Enhanced Compliance to Non-Compliance: North Coast Option ZERO Split Decision

http://www.albionharbor.org/fisheriesaudio.html

Public Comment to Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro's January 21st 2011 California State Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture meeting in Eureka, showed people in attendance were split almost evenly (including Tribal chairpersons) between the Unified Array and Option ZERO. Tribal elders and younger Tribal members, RSG, and the public throughout the day, mentioned halting the process and Option ZERO more times than the 'One Unified Array' was mentioned.

Option ZERO is not a No Action Alternative. The following is a small incomplete list of items that are legally separate from the MLPA(i) and could follow through a formal continuance to resolution:
1) Tribal Aboriginal Rights, Access, Government to Government relations and consultation, New Tribal Use Category by the Commission and/or Legislature
2) Special Closures, which are separate from MPAs under DFG code sections
3) State Parks boundary adjustments, enforcement feasibility
4) North Coast Fisheries Co-Adaptive Management Strategies
5) Consideration of the benefits under 15064.(e) of current economic improvement grant programs on the North Coast that benefit marine resources

AHRA requests through an Option ZERO CEQA analysis that a determination and assessment of LEK and TEK as submitted into the NCSR process is separate and distinct from that which would be categorized under CEQA in: 15064. (5) Argument, speculation, unsubstantiated opinion or narrative, or evidence that is clearly inaccurate or erroneous, or evidence that is not credible, shall not constitute substantial evidence. Substantial evidence shall include facts, reasonable assumptions predicated upon facts, and expert opinion supported by facts.

Melissa Miller-Henson stated at the 02022011 F&G Commission hearing that there were 1900 participants on the North Coast in the MLPA. Between Point Arena and Shelter Cove, 1200 signatures in support of Option ZERO were submitted to Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro and the F&G Commission.

Many Wild Ocean Food Gatherers from Point Arena to Shelter Cove and north support Option ZERO.

It is important to honor the effort of the RSG and the 'One Unified Proposal'. Listening carefully, one can discern that even RSG members differentiate betweeb the original 'Unified Array' proposal and the Revised North Coast Proposal (RNCP) is not the same one the RSG agreed to among themselves in August 2010 and the Ten Mile Cluster MPA near Fort Bragg is much larger.

Learn about OPTION ZERO on the North Coast, visit:
http://www.albionharbor.org/optionzero.html
http://www.albionharbor.org

MLPAI Closures Target Shelter Cove Hook-and-Line Fishery

The remote Humboldt County community of Shelter Cove is home port to a fleet of about fifteen full and part-time commercial hook-and-line fishers, operating from small boats in state waters. "Shelter Cove’s small independent hook-and-line fishers are a disadvantaged group with few resources, living from paycheck to paycheck, so dedicating time away from putting food on the table to attend countless meetings with unsympathetic MLPAI staff is not an option," Sack explained to Senator Evans.

Susan Sack delivered a petition signed by one thousand Shelter Cove residents, visitors and other local directly affected stakeholders to Assemblyman Wes Chesbro on January 21, calling for no expansion of the existing MPAs on the North Coast and proposing the State protect California's existing MPAs from mineral extraction, aquaculture, pollution, energy farms and other damaging manmade effects. "All the board members of our local government, the Shelter Cove Resort Improvement District signed my petition, rejecting the Unified Array, and supporting Option Zero," she said.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/02/06/18671425.php

MLPAI Closures Target Shelter Cove Hook-and-Line Fishery
by John Lewallen
February 1, 2011
Contact: Susan Sack or Don Sack, home (707)986-1639

Susan Sack's letter to Senator Evans concludes, "Please stop this corporate takeover of resources, suspend the MLPAI implementation and work to promote our caring local sustainable fishing communities instead of global consortiums who will put money before the health of our oceans or the Californian people."

"Shelter Cove is a sacrifice zone in the so-called Unified Array of new Marine Protected Areas proposed for California’s North Coast by the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative process. Shelter Cove area closures threaten to kill the sustainable hook-and-line recreation and commercial fishery here, for no good reason. The near shore ecosystem on the North Coast is healthy and does not need protecting. That’s why the Shelter Cove community is united for Option Zero: no new Marine Protected Areas for California’s North Coast. Once these areas are established they can be enlarged or moved even over local objections."

Susan Sack, Administrative Secretary of the Shelter Cove Resort Improvement District and wife of third-generation commercial hook-and-line fisherman Don Sack, is frustrated and angry. In a January 24 letter to Senator Noreen Evans, she wrote:

"Fishing regulations around Shelter Cove are already the most restrictive on the Pacific Coast, in fact the planet. With the creation of new Marine Protected Areas within state waters many popular fishing areas are being closed off to fishing. My husband is already being forced to fish areas farther and farther from home with the existing regulations and small open areas are seeing a more concentrated fishing effort and they are not adequate to keep our sustainable hook-and-line fishery healthy. Our family’s fishing business is facing bankruptcy and we are facing a future with no other job opportunities in our small coastal community or the surrounding area."

Re-posted by Tomas DiFiore
Albion Harbor Regional Alliance
albionharbor.org

Look for the audio posting of most if not ALL PUBLIC COMMENTS TO DATE on the North Coast at the AHRA website.

"If ever there was a time and place for Option ZERO, it is the North Coast"... Gabriel Quinn Maroney to the F&G Commission 02022011.