New No Fishing Zones for California
Long Anticipated Marine Protected Areas Became a Reality on New Years Day
Ethan Stewart
Santa Barbara Independent
01/03/2012
Love it or hate it, the waters of Southern California just became a whole lot more conservation-friendly.
After more than four years of meetings, votes, controversy, and public pleas both for and against the idea, January 1, 2012 marked the official roll-out date for 36 brand new state-sanctioned marine protected areas (MPAs) dotting the Pacific Ocean between Point Conception and the Mexico border. Designed first and foremost as a tool of protection for underwater ecosystems, the MPAs create a variety of new recreational and commercial fishing regulations for certain strategic areas throughout state waters.
“This is a great day for the ocean,” declared Mike Sheehy, the director of watershed programs for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper. “We have been waiting a long time for this.”
The new Southern California system, which totals some 186 square miles of ocean, is just the latest part of a larger statewide effort to deliver on the mandates of the Marine Life Protection Act that was passed in 1999. Similar arrays of preserves and reserves have already been crafted and implemented for areas between Point Arena and Point Conception, while others are still being fleshed out for the northernmost coast of California.
While beloved by conservationists, the MPAs are bemoaned by fishermen, especially commercial harvesters of the sea, who fear that the new rules have the potential to put them out of work. To help assuage such concerns, the MPAs were developed during an extensive — and occasionally brutal — stakeholder process that aimed to balance the various interests of ocean users while using science as a guide to carefully select key habitat zones that should will have the greatest chance for helping fish populations grow and permanently protecting ocean resources.
