The PCS Blogosphere
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Resources Secretary Chrisman is determined to push this MLPA through to the point that he is disregarding the law. In a letter to the Fish and Game Commission on June 1 he states: "On behalf of the Governor, I want to let you and your fellow commissioners know that California's process for adopting an improved system of marine protected areas is well funded. Moreover, there is no reason, funding or otherwise, for the process supporting the law to be postponed."
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Where have the Anchovies gone?
Pence McKimmie, deckhand on a bait boat out of Half Moon Bay, talks about the frustration of finding live bait:
Pence McKimmie, deckhand on a bait boat out of Half Moon Bay, talks about the frustration of finding live bait:
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Budget Committee to Vote on MLPA Funding
The State Budget Committee is meeting this week to vote on what budget items to fund. Up for discussion is the entire MLPA budget and whether we can afford the ongoing support of the proposed reserves which now are forecast to hit as much as $50 million in annual expenditures. We need your support to let the budget people know that the MLPA shouldn’t proceed until we have proper funding for the science, monitoring and enforcement of the reserves. If you will send something similar to the letter below to those that you can FAX this will be of great help (make sure to include your address and phone when sending so they will know it is legitimate).
The State Budget Committee is meeting this week to vote on what budget items to fund. Up for discussion is the entire MLPA budget and whether we can afford the ongoing support of the proposed reserves which now are forecast to hit as much as $50 million in annual expenditures. We need your support to let the budget people know that the MLPA shouldn’t proceed until we have proper funding for the science, monitoring and enforcement of the reserves. If you will send something similar to the letter below to those that you can FAX this will be of great help (make sure to include your address and phone when sending so they will know it is legitimate).
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Between the water wars, the unfathomable lack of support from our Department of Fish and Game, and a polluted MLPA gone far astray it is sometimes hard to keep going, to keep fighting for our fishery that we all love so much. I was thinking these morbid thoughts, depressed by the attacks on recreational fishing from so many quarters, when I left a few days ago for Alaska. Thank goodness I took that trip.
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PSO Leads Fight to Stop the Politics
I've been saying for some time now that the MLPA process is tainted by the RLFF funding source. Now they have gone out of their way to prove it.
I've been saying for some time now that the MLPA process is tainted by the RLFF funding source. Now they have gone out of their way to prove it.
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The Fair Political Practices Commission is now officially investigating Fish and Game Commissioner George Sutton. Acting on a complaint from the Central Coast Fisheries Conservation Coalition (CCFCC), the action was taken to open the investigation immediately.
According to a press release from the CCFCC:
According to a press release from the CCFCC:
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The Central Coast Fisheries Conservation Coalition has filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that Commissioner Sutton had a conflict of interest when he voted on the MLPA Master Plan for MPAs. This is a serious charge and one that is well documented in the complaint.
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The strange, tainted funding for the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act has reared its ugly head again, and now there is big push back from the people who are supposed to be advising on this. If you can remember the ugly, camelized process that has a Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), a Science Advisory Team (SAT), and a Regional Stakeholder Group (RSG), all of whom hold hearings and give advice so that eventually the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) can hold hearings and make it into law, then you are one of the few who is able to figure this process out. In the case in point, the RSG is supposed to make recommendations for which the SAT provides scientific evaluation. The fact is that the science is very sparse, being made up as they go, and completely tainted by the funding. The RLFF, the funding source, is also the funding for much of the marine science, and is funded by environmental groups whose agenda seems to be more focused on shutting down fishing than protecting habitat, as the MLPA dictates. So the scientists get to punch their green credentials and look good to a major funding source for their projects by lowering the science score if an MPA allows fishing, even without data. Not good for an honest scientific appraisal.
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The California Department of Fish and Game Commission got to send a strong message and a good civics lesson today when the PSO read into the record a letter to them explaining just how much they have got it wrong in implementing the MLPA. The letter starts by quoting Secretary Chrisman when the MLPA effort was canceled in 2004 for a lack of funding: “This is not about supporting the program,'' Chrisman said. ``It is about simply not having enough staff or money to do the job right.'' Now F&G says it will cost some $34 million for enforcement and monitoring and nobody has the money. The PSO nailed it when they said: “Respectfully, we submit to you that we still do not have enough staff or money to do the job right and this is too important to too many to get wrong.”
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Senator Dean Florez, California’s Senate Majority Leader, showed us his stuff at a keynote speech Saturday night to Coastside Fishing Club. His Oversight Committee is to hold hearings next month on a couple of key issues, and there are going to be some mighty uncomfortable facts coming out. First on Sen. Florez’s agenda for the hearing is the crazy out-of-control budget that is being created through the MLPA process. When this bill was being acted upon by the legislature, the forecasted increase in the budget for this to cover the scientific studies and enforcement was only an incremental $250,000, chump change for the F&G budget. Now the CDF&G is saying that the budget for the MLPA for enforcement and scientific study will be well over $30 million. In this day and age of the belt-tightening California budget hearings, that number attracts a lot of notice, especially because it is a big surprise. No wonder Sen. Florez wants Secretary Chrisman to explain what is going on, especially since no one knows where the $30 million is going to come from. An MLPA that closes down significant portions of the coast and is putting many people out of work ought to at least have the funds to see if it is even a good idea!
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