Conservation
Here We Go Again RIP CUNNINGHAM
we’ve seen this movie before. The problem is that the script keeps changing, and we are concerned that the ultimate ending will impact or eliminate recreational fishing access to a lot of this country’s oceans. I have said before that marine protected areas (MPAS) should be a tool in the fisheries managers’ toolbox; A tool that is used judiciously for a specific science-based reason. When politicians decide to use them in an arbitrary and capricious manner, the possible benefits to the recreational fishing industry are completely lost. That is happening in California.
Back in 1999, the Marine
Life Protection Act (MLPA) was passed in California. The MLPA directs the state “to redesign California’s system of MPAS to function as a network in order to: increase coherence and effectiveness in protecting the state’s marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems, and marine natural heritage, as well as to improve recreational, educational and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems subject to minimal human disturbance.”
All of this sounds reasonable, until one defines “human disturbance.” Let’s be real. Drilling for oil, mobile gear fishing and shoreline development are far more impactful human disturbance than recreational fishing. However, banning recreational fishing in many places in the network was an outcome from the MLPA.
Along comes California AB 3030, the assembly bill pushing for “it to be the goals of the state by 2030 to protect at least 30 percent of the state’s land areas and waters; to help advance the protection of 30 percent of the nation’s oceans; and to support regional, national and international efforts to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s land areas and waters, and 30 percent of the world’s oceans.”
That declaration comes across like
“People who do not understand this resource are driving this at the expense of those of us who continue to be the true conservationists of it.”
apple pie and Mom. Who would not want to protect our oceans and lands?
The problem is, when almost open-ended, it’s fertile ground for an agenda-driven group to close 30 percent of the ocean to human activity beyond “look and don’t touch.”
Coastal Conservation Association California Chairman Bill Shedd expressed concern: “People who do not use or understand the resource are driving this process at the expense of us, who use the resource, and have been, and continue to be, true conservationists of it.”
That is what happened with the MLPA. Some might say, “This is just California!”
Look again. It is stated in the bill that after California, the intent is to push this for all US ocean waters, and after that, the world. So, this movie might be coming to a theater near you. South Carolina seems to be getting a taste of this.
It is possible to read this bill as a declaration that folks want to protect some ocean and land for the benefits that conservation brings.
But why push for a completely new bill, one that’s a duplication of the MLPA legislation, and one that looks far beyond California?
In its first version, AB 3030 did not even give credit for the existing MPA network. The way it was written, the goal would be “in addition to.”
Thanks to efforts from the CCA California and the American Sportfishing Association, the latest version of the bill states, “inclusive of existing protections afforded by state and federal laws and regulations.”
That is an improvement, but it still begs the question as to whether this legislation is just an open door for a bigger agenda.
This bill initially passed the California Assembly, perhaps under the haze of the pandemic, when folks maybe weren’t paying close attention. Testimony ran 10 to 1 against the bill, but that made little difference.
Then it failed to make it to a final vote. Next year is another story.
The CCA has been on top of this issue. One positive stated by Shedd: “In my 40 years of conservation efforts in California, I have never seen anything that has woken up the sport-fishing community as has AB 3030.”
Those of us who use and protect our resources have to hold our politicians accountable for their actions.
While AB 3030 floundered this year, it does not mean it’s dead.
Recreational fishing supporters should be ready to emulate naval Capt. John Paul Jones: “We have not yet begun to fight!”
“In my years of conservation efforts, I have never seen anything wake up the sport-fishing community as has AB 3030.”