Strong Support Heard for a Balanced Network of Marine Protected Areas in the North Central California

With stories as colorful as marine life under the sea, citizens traveled from the length of the state to Sacramento today to speak their mind about the finalization of a plan of marine protected areas for the North Central Coast of California.  The Fish and Game Commissioners -- who listened for five hours as speakers presented their views on the plans developed by a selected group of stakeholders according to scientific guidelines and reviewed over the course of more than 52 public meetings in the extensive public process proscribed by the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) -- were well entertained. 

Dozens spoke in support of the Integrated Preferred Alternative (IPA), a compromise plan developed by the “Blue Ribbon Task Force” that balances the components of plans presented by environmentalists, fishermen, and others.  A mom brought her five year old to speak out for strong protection of our oceans.  A big-wave surfer/nurse described the value of the IPA to protect wild places to preserve the health of ecosystems so he, and the special-needs kids he teaches to surf, can enjoy these for many years to come.  A deep water diver described his years of spear fishing many miles out to see in 100’s of feet of water, watching over the decades as fish populations diminish and the waste of fishing tackle and other debris accumulates along the sea floor.  Many ocean enthusiasts supporting the IPA described the problem of shifting baselines -- our elders tell us how beautiful and abundant the ocean used to be, but that memory is lost as the generations progress and marine environments degrade. 

There were also many fishermen, wearing matching white t-shirts with “Support 2-XA” in red across the back, who passionately voiced their support for the less protective plan by that name.  While the majority of the environmental community -- many who expressed that ideally they would still like stronger protected areas than the IPA -- voiced their willingness to support the compromise IPA, the 2-XA contingent was recalcitrant.  With only the Central Coast protected areas finalized, the MLPA process still has a long way to go to achieve its goal of creating a network of marine protected areas throughout the state.  This process isn't just about conservation groups and fishing groups.  It's about preserving healthy ecosystems to be enjoyed by the vast array of people who visit, live, work and play near the coast and who will benefit from healthier oceans.  It's about participating in the process in good faith and living with 80% of what you think is needed for the sake of combining forces to leave the oceans in better shape than we found them.

I too would like to see the IPA strengthened, but it has two important advantages over other alternatives:

• It integrates elements of all stakeholder proposals, and
• It has broader support than any other alternative.

Some indications of the broad public support for the IPA:

• The Fish and Game Commission received 11,000 letters and messages supporting the IPA in the last month alone.
• County Boards of Supervisors in Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo have adopted formal resolutions supporting the IPA; Santa Clara and Santa Cruz have adopted support resolutions for MLPA.  Altogether those counties represent over 5 million people.
• 160 business leaders signed a letter supporting the IPA.
• 50 people who dive in the region signed a letter supporting IPA.
• Over 50 surfers in the region signed a letter supporting IPA.
• The region's aquaria signed a letter supporting IPA.
• In addition, the IPA has the support of numerous public agencies that will help implement it, including State parks, the Coastal Commission, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Sanctuary Program and Point Reyes National Seashore.

No one can expect to get all they want in this process, but many have accepted the IPA as a good faith compromise that will have significant ecological benefits. It's clear that support for the IPA is broad and deep, and the CEQA process supports it.  NRDC and thousands of other Californians now strongly urge the Commission to adopt this plan at their meeting in August, 2009.

This article was co-authored by Karen Garrison, Co-director of NRDC’s Ocean Initiative.  

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