San Diegans get final shot at altering marine plan
Mike Lee
San Diego Union-Tribune
10/15/2010
A complex and controversial plan to expand marine protected areas in Southern California gets its final public hearing in San Diego County on Wednesday.
The state Fish and Game Commission is holding a meeting at Four Points by Sheraton, 8110 Aero Drive in San Diego. It starts at 10 a.m. and is expected to last several hours.
For details about hearing protocol and the reserve mapping process, go to www.fgc.ca.gov.
Fish and Game commissioners plan to make a final decision about new and enlarged no-take zones on Dec. 15 in Santa Barbara. The commission is made of five members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
They will put into place measures required by the Marine Life Protection of 1999, which was crafted by the Legislature to improve the state’s coastal ecosystem.
Fishing groups, environmentalists, scientists and others have debated the placement of protected areas in Southern California for the past two years.
On Wednesday, conservationists plan to continue pushing for larger no-take zones in biologically rich areas such as La Jolla in hopes of boosting marine life off California’s coast for years to come.
Many anglers, commercial seafood operators and others are pushing for smaller protected regions because they fear that sprawling underwater parks will hamper fishing. They also are skeptical about how well the safeguard plan will work.
