University news release, go to: http://www.sciencenewsline.com/nature/2011072817400007.html. For the abstract and journal article, go the Marine Ecology Progress Series, http://www.int-res.com/journals/meps. Unfortunatley, while abstracts are available to all users, full article .pdfs are available to subscribers only.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
danbacher “A peripheral canal or tunnel that takes large amounts of fresh water from the Delta would devastate families, farmers, and businesses in our community.
Photo of Rep. McNerney announcing the passage of the Healthy Communities Water Supply Act at Buckley Cove Park in Stockton courtesy of McNerney’s Office.
waterbill_pressconf_20090…
Representative Jerry McNerney blasts peripheral canal plans
by Dan Bacher
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-11) slammed state and federal plans to build a peripheral canal in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta during his speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on July 27.
In his remarks, Rep. McNerney also shared his strong support for landowners in the Delta area who are fighting attempts by the State of California to conduct surveys and studies without permission on private land.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to stand shoulder to shoulder with landowners from the San Joaquin Delta who are fighting against the peripheral canal,” said McNerney. “Without permission, the state is sending its employees onto private farmland to conduct the surveys and studies it would need to build a canal.”
“Delta farmers aren’t standing for it,” affirmed McNerney. “Delta farmers have taken their case to the courts, and I urge them to keep fighting for their property rights and the health of our Delta.”
“A peripheral canal or tunnel that takes large amounts of fresh water from the Delta would devastate families, farmers, and businesses in our community. A canal will cause saltwater intrusion, destroy thousands of acres of farmland, and devastate our water quality. It’s time for state and federal agencies to respect the Delta and its people. We won’t tolerate anything less,” he concluded.
Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and board member of Restore the Delta, applauded McNerney for speaking out against plans to build the peripheral canal.
“McNerney is one of the most celebral, educated and thoughtful members of Congress,” said Jennings. “We had no doubt that, after thoughtfully analyzing the facts, he would could come out staunchly against the peripheral canal that would devastate farming, busienss and fishing communities in the Delta.”
“Anyone who values the natural resources of the estuary and Delta communities would inevitably come to the conclusion that a peripheral canal would be the executioner’s’ warrant for this estuary,” said Jennings.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, also praised McNerney for his statement. “Congressman McNerney not only came out in support of Delta farmers today, but he was the first Congressional Representative to outright oppose the peripheral canal. Kudos to Congressman McNerney!” said Barrigan-Parrilla.
A video of McNerney’s floor statement can be viewed at: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=696496882634&oid=215241308510238&comments
McNerney joins a growing coalition of fishing groups, family farmers, Indian Tribes, environmental organizations, environmental justice communities, Delta residents and other Californians opposed to the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel.
The Brown and Obama administrations, in the footsteps of the Schwarzenegger administration, are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to divert Sacramento River water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
As McNerney spoke out against the canal, one of the greatest fish kills in California history continued to take place in the state and federal Delta pumps.
An astounding total of 8,942,347 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 385,392 striped bass, 49,812 largemouth bass, 67,383 bluegill, 66,403 white catfish, 20,178 channel catfish, 91,956 threadfin shad, 166,336 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were “salvaged” in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 21, 2011, according to DFG data. However, an array of scientific studies indicate that the actual numbers of fish killed in the pumping facilities is many times larger than the “salvage” counts.
Record amounts of water are being exported from the Delta, even though southern California reservoirs are full and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is selling water for cut-rate prices. For more information, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/07/22.
The Brown and Obama administrations, rather than exporting record amounts of water and presiding over one of the largest fish kills in California history, should instead work to restore Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. They should heed the call by the majority of Californians to abandon plans put in place by the worst Governor in California history, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to build a peripheral canal or tunnel.
“The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn’t make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective,” summed up Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who are now working to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam. “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.”
For action alerts and more information on the battle to restore the Delta, go to: http://www.restorethedelta.org.
danbacher Independent journalist David Gurney reports some very good news – the Noyo News (http://www.noyonews.net) is back after a malware hack attack!
imga0010-300×168.jpg
by Dan Bacher
The Noyo News, published by independent journalist David Gurney, is again publishing news and commentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, ocean industrialization and other environmental issues.
“We are happy to report that after some effort by web hosters, Google, and yours truly, the malware hack attack on Noyo News is now cleaned up and gone,” said Gurney. “You may now once again visit the site with no worries.”
“The incident is being reported to proper authorities, who may be able to track the perpetrators by their inevitable electronic trail,” emphasized Gurney.
The MLPA “Initiative” creates a “network” of suspect “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering. A big oil lobbyist, agribusiness hack, marina developer, real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest oversaw the creation of these so-called “marine protected areas.”
“Meanwhile, please contribute to Noyo News legal fund, in their fight to hold the MLPA ‘Initiative’ and their billionaire corporate backers accountable for all actions committed on the North Coast during their deceptive and illegal ‘public’ process,” urged Gurney.
In April 2010, Gurney, at the request of MLPA “Initiative” executive director Ken Wiseman, was illegally arrested while covering a “working session” of the North Coast Study Region of the MLPA Initiative. His arrest prompted widespread support by First Amendment and civil liberties advocates, including the Newspaper Publishers Association of California and the First Amendment Foundation.
I am very glad that Noyo News is back – and I hope that the perpetuators of the malware hack attack are found and prosecuted.
A PayPal button appears at the site to facilitate donations.
For more information, contact David Gurney at:http://www.noyonews.net.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The “science” backing the MLPA Initiative is extremely suspect, since MLPA officials refused to incorporate scientific studies from California Indian Tribes and other scientists who disagreed with the Initiative’s pre-ordained conclusions. MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
danbacher The announcement of “improved” Delta smelt numbers was issued as one of the greatest fish kills in California history continues to take place at the state and federal Delta pumps.
Photo of tow net survey courtesy of the Department of Fish and Game.
jerricanet2.jpg
by Dan Bacher
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) officials announced on July 20 that young Delta smelt abundance this year roughly doubles that of last year, but noted that this is “but a small fraction of their historical abundance.”
“The improvement is likely due in large part to higher than usual flows from the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers this year that resulted in better habitat conditions and water quality,” according to a DFG news release.
The announcement of “improved” Delta smelt numbers was issued as one of the greatest fish kills in California history continues to take place in the state and federal Delta pumps.
A horrific total of 8,942,347 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 385,392 striped bass, 49,812 largemouth bass, 67,383 bluegill, 66,403 white catfish, 20,178 channel catfish, 91,956 threadfin shad, 166,336 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were “salvaged” in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 21, 2011, according to DFG data.
The overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to dwarf the actual salvage counts, according to “A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,” prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
Delta water exports may reach a record high!
The massive loss of fish life in the “predatory” pumps occurs as the pumps are currently exporting record amounts of water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
“Exports from the Bay-Delta may reach an all-time high in 2011,” according to Spreck Rosecrans, an economic analyst at Environmental Defense (http://blogs.edf.org/waterfront/2011/07/15/delta-exports-projected-to-reach-record-level-in-2011/). “Through July 15, pumping for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project has totaled 4.86 million acre-feet. With ample supplies in northern reservoirs and Sierra rivers still full of melting snow, it is likely that the pumps will continue to run at or near capacity through the end of the water year (September 30).”
The annual export total is projected to reach 6,610,000 acre-feet – 140,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, Rosecrans noted.
“The record export level is expected even though pumping levels were reduced not only during much of the winter and spring to protect salmon and other endangered fish but also in the late fall and early winter due to mechanical problems at State Water Project facilities,” said Rosecranz.
At the same time, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is wholesaling water at discount prices, since southern California reservoirs have largely filled (http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_surplus11.3abcf4c.html). So all of these fish are dying – even though southern California is flush with water this year!
Delta smelt are still on the verge of extinction
As massive amounts of water continue to be exported from the Delta, the Delta smelt are still in great peril, in spite of this being a wet year.
The 20-Millimeter Survey “index” of young Delta smelt abundance, developed yearly since 1995 and named after the approximate size of fish it collects, was 8.0 this year. By comparison, the index in 2010 was 3.8 and its record high was 39.7 in 1999.
The Summer Tow Net Survey index of slightly-older Delta smelt abundance – developed yearly since 1959 and named after the type of net used to collect fish – was 2.2 this year while the index in 2010 was 0.8 and the record high was 62.5 in 1978.
“The increased number of young Delta smelt is encouraging, but because it is still early in their one-year life cycle, the abundance of adults may or may not increase similarly,” according to Marty Gingras, DFG Supervising Biologist. “DFG will continue to monitor the population and at the conclusion of the Fall Midwater Trawl Survey in December will calculate and then release an index of sub-adult Delta smelt abundance.”
Because it is exceptionally difficult to determine the actual number of Delta smelt, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) biologists use survey data to develop “indices” of the species’ abundance. An index is a number that is likely to vary in direct proportion to abundance.
For example, if a hypothetical index were to double from 4 to 8 then abundance would also have doubled (e.g., from 200,000 to 400,000).
Smelt collapse part of a larger decline
Delta smelt are an indicator species that occur only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The finger-sized fish was historically one of the most abundant in the Delta. However, the species declined substantially, due to massive exports of water to agribusiness and southern California and other factors, and was listed as “threatened” under the California and Federal Endangered Species acts (ESA) in 1993,
After a further decline, the species was designated as “endangered” in 2010 under the California ESA.
The collapse of Delta smelt occurs in the context of the Pelagic Organism Decline (POD). Since 2005, state and federal scientists have documented the alarming decline of pelagic (open water) species including Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and young striped bass. Factors behind the decline include increases in water exports, toxics, invasive species and ammonia pollution from sewage treatment plants.
“The state and federal governments had the opportunity this year to reverse the decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish species,” said Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA). “But what they are doing now is minimizing the rebound of fisheries that occurs in a wet year by pumping water at the maximum rate. The fish ’salvage’ numbers are just the tip of the iceberg of the fish that are lost in the state and federal pumps.”
Rather than taking long-needed action to stop the carnage at the water export facilities, the Brown and Obama administrations, in the foot steps of the Schwarzenegger administration, are instead pushing for the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to facilitate the export of more northern California to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
For more information, go to: www.dfg.ca.gov/delta/data/townet/indices.asp?species=3 and http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=34731.
danbacher “We’ve said from the beginning tribal rights are nonnegotiable,” Thomas O’Rourke Sr., Chairman of the Yurok Tribe, affirmed. “We’ve said that because we are in charge of our destiny. We will never concede our rights or governing authority to the state over our waters.”
Georgiana Myers, Yurok Tribal member and traditional gatherer, testifies at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Stockton on June 29.
by Dan Bacher
On June 29, the California Fish and Game Commission voted 4 to 1 at its meeting in Stockton to approve a “preferred alternative,” an amended version of the “unified proposal” developed by fishing, environmental and tribal stakeholders to create a network of marine protected areas on the North Coast.
Commissioners Richard Rogers, Michael Sutton, Jack Baylis and Jim Kellogg voted for the alternative, while Commissioner Daniel Richards voted against it.
Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird, a strong supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, claimed that the Commission decision was “a major victory in the effort to establish Marine Protected Areas on the north coast of California.” He applauded the Commission for voting for an exception for area tribes to “continue hundreds of years of subsistence fishing.”
“As we promised earlier this year, we have devised a pathway to begin the process to allow tribes on the North Coast to continue ancestral fishing practices in many of the areas most important to them,” said Laird. “This is an extremely important decision to move the Marine Life Protection Act forward and to show respect for the sovereign tribal nations.”
Laird said the plan will allow tribal gathering to continue in State Marine Conservation Areas (but not State Marine Reserves) by tribal users. “The gathering can continue where a factual record can be established that shows ancestral take or tribal gathering practices by a federally-recognized tribe in that specific Marine Protected Area,” he stated.
“We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to work closely with the sovereign tribes of the North Coast and hope this provides a framework for future efforts on important conservation and environmental issues,” said Laird.
Unfortunately, Laird failed to asked Tribal leaders about how they felt about this so-called “major victory.”
Yurok Tribe: “an unjust and patronizing step”
In contrast with Laird’s attempt to give a positive spin to the decision, the decision actually “failed to affirm traditional tribal gathering,” according to a statement from the Yurok Tribe, the largest Indian Tribe in California with 5,500 members.
According to “Option 1″ that the Commission adopted, tribal members sixteen or older would have to use a state recreational fishing license in addition to a Tribal ID and be limited by state regulations.
“I cannot accept the part about the fishing license,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “The Fish and Game has taken an unjust and patronizing step. No one can separate these resources from our culture.”
Option 1 states: “Tribal gathering to continue in SMCAs (not SMRs), by specific tribal users, where a factual record can be established that shows ancestral take or tribal gathering practices by a federally-recognized tribe in that specific MPA (marine protected area), and by allowing only those tribes to take specified species with specified gear types.”
The Northern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the Inter-Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, representing all of the recognized tribes in the study region, proposed a motion that would have affirmed traditional tribal harvest managed by individual Tribal governments.
The motion states: “Consistent with the tribal gathering general concepts described in Option 1…Traditional, non-commercial tribal uses shall be allowed to continue unimpeded within the proposed SMCAs and SMRMs in the MLPA’s North Coast Study Region for all federally recognized tribes that can establish that they have practiced such uses within a specific SMCA or SMRMA.”
However, the Commission refused to approve that motion, instead adopting a version of “Option 1″ with the controversial new language as the “preferred alternative.”
“We’ve said from the beginning tribal rights are nonnegotiable,” Chairman O’Rourke Sr. affirmed. “We’ve said that because we are in charge of our destiny. We will never concede our rights or governing authority to the state over our waters.”
Tribal members will gather, regardless of Commission decision
Tribal members at the meeting indicated that they would continue to gather as indigenous people have done for thousands of years, regardless of the Commission’s decision.
“Even if traditional gathering is banned, we will still continue to gather,” said Georgiana Myers, Yurok Tribal member, during the public comment period prior to the Commission vote.
To protest proposed restrictions on coastal gathering proposed under the MLPA Initiative, members of the Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Karuk and other Tribes before the meeting on Saturday, June 18 gathered seaweed, mussels and clams at three beaches on the North Coast.
“Our message is ‘Don’t mussel us out,’” said Dania Rose Colegrove, Hoopa Tribal Citizen and organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition. “We’re here to stay – we’ve been gathering here for thousands of years.”
She pointed out the hypocrisy of the MLPA’s “marine protected areas” restricting tribal gathering and fishing, while doing nothing to stop ocean industrialists from destroying the marine ecosystem.
“How is it that the MLPA doesn’t protect the ocean from big oil, wave energy projects, water pollution, military testing and all of the people who want to mess up the ocean, the people with big money,” Colegrove emphasized. “Now the North Coast has been opened up to military testing by the Navy.”
For more information about Tribal resistance to the MLPA Initiative, go to: www.klamathjustice.blogspot.com.
Commissioners voice concerns with MLPA Initiative
Two Fish and Game Commissioners expressed their concerns with the MLPA “preferred alternative” and the controversial process in general.
Commissioner Richards, the one Commissioner who voted against the MLPA plan, responded to DFG Director John McCamman’s statement that the cost of enforcement of the MLPA coastwide would be a “a range from $9 million to $43 million.”
“I have one thing to interject here,” he stated. “If any organization I ever had anything to do with turned in a business plan, and said their budget was somewhere between $200,000, and $4.6 million, I would say, “YOU’RE FIRED!”
In spite of voting for the “preferred alternative,” Kellogg declared, “I’m for Option Zero. Things are fine the way they are.”
A broad coalition, ranging from fishing industry representatives to environmental groups, from county governments to Native American governments, supports the decriminalization of the traditional tribal harvest of coastal resources. Representatives of fishing groups, environmental organizations and Tribes from throughout Northern California spoke in support of protecting traditional tribal gathering and the proposal by the Northern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association during the meeting’s public comment period.
The “preferred alternative,” along with two alternatives including “Option Zero, will now undergo review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Commission is planning to adopt the final plan for North Coast marine protected areas in early 2012.
This option, as approved by the Fish and Game Commission, will be reviewed during an environmental impact study over the next several months. If the commission approves the findings of the study, the newest Marine Protected Areas will be established on the North Coast.
Commission chooses October 1 as effective date for South Coast MPAs
The Commission, in another controversial 4 to 1 vote the same day, chose Oct. 1, 2011 as the “effective date” for implementation of the marine protected areas in Southern California under the MLPA Initiative.
On Dec. 15, 2010 the Commission adopted regulations to create a network of “marine protected areas” (MPAs) in the South Coast study region. This network of 49 MPAs and three special closures covers approximately 354 square miles of state waters and represents approximately 15 percent of the region.
“The regulatory package is being prepared for the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and the date selected today allows time for OAL review and approval, finalizing the lawmaking process,” stated Jordan Traverso, DFG spokesperson.
A coalition of fishing groups opposed the selection of the October 1 date, noting that “process of developing Marine Protected Areas in the South Coast study area was significantly flawed.”
“The Commission acted without the required statutory authority to act,” said George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO). “It violated the Coastal Act and it violated the California Environmental Quality Act. The process mandated by the MLPA was subverted by the MLPA ‘Initiative’ and by the creation and actions of the BRTF.”
Osborn emphasized that public records “clearly demonstrate that members of the the BRTF engaged in private meetings not open to the public or noticed to the public, in which policy matters were discussed and decided upon before the so-called ‘public’ meetings of the BRTF. We believe the process was illegal and violates California statutes. The MLPAI was anything but ‘open and transparent as is so often proclaimed.”
United Anglers of Southern California, the Coastside Fishing Club and Bob Fletcher are engaged in multi-tiered litigation in San Diego Superior Court challenging the legality of the MLPA Initiative. To date, they have won three court victories in a row.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
danbacher “With regard to local shoreline systems, where there is access, there are no ‘unfished’ systems,” said Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist from the Yurok Fisheries Program. “People have coexisted with these resources for many thousands of years; the appropriate conceptual organization foundation is that systems have been managed, and what is seen is the result of millennia of management.”
Tribal Science Challenges MLPA Initiative Assumptions
By Dan Bacher
State officials and proponents of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative have continually claimed in press releases and testimony before the Fish and Game Commission that the initiative is “science-based.”
However, the claims that that process is based on “science” ring hollow when one considers that the scientific perspective of tribal biologists was never included in the MLPA process since the initiative was privatized in 2004.
Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist from the Yurok Fisheries Program, dispelled the false notion that the MLPA is a “science-based” process when he gave a brief presentation challenging the assumptions of the MLPA “science” at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Stockton on June 29.
After he and other representatives of North Coast Indian Tribes spoke, the Commission approved a “preferred alternative” that “failed to protect traditional tribal gathering rights,” according to a Yurok Tribe press release.
Belchik began his power point presentation, “Marine Life Protection Act: a Tribal Science Perspective,” with a key question: “How much will an ecosystem differ from an unfished ecosystem if one or more proposed activities are allowed?”
“Let’s stop right there; in land management the idea that ‘human-free’ is the natural status of an ecosystem has been discredited,” said Belchik.
“For example, intense study has taken place on Native American fire management and its relationship to landscape,” Belchik continued. “Redwood National Park has incorporated Native American fire management concepts to its management of the Bald Hills area to preserve prairie systems that provide habitat for key species such as Roosevelt elk and golden eagles.”
The false assumption of maximum harvest
He then challenged the MLPA Initiative’s “Levels of Protection Assumption” that ”any extractive activity can occur at high intensity.“
He emphasized that this assumption:
• Assumes that recreational harvest will occur to the maximum extent permitted by law.
• Fails to take into account Yurok Tribe’s experience and ability to manage its natural resources.
He noted that the remoteness, difficult access and challenging weather of the North Coast limits the ability of fishermen and gatherers to harvest as he showed the Commissioners and audience photos of remote, inaccessible areas of the North Coast.
“Some things may change, some won’t,” Belchik stated. “Access is a huge issue in this area. Regulations may change, cliffs won’t.”
Belchik, noting that “a model is only as good as its founding assumptions,” went on to say that the “flawed assumption of maximum harvest has caused the entire model to render faulty decisions regarding level of protection.”
In addition, issues of scale are not addressed by the MLPA. “Is the concern the level of use at access points, or is the entire section of coast line considered as a whole with regard to ecosystem function that is assessed?” he pointed out.
He also noted that issues of natural mortality are not addressed (i.e. what is it that really controls populations of target species) by the initiative.
The false assumption of ‘unfished’ shoreline ecosystems
Belchik then challenged the second major assumption of the MLPA: “For the purpose of comparison, an unfished system is a marine reserve that is successful in protecting that ecosystem from all effects of fishing and other extractive uses within the MPA.”
“With regard to local shoreline systems, where there is access, there are no ‘unfished’ systems,” Belchik countered. “People have coexisted with these resources for many thousands of years; the appropriate conceptual organization foundation is that systems have been managed, and what is seen is the result of millennia of management.”
He pointed out that there are many local examples of smaller unfished areas that are not currently in a marine reserve of any kind, but are simply difficult or impossible to access, or fishing is extremely limited due to weather, waves, and access, including the False Klamath and Lost Coast regions of the North Coast.
“Even though the entire area has been fished for millennia, parts of it remain inaccessible,” Belchik concluded.
A history of disregard for tribal science and gathering rights
MLPA and state officials have refused to consider scientific data provided by Indian Tribes in the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs) under the initiative, since it challenges the false assumptions that these MPAs are based on.
They refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists.
MLPA and state officials also turned down a request by Yurok Tribe lawyers and scientists last August to make a presentation to the MLPA Science Advisory Team. 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 statistical 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, 2011. “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.’”
Finally, the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
During the historic direct action protest by members of over 50 Tribes and their allies in Fort Bragg on July 21, 2010, Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, exposed the failure 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,” Myers said. “The whole process is inherently flawed by institutionalized racism. It doesn’t recognize Tribes as political entities, or Tribal biologists as legitimate scientists.”
Commission fails to protect tribal rights
Under “Option 1″ of the preferred alternative for North Coast marine protected areas that the Fish and Game Commission accepted during the June 29 meeting, tribal members sixteen or older would have to show, on the request of a game warden, a state recreational fishing license in addition to a federally recognized Tribal ID – and be limited by state regulations.
Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird applauded the decision as “a major victory in the effort to establish Marine Protected Areas on the north coast of California.”
“As we promised earlier this year we have devised a pathway to begin the process to let tribes on the North Coast to continue ancestral fishing practices in many of the areas most important to them,” said Laird. “This is an extremely important decision to move the Marine Life Protection Act forward and to show regard for the sovereign tribal nations.”
However, the Yurok Tribe said the decision actually “failed to protect traditional gathering rights.”
“I cannot accept the part about the fishing license,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “The Fish and Game has taken an unjust and patronizing step. No one can separate these resources from our culture.”
For more information about the Yurok Tribe, go to: http://www.yuroktribe.org.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
danbacher NOAA’s “Status of U.S. Fisheries” reports on the fishing activity and population level for fish stocks in the country. “Scientists announced today that in 2010, 84 percent of the stocks examined for fishing activity (213 of 253 stocks) were free from overfishing, or not fished at too high a level, and 77 percent of the stocks with known population levels (159 of 207 stocks) were above the overfished level, that level too low to provide the maximum sustainable yield,” according to NOAA.
Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of NOAA, responds to questions on the controversial “catch shares” program, a program to privatize ocean resources, in Ukiah in December 2010. Photo by Dan Bacher.
640_img_1142.jpgAnnual NOAA report touts ’steady progress’ toward rebuilding fisheriesBut massive fish kills continue in Delta
by Dan Bacher
While the corporate media has published a number of articles lately claiming that marine fisheries are in extreme crisis around the world because of “overfishing,” a federal government report issued today said that U.S. marine fish populations are steadily rebuilding because of strict regulations imposed upon commercial and recreational fisheries off the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
“We are making great progress ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks around the nation,” Eric Schwaab, assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service said upon release of the annual report to Congress from the service. “We are turning a corner as we see important fish stocks rebounding.”
This is the case with rockfish, lingcod and other groundfish stocks in California, where the strictest marine fishing regulations on the planet are already in place. Corporate environmental NGOs continue to repeat the false mantra that California fisheries are in crisis because of “overfishing” to promote the imposition of so-called “marine protected areas” under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a process overseen by a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive, agribusiness hack and other corporate operatives.
California already has one of largest marine protected areas on the entire planet in place – the Rockfish Conservation Area – that stretches along the entire continental shelf of California from the Oregon border to the Mexican border.
Forty stocks of fish populations are subject to “overfishing” in US waters, but federal scientists claim “steady progress” is being made to rebuild them. In the Northeast, three fisheries stocks – Georges Bank haddock, Atlantic pollock and spiny dogfish – have now been rebuilt to healthy levels, bringing to 21 the number that have been rebuilt nationwide since 2000 (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2011/07/docs/report.pdf).
NOAA’s “Status of U.S. Fisheries” reports on the fishing activity and population level for fish stocks in the country. “Scientists announced today that in 2010, 84 percent of the stocks examined for fishing activity (213 of 253 stocks) were free from overfishing, or not fished at too high a level, and 77 percent of the stocks with known population levels (159 of 207 stocks) were above the overfished level, that level too low to provide the maximum sustainable yield,” according to NOAA.
“Commercial and recreational fishing depend on healthy and abundant fish stocks and marine ecosystems to provide lasting jobs, food and recreational opportunities,” Schwaab said. “By working with the nation’s eight regional management fishery councils and commercial and recreational fishermen, we are making steady progress each year to fully rebuild overfished stocks.”
Four stocks removed from low-population list
“Beyond the three rebuilt northeastern stocks, there were other positive changes since last year,” according to the report.
• Four stocks were removed from the low-population list, all from the Northeast: Gulf of Maine haddock, American plaice, Gulf of Maine cod and southern New England windowpane.
• Two stocks were removed from the list of stocks being fished at too high a level: Georges Bank yellowtail flounder and Southern Atlantic Coast black grouper.
• The Bering Sea southern Tanner crab was added to the list of species with a low population level. Many different factors, including environmental factors, disease, fishing, and habitat degradation, can influence a stock’s population. Scientists believe the Tanner crab’s decline may be due to environmental factors.
Scientists examined more stocks than ever before in 2010, and findings on these stocks with a previously unknown status were mixed:
• Gulf of Mexico black grouper was found to be free from overfishing, and had a population above the low-population level.
• Southern Atlantic Coast black grouper was found to have a population above the low-population level.
• Pacific bluefin tuna was found to be fished at too high a level, though its population was above the low-population level.
• Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Atlantic wolffish was found to have a low population.
A handful of other stocks were moved onto the “overfishing” and “overfished lists” this year:
Added to the list of stocks experiencing fishing at too high a level were Northwestern Atlantic witch flounder, Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank windowpane flounder, and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic windowpane flounder.
Central Valley salmon listed as ‘low population’ stock
Added to the list of low-population stocks were Northwestern Atlantic Coast witch flounder, Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank windowpane flounder, Georges Bank winter flounder, Southern Atlantic Coast red grouper, California Central Valley Sacramento (fall) chinook salmon, and Bering Sea southern Tanner crab.
The one California fish added to the “low population” stock list in 2010, the Central Valley fall chinook salmon, collapsed in recent years due to the record pumping of water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California and declining water quality, combined with poor ocean conditions. Salmon fishing for fall run chinook on the ocean and in Central Valley rivers, closed in 2008 and 2009, played no role in the collapse.
The scientists pointed out the fallacy held by some that low fish populations are always “caused” by fishing. “Although it is often assumed that a stock has a low population due to too much fishing, other factors influence the health and abundance of fish stocks, including environmental changes, disease, and habitat degradation,” according to NOAA. “Scientists believe that one of the stocks added to the overfished list, the Tanner crab in Alaska, may have been affected by environmental factors.”
Three groundfish species on the West Coast – canary rockfish, cowcod and yelloweye rockfish – are currently rebuilding under strict regulations by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). The canary rockfish population has exploded so rapidly that this deepwater rockfish has expanded into shallow water zones to seek forage in recent years, puzzling veteran skippers and anglers why this extremely abundant species hasn’t been taken off the “overfished” and rebuilding list already.
NOAA report dovetails with Science magazine study
The NOAA stock report needs to be considered in light of the groundbreaking study published in the July 31, 2009 issue of Science magazine. This report revealed that the California Current ecosystem has the lowest fishery exploitation rate of any place in the world examined by co-authors Ray Hilborn and Boris Worm and 19 other scientists.
“The drastic reductions in harvest in California have been designed to rebuild the overexploited rockfish stocks,” said Hilborn. “At present the community of groundfish is now at about 60% of its unfished biomass, far above the 30-40% level target for maximum sustained yield.”
Dr. Hilborn, a professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, and the other authors of “Rebuilding Global Fisheries” say that efforts made to reduce overfishing are succeeding in five of ten large marine ecosystems studied, including those in California, New Zealand and Iceland. Their study puts into perspective recent reports predicting a “total collapse” of global fisheries within 40 years.
The conclusions by the 21 international scientists with widely divergent views effectively counter the false arguments promoted by MLPA Initiative advocates about the urgent “need” to fast-track the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, privatized in 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, because of the “dire condition” that rockfish, lingcod and other groundfish stocks are supposedly in along the California coast.
“Much of the motivation for the MLPA was concern about the state of the groundfish stocks – there is clear evidence that these can be rebuilt without MPAs resulting from the MLPA that have only recently begun to be implemented,” Hilborn said. “The benefits of the MPAs established under the MLPA will be primarily to have some areas of high abundance of species with limited mobility.”
The abstract for Rebuilding Global Fisheries is available at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5940/578.
California anadromous and estuary fish are in crisis!
While marine fisheries including rockfish, lingcod and white seabass are rapidly rebuilding in California waters under the strictest fishing regulations in the world, Central Valley chinook salmon and other anadromous fish species – marine fish that spawn in fresh water – and estuary species such as the Delta and longfin smelt are in unprecedented crisis.
One of the largest fish kills in California history is taking place right now in the “predator” state and federal pumps of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, due to the pumping of massive amounts of water to agribusiness and southern California.
A total of 8,830,515 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 246,833 striped bass, 33,822 largemouth bass, 60,822 bluegill, 50,634 white catfish, 17,514 channel catfish, 44,011 threadfin shad, 65,763 American shad and 1,614 steelhead were “salvaged” in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 11, 2011, according to Department of Fish and Game data.
“And these ’salvage’ numbers represent only the tip of the iceberg,” said Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).
The overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to dwarf the actual salvage counts, according to “A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,” prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
“The Walker report cites DFG and DWR studies as showing that 75% of fish entering Clifton Court Forebay are lost to predation in project facilities before they reach the salvage facilities,” said Jennings. “An additional 20-30% are lost at the salvage facility louvers.”
Of the remaining fish actually salvaged, 1-12% are lost during handling and trucking operation and another 10-30% are lost to post-release predation because there are only 4 release sites, according to the report.
The numbers are far worse for Delta smelt, as 94-99% are lost to predation in project facilities and virtually no salvaged delta smelt survive trucking and handling.
Jennings concluded, “Fish losses at export facilities represent a staggering embezzlement of public trust resources belonging to all Californians.”
The DFG’s 2010 Fall Midwater Trawl survey revealed that fish populations were at or near historic lows. The 2010 survey documented that splittail were 0% of their 1998 population, striped bass were 0.2% of 1967 numbers, threadfin shad were 0.8% of 1997 numbers, American shad were 7.3% of 2003 numbers, longfin smelt were 0.2% of 1967 numbers and Delta smelt were 1.7% of 1970 numbers, according to Jennings.
While MLPA advocates spend enormous time, money and energy kicking anglers and seaweed harvesters off the water to “protect” fish stocks that are well on their way to recovery, federal and state government officials are doing little or nothing to stop the carnage at the Delta death pumps that they operate!
Winnemem Wintu Tribe leader reacts to NOAA report
Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, wasn’t impressed at all with the conclusions of the NOAA stock report on US ocean fish populations.
“When the ocean fish populations make a come back, the rivers will know!” she emphasized. “So far the US fisheries report are questionable! The rivers have very few salmon!”
Sisk-Franco, whose tribe has launched an ambitious campaign to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam, also criticized NOAA for not looking at the massive fish kills taking place at the Delta pumps.
“What about the Chinook salmon dying in the Delta pumps along with the 8 million plus splittail, Delta smelt, bass and others?” she asked. “How can they rebound to a healthy population? NOAA must not be looking at the Delta Estuary.”
Fishery management the wrong way
As the state and federal governments do little nothing to stop the massive fish kill at the Delta pumps, the state of California plans to impose new regulations on Tribal members harvesting seaweed and mussels under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, even though there is not one shred of proof that traditional gathering “harms” the marine ecosystem.
The California Fish and Game Commission accepted a “preferred alternative” Wednesday, June 29 that “failed to affirm traditional tribal gathering” in the MLPA North Coast Study Region, according to a statement from the Yurok Tribe, the largest Indian Tribe in California.
Under “Option 1″ of the preferred alternative, tribal members sixteen or older would have to show, on the request of a game warden, a state recreational fishing license in addition to a federally recognized Tribal ID – and be limited by state regulations.
“I cannot accept the part about the fishing license,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr. “The Fish and Game has taken an unjust and patronizing step. No one can separate these resources from our culture.”
Meanwhile, the same state government, along with the federal government, has killed millions and millions of splittail and thousands and thousands of Central Valley chinook salmon, winter run chinook and other species this year in the Delta pumps. The state and federal fishery agencies entrusted to “protect” fish populations are doing nothing to stop this massacre in the “predator” pumps.
NOAA Report Background:
The report, which has been issued annually since 1997, summarizes the best available science for the 528 federally-managed fish stocks. Since not all stocks are targeted by commercial and recreational fishermen, NOAA prioritizes collecting information on the commercially and recreationally important species that constitute most of the domestic fishing activity in the country. Stocks are added or removed from the lists only when new information becomes available. Knowing the status of stocks allows fishery managers to identify and address problems, and effectively rebuild and maintain healthy stocks.
Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, NOAA and the eight regional fishery management councils are required to end overfishing, use annual catch limits and accountability measures to prevent future overfishing, and rebuild stocks to levels that can provide the maximum sustainable yield. NOAA’s Fisheries Service works with the regional fishery management councils around the country to end overfishing for all stocks. Annual catch limits and accountability measures are already in place for 203 of the 528 federally-managed fish stocks, including all stocks that are identified as being fished at too high a level.
Fully rebuilt, U.S fisheries are expected to add $31 billion to the economy and an additional 500,000 jobs. Commercial and recreational fishing currently generate $72 billion per year and support 1.9 million full and part-time jobs.
To complete the annual report, NOAA examines a variety of sources, including landings data and log books, and conducts its own surveys. The 2010 Status of U.S. Fisheries, which contains data and analysis nationally and by region, is available online athttp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2011/07/docs/report.pdf.
NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
danbacher (Klamath) The Yurok Tribe’s Klamath Salmon Festival on Saturday, August 20 is shaping up to the best salmon celebration to date. This Salmon Festival is building off of last year’s success, which boasted the best turnout in recent years, over 3500 people.
The festival is a great place to learn about Yurok culture, the Klamath River and eat really good salmon cooked in a traditional Yurok way. The legendary Hupa-fronted Merv George Band is headlining the event.
There will also be a highly competitive Stick Game Tournament. The Stick Game is played by all local tribes and is a full-contact sport that resembles lacrosse with a wrestling element. The game is heavy on action.
The Tribe’s Watershed Department will be running a heavy equipment rodeo for all enjoy running and watching heavy machinery. The rodeo entails a set of timed-challenges completed on loaders and skid steers. Participants can sign up now or at the event.
The Tribe expanded the cultural demonstrations this year. There will be a Yurok dress show, net making and basket making.
The Yurok Housing Authority is putting on a 5k run to kick off the festival. The run is free to enter and will start at 8a.m.
There will also be an Indian Card Games Tournament and a number of cultural demonstrations in a new area designated solely for cultural activities.
The Tribe is bringing back a vintage competition to compliment the full menu of festival activities. The new event, the Salmon and Pie Baking Contest, will determine the best fish smokers and bakers in the area.
The family-friendly, free festival will also include an array kids’ activities, including a bounce house, games and face painting. There will also be hundreds of vendors selling high quality goods, a breakfast free for veterans and a break dancing contest open to all.
For non-runners the Salmon Festival starts with the Veteran’s breakfast, put on by the Klamath Chamber of Commerce at 8 a.m. at the Klamath Community Center on Salmon Blvd. The breakfast will be followed by a parade.
The famously delicious salmon dinner will start at 11:30 a.m.
The theme of this year’s family friendly event is “Cho’ chpaa hey-we-chem.”
The Yurok Tribe is the largest in California with more than 5,600 members. The Tribe is committed to the Klamath River and all that depend on it. Please note this year’s festival will be held on a Saturday.
For up-to-date information and to sign up for events visit, www.yuroktribe.org/salmonfestival.htm. For more information, contact Matt Mais, (707) 482-1350 ext. 306.
danbacher “Fish losses at export facilities represent a staggering embezzlement of public trust resources belonging to all Californians,” concluded Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).
Aerial photo of the Tracy Fish Collection Facility (TFCF) in the South Delta courtesy of the Bureau of Reclamation.
aerial-view-of-tfcf.jpg
by Dan Bacher
The horrific counts of Sacramento splittail, Central Valley chinook salmon and other fish species “consumed” by the “predator” water export pumping facilities on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta continue unabated, according to Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
A total of 8,830,515 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 246,833 striped bass, 33,822 largemouth bass, 60,822 bluegill, 50,634 white catfish, 17,514 channel catfish, 44,011 threadfin shad, 65,763 American shad and 1,614 steelhead were “salvaged” in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 11, 2011, according to Department of Fish and Game data.
The number of splittail “salvaged” to date is greater than in any previous years since the federal and state governments started keeping records on splittail in 1993. The splittail is a member of the minnow family found only in the Central Valley and Delta,
“And these ’salvage’ numbers represent only the tip of the iceberg,” Jennings emphasized.
The overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to dwarf the actual salvage counts, according to “A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,” prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
“The Walker report cites DFG and DWR studies as showing that 75% of fish entering Clifton Court Forebay are lost to predation in project facilities before they reach the salvage facilities,” said Jennings. “An additional 20-30% are lost at the salvage facility louvers.”
Of the remaining fish actually salvaged, 1-12% are lost during handling and trucking operation and another 10-30% are lost to post-release predation because there are only 4 release sites, according to the report.
The numbers are far worse for Delta smelt, as 94-99% are lost to predation in project facilities and virtually no salvaged delta smelt survive trucking and handling.
“Fish losses at export facilities represent a staggering embezzlement of public trust resources belonging to all Californians,” Jennings concluded.
The DFG’s 2010 Fall Midwater Trawl survey revealed that fish populations were at or near historic lows. The 2010 survey documented that splittail were 0% of their 1998 population, striped bass were 0.2% of 1967 numbers, threadfin shad were 0.8% of 1997 numbers, American shad were 7.3% of 2003 numbers, longfin smelt were 0.2% of 1967 numbers and Delta smelt were 1.7% of 1970 numbers, according to Jennings.
“The massacre at the pumps pushes already-struggling salmon and native fish populations closer to extinction and is entirely unnecessary,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is a high rainfall year, and there was no need for continued pumping at this level while so many fish were being killed. Excessive pumping and the highest-ever water diversions from the Delta the past decade have crippled Central Valley fish runs, including commercially valuable chinook salmon.”
Splittail were formerly protected as a threatened species but illegally stripped of Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection in 2003. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last fall made a controversial determination that the species does not warrant protection, despite the fact that numbers of splittail found in annual California Fish and Game surveys have fallen to consistently low levels since 2002, and that the estimated population from 2002 to 2010 has been the lowest recorded since surveys began in 1967,” stated Miller.
The Obama administration, in denying the splittail ESA protection in October 2010, claimed that the capture of huge numbers of fish by the pumping facilities in wet years has little impact on splittail abundance.
“Research has shown no evidence that south Delta water export operations have had a significant effect on splittail abundance, even though fish collection facilities can capture a large number of fish (up to 5.5 million) during wet years, when spawning on the San Joaquin River and other floodplains results in a spike in population numbers,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contended in a press release in October 2010. “The number of splittail captured by these facilities drops during dry years when recruitment is low (1,300 in 2007; about 5,000 in 2008) and the splittail is most vulnerable.”
The carnage at the pumps continues as Republicans in Congress push legislation, HR 1837, to exempt export pumping in the Delta from Endangered Species Act protections for salmon, Delta smelt and other species and to block restoration efforts on the San Joaquin River. Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA), the darling of San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness interests, has authored the job-killing legislation that will devastate imperiled California fish populations and fishing communities.
Rather than taking long-needed action to stop the carnage at the water export facilities, the Brown and Obama administrations, in the foot steps of the Schwarzenegger administration, are instead pushing for the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to facilitate the export of more northern California to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
A broad coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers, Indian Tribes, grassroots environmentalists and Delta residents is opposing the construction of the peripheral canal because it is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other imperiled fish species. Many also oppose the BDCP because it puts the burden on the primary zone of the Delta and Sacramento River watershed for habitat restoration and mitigation for the massive diversion of northern California water by San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and Southern California.
For more information, go to: http://www.calsport.org.
danbacher Grassroots environmental leaders, including John Lewallen, the co-founder of the Ocean Protection Coalition and the North Coast Seaweed Rebellion, are supporting the litigation against the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, in contrast with some corporate environmental NGOS that back the process.
A national coalition of recreational anglers is concerned that “misinformation” by state officials has led many anglers to believe that new marine protected areas off Southern California have already gone into effect when they have not.
The fishing groups also note that litigation challenging the legitimacy of these closures, implemented under a privately funded process infested with conflicts of interest and corruption, may prevent these closures from ever going into effect.
The California Fish and Game Commission, at its meeting in Stockton on June 29, voted to delay implementing regulations adopted last December for the Southern California Coast under Arnold Schwarzenegger’s controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) until October 1, 2011.
At the same meeting, the Commission accepted a “preferred alternative” that “failed to affirm traditional tribal gathering” in the North Coast Study Region MLPA Initiative, according to a statement from the Yurok Tribe.
“In a 4-1 vote, Commissioners selected this day (October 1) to better inform affected ocean users of the new regulations in the South Coast Study Region, which spans from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S./Mexico border,” said Jordan Traverso, spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
On Dec. 15, 2010, the Commission adopted regulations to create a network of highly-contested “marine protected areas” (MPAs) in Southern California waters. Developed under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) planning process funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Foundation, this network of 49 MPAs and three special closures covers approximately 354 square miles of state waters and represents approximately 15 percent of the region.
“The regulatory package is being prepared for the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and the date selected allows time for OAL review and approval, finalizing the lawmaking process,” Jordan added.
A news release from Keep America Fishing (http://www.keepamericafishing.org) on July 8 emphasized, “These new South Coast regulations, which would close much of southern California’s best coastal waters to sportfishing, are not yet in effect. Misinformation – including statements by the Department of Fish and Game several months ago – has many anglers under the false impression that these waters are now and have been closed since early spring.”
“Anglers need to understand that the ‘marine protected areas’ designated by the Commission last December are still open for fishing, and will be at least until October 1 of this year,” said Mike Leonard, Ocean Resource Policy director for the American Sportfishing Association (ASA).
Validity of regulations challenged in court
“And, the validity of these regulations is being challenged in court; that battle is far from over,” noted Leonard. “Much can happen between now and October 1. The Department should not have made statements that the areas are already closed. These statements are simply not true and are unfair to the millions of anglers who pay for California’s fisheries management through license sales and the federal excise tax on fishing tackle and motorboat fuels.”
The Department’s Ocean Sport Fishing Regulations booklet, posted March 1, 2011, erroneously states that the regulations went into effect in “spring 2011.” Prior to the vote, the department’s website stated only that the regulations were expected to be effective “mid-2011.”
The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), a coalition of organizations representing California’s recreational fishing and boating community, sent a letter to the DFG in response to the general uncertainty within the sportfishing community regarding the South Coast MLPA regulations. The group expressed its serious concerns about the misinformation provided to anglers about the effective date of the South Coast MLPA regulations.
The errors have since been corrected, but the confusion over conflicting messages issued earlier this year by state officials remains.
“We’ve never seen a state so determined to destroy an activity that generates both income and jobs and as well as funding for fisheries conservation,” Leonard said.
“In talking with numerous anglers, I’ve noticed that there is still considerable confusion about whether or not coastal waters are still open to recreational fishing,” said Bob Fletcher, former president of the Sportfishing Association of California. “The state’s miscommunications are causing anglers to unnecessarily stay off the water for fear that the regulations are already in place.”
In addition to controversies about their effective date, the MPA designations in the South Coast are currently being successfully challenged in the courts, the coalition stated. On January 27, 2011, United Anglers of Southern California, Coastside Fishing Club and Bob Fletcher filed a lawsuit in the San Diego County Superior Court seeking to set aside the MPA designations for the North Central and South Coast study regions.
The lawsuit cites a “lack of statutory authority” for the Fish and Game Commission to adopt the regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the Commission’s environmental review of the regulations.
On May 31, the California’s sportfishing community claimed its third legal victory in the legal effort against the MLPA Initiative when a San Diego Superior Court judge ordered that two environmental ocean closure advocate organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and The Ocean Conservancy, had no legal right to intervene in the aforementioned lawsuit.
Secret meetings in so-called ‘open and transparent’ process exposed!
In 2010, Fletcher filed and won a suit against the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force and Master Plan Team for failing to provide documents related to their MLPA planning efforts. These groups incorrectly claimed that they were not required to make their records available to the public under the Public Records Act on the mistaken theory that they are not “state agencies.”
Once these records were finally disclosed, numerous long-standing suspicions about the lack of openness and transparency within the MLPA process were confirmed, including that the Blue Ribbon Task Force met numerous times outside of the public view in scheduled private meetings, according to the coalition.
George Osborn, PSO spokesman, presented a 25 page document documenting these illegal private, non-public meetings of MLPA officials to the Fish and Game Commission during its meeting on February 2 in Sacramento. During his 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.”
On March 10, 2011, a California Superior Court ordered the Blue Ribbon Task Force and Master Plan Team to pay 100-percent of the legal fees incurred by members of the PSO in the Public Records Act case.
With three court victories in a row, it is clear that the MLPA Initiative created its “visionary” marine reserves in an illegal, highly orchestrated process that is a mockery of democracy and sound public policy.
The lack of openness and transparency under the initiative are no surprise when one considers that the so-called “marine protected areas” were developed under the “leadership” of Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast. Reheis-Boyd served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast, an egregious conflict of interest with her role as a big oil lobbyist.
It is no secret that the fake “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative are good for ocean industrialists like Reheis-Boyd, but bad for the ocean ecosystem and sustainable fishing communities. These false MPAs, apparently under pressure from corporate interests, fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The urgent need to protect the ocean from industrialization became apparent on May 12, when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to open leasing for offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the California coast in 2012.
To see the entire 25-page set of BRTF private meeting documents, go to the San Diego Freedivers website: http://www.sandiegofreedivers.com/MLPABRTFofflinemeetingdocumentation.pdf
Environmental leader urges support for lawsuit
Grassroots environmental leaders, including John Lewallen, the co-founder of the Ocean Protection Coalition and the North Coast Seaweed Rebellion, are supporting the litigation against the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, in contrast with some corporate environmental NGOs that back the process.
“A California Superior Court lawsuit challenging the authority of the state to let the private Resources Legacy Fund Foundation operate a process of setting up Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in violation of the 1999 Marine Life Protection Act, the California Environmental Quality Act, the Coastal Act, and other state laws, deserves the support of all Californians,” said Lewallen.
Lewallen said United Anglers of Southern California, et.al., versus the California State Fish and Game Commission, has an “excellent legal team which has won a string of victories,” and is headed for a July 11 hearing to discuss the heart of the case: whether the state has operated under the proper authority to issue the regulations that it did.
“If successful, the United Anglers lawsuit will invalidate all Marine Protected Areas created by the illegal and corrupt process financed and run by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation on California’s South Coast and North Central Coast, probably leading to the invalidation of Marine Protected Areas declared on the Central Coast and proposed for the North Coast,” emphasized Lewallen.
Lewallen has been in the forefront of grass roots campaigns against oil drilling, the clear cutting of ancient forests, wave energy projects and military testing off the coast and other environmental battles for over three decades. Unlike some well-funded initiative advocates who support greenwashing under the privatized MLPA process, Lewallen sees the MLPA Initiative for what it truly is- a resource grab by corporate interests.
Lewallen is the author of “Ecology of Devastation: Indochina” (Penguin Books, 1971) and “The Grass Roots Primer: How to Organize for Local Environmental Action,” co-authored with James Robertson (Sierra Club Books, 1975). He has written numerous articles on environmental issues for an array of publications since then.
All anglers, and anyone who supports public access to public resources, are urged to help fight the severely flawed MLPA process in the courts by visiting http://www.OceanAccessProtectionFund.org and making a donation today.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
