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F&G Lists Its Top Ten and Marine Fisheries is MIA.....Nobody in F&G Cares
Feb. 16 2012, 12:31 PM - 0 Comments
Feb. 16 2012, 12:31 PM - 0 Comments
They should all be fired.
F&G just published its list of top ten accomplishments in 2011 and the story is clear: They could care less about our sport and the industry it supports. Here is there list:
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Lone wolf spotted in CA
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Tahoe bears make film debut
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Tsunami relief on the Coast
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Return of salmon
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Return of Pacific Fishers (the animals, not anglers)
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DFG takes on marijuana cultivators
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Arrested poachers
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MPA website created
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Helped in the gulf oil spill
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Saved some injured and trapped wildlife
Read More...
Well the time has come to go fishing more often and to wind down my life a bit, so I am finally retiring as Chairman of Coastside and resigning from its board, but I will continue to offer whatever help I can to the current extremely competent board and new Chairman Taj Sharma. I am also retiring from actively fighting in the political games that revolve around this sport we all love so much, although I will still submit a few comments to PCS readers as long as someone wants to read them.
It has been a fun and wild ride as we all watched Coastside Fishing Club grow from a few friends exchanging emails on where we caught fish to the powerhouse that is Coastside today. We still share our catch info, as friends should, and we continue to make new friends every day we are on the water as we are able to pass on the latest bite information to those who need to get located. This is the heart of the club and the best and most altruistic way of insuring better success for us all. It makes the club strong and brings us together in mutual enjoyment in a way that nothing else can.
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Learning to Appreciate Your Crew
Well, I tried to get a crew together for albacore this last Monday, and nobody could get off work. But the weather was great, and the fish were only 40 miles out. I heard some great last-minute reports, so I decided it was just too perfect not to go. Off I went, with just my dog Bear, chasing longfins. I left the dock at 10:30 AM and arrived at the grounds near Pioneer Seamount at 12:20 with lots of other boats around. Put in only three rods because I didn't want to try to handle more than that single handed. Just ten minutes into the troll I get a double. Manage to get both in although I am glad no one was filming my gaff attempts. Put them back out and just a couple of minutes later I have a triple! Man oh man, I was tired at the end, but I got all three in.
Well, I tried to get a crew together for albacore this last Monday, and nobody could get off work. But the weather was great, and the fish were only 40 miles out. I heard some great last-minute reports, so I decided it was just too perfect not to go. Off I went, with just my dog Bear, chasing longfins. I left the dock at 10:30 AM and arrived at the grounds near Pioneer Seamount at 12:20 with lots of other boats around. Put in only three rods because I didn't want to try to handle more than that single handed. Just ten minutes into the troll I get a double. Manage to get both in although I am glad no one was filming my gaff attempts. Put them back out and just a couple of minutes later I have a triple! Man oh man, I was tired at the end, but I got all three in.
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Ocean Resource Mismanagement
Dan Wolford is the Chairman of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and is also Science Director for Coastside Fishing Club. He gave this speech to the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council this past week. It is certainly the definitive article on what happened during the MLPA process and where it went wrong. After reading this you will realize just how badly broken this state process was and why UASC and Coastside have filed a lawsuit contesting the process.
Here is the complete speech by Mr. Wolford:
Dan Wolford is the Chairman of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and is also Science Director for Coastside Fishing Club. He gave this speech to the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council this past week. It is certainly the definitive article on what happened during the MLPA process and where it went wrong. After reading this you will realize just how badly broken this state process was and why UASC and Coastside have filed a lawsuit contesting the process.
Here is the complete speech by Mr. Wolford:
Read More...
Cabo Bite Is On Fire!
This past week the fishing has really gone off in Cabo and the Eastcape, both tuna and marlin. I fished the TAA (Tournament Anglers Assn) Eastcape Billfish Tournament and it was one of the best fishing years we have seen for the past 12 years. Things started slow in the tournament, fishing the first day just off Los Barriles, so the second day a couple of boats ran south, 45 miles south, to just north of the Gordo Banks. Those boats struck gold! They were averaging a marlin an hour. That, my friends, is good marlin fishing.
This past week the fishing has really gone off in Cabo and the Eastcape, both tuna and marlin. I fished the TAA (Tournament Anglers Assn) Eastcape Billfish Tournament and it was one of the best fishing years we have seen for the past 12 years. Things started slow in the tournament, fishing the first day just off Los Barriles, so the second day a couple of boats ran south, 45 miles south, to just north of the Gordo Banks. Those boats struck gold! They were averaging a marlin an hour. That, my friends, is good marlin fishing.
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Support Forage Fish Bill, AB1299
AB 1299 is a forage fish bill that asks that forage fish be managed taking into consideration the entire ecosystem rather than be managed as a separate species in isolation. I have many times written about how important forage fish protection is needed, especially now with the fish farming industry putting huge demands on forage that our tuna, salmon, ling cod, halibut and rockfish desperately need to remain healthy and to thrive.
AB1299 says that the state must consider the needs of the entire ecosystem when managing forage species like herring, anchovies, squid and sardines. Further it includes the following provision:
AB 1299 is a forage fish bill that asks that forage fish be managed taking into consideration the entire ecosystem rather than be managed as a separate species in isolation. I have many times written about how important forage fish protection is needed, especially now with the fish farming industry putting huge demands on forage that our tuna, salmon, ling cod, halibut and rockfish desperately need to remain healthy and to thrive.
AB1299 says that the state must consider the needs of the entire ecosystem when managing forage species like herring, anchovies, squid and sardines. Further it includes the following provision:
Read More...
Attend the Upcoming Hearing on South Coast MLPA Implementation
Voice your concerns with this flawed process directly to the state legislature!
On February 17, 2011, the California State Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture will hold a public hearing on the recently adopted fishing closures in California's South Coast region established under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process. The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. in Room 4202 of the State Capitol Building. The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO) is calling on all anglers to attend this important hearing and help ensure that anglers have a strong presence.
Voice your concerns with this flawed process directly to the state legislature!
On February 17, 2011, the California State Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture will hold a public hearing on the recently adopted fishing closures in California's South Coast region established under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process. The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. in Room 4202 of the State Capitol Building. The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO) is calling on all anglers to attend this important hearing and help ensure that anglers have a strong presence.
Read More...
PSO Exposes Secret Meetings
Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California, and Bob Fletcher, all members of the PSO, (Partners for a Sustainable Ocean) filed suit in San Diego Superior Court last month alleging violations of the law by the Fish and Game Commission. The suit cites the behavior of the commission's Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) that has been inconsistent with the transparency requirements of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) during its hearings on the MLPA closures, and asserts the BRTF has been in violation of the understanding that set up the privately-financed "MLPA Initiative". Then this week George Osborn, speaking for the PSO at the February 2nd meeting of the Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento, fired both barrels as he testified:
Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California, and Bob Fletcher, all members of the PSO, (Partners for a Sustainable Ocean) filed suit in San Diego Superior Court last month alleging violations of the law by the Fish and Game Commission. The suit cites the behavior of the commission's Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) that has been inconsistent with the transparency requirements of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) during its hearings on the MLPA closures, and asserts the BRTF has been in violation of the understanding that set up the privately-financed "MLPA Initiative". Then this week George Osborn, speaking for the PSO at the February 2nd meeting of the Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento, fired both barrels as he testified:
Read More...
State Sued Over MLPA Implementation
Jan 27, 2011 Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California, and Mr. Robert Fletcher filed a complaint in the County of San Diego Superior Court asking that the judge toss out the entire Marine Life Protection Act implementation process to date and start over. The reasons are many fold and include a number of technical points in which the public input process was ignored or not allowed because the agenda was predetermined. Arbitrary fishing closures that were not justified were recommended and endorsed behind closed doors, science and the public be damned. So they are suing for us, and anglers everywhere, not because they want to, but because the process was bad, the results of the process are worse, and angler rights to be heard were trampled upon throughout.
Jan 27, 2011 Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California, and Mr. Robert Fletcher filed a complaint in the County of San Diego Superior Court asking that the judge toss out the entire Marine Life Protection Act implementation process to date and start over. The reasons are many fold and include a number of technical points in which the public input process was ignored or not allowed because the agenda was predetermined. Arbitrary fishing closures that were not justified were recommended and endorsed behind closed doors, science and the public be damned. So they are suing for us, and anglers everywhere, not because they want to, but because the process was bad, the results of the process are worse, and angler rights to be heard were trampled upon throughout.
Read More...
Agriculture Company Selling Delta Water to Developers
Salmon Summit Big Success
Representative Jackie Speier lead the December 4th Salmon Summit to bring attention to the plight of the crashing salmon population and the disastrous condition of the Sacramento River Delta. Both have a common cause: the overdrafting of water to the Central Valley and the south. The Schwarzenegger administration and the feds have been pumping water during the critical outmigration periods of the salmon, pumping the smolts into the Central Valley irrigation ditches to die. And with so much of the river flow going into the irrigation system the river's delta ecosystem is imperiled, threatening drinking water supplies in Northern California, drying up wetlands, and killing off essential forage fish like the delta smelt that are the primary food of the striped bass and other important fish. The problem is so severe that salmon numbers have plummeted from 1.5 million fish in 2002 to just 39,000 in 2009! And farmers are making money selling that water, instead of using it, water that the National Academy of Science say that the salmon and the river ecosystem must have. And they are selling water you are paying for.
Salmon Summit Big Success
Representative Jackie Speier lead the December 4th Salmon Summit to bring attention to the plight of the crashing salmon population and the disastrous condition of the Sacramento River Delta. Both have a common cause: the overdrafting of water to the Central Valley and the south. The Schwarzenegger administration and the feds have been pumping water during the critical outmigration periods of the salmon, pumping the smolts into the Central Valley irrigation ditches to die. And with so much of the river flow going into the irrigation system the river's delta ecosystem is imperiled, threatening drinking water supplies in Northern California, drying up wetlands, and killing off essential forage fish like the delta smelt that are the primary food of the striped bass and other important fish. The problem is so severe that salmon numbers have plummeted from 1.5 million fish in 2002 to just 39,000 in 2009! And farmers are making money selling that water, instead of using it, water that the National Academy of Science say that the salmon and the river ecosystem must have. And they are selling water you are paying for.
Read More...
