Public Meetings of the BRTF - an Elaborately Staged Kabuki Performance

Public Meetings of the BRTF - an Elaborately Staged Kabuki Performance

The MLPA officials have violated numerous state, federal and international laws, including the California Public Records Act, the California Administrative Procedure Act, the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

However, the corruption and violations of law are finally being exposed. George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), on February 2 presented the California Fish and Game Commission with a groundbreaking 25 page report containing numerous emails and correspondence documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act Initiative officials.

“After reviewing the documents turned over to us, which previously the BRTF had improperly withheld from the public, we now have evidence, indicating that the public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged Kabuki performance, choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions, in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF," said Osborn. "Clearly, this has not been the most open and transparent process, as it has so often been described.”

Osborn also presented the copies of document to California legislators February 17, during a special hearing of the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture at the State Capitol in Sacramento in Room 4202. Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), the chairman of the Joint Committee, had said the hearing will focus exclusively on the South Coast Study Region.

The PSO, a coalition of national and regional fishing organizations including the Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California, filed suit in San Diego Superior Court in late January, seeking to overturn South Coast and North Central Coast MLPA closures, alleging violations of the State Administrative Procedure Act.

To see Osborn's testimony, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_04BC1acA

To see the entire set of BRTF private meeting documents, go to the San Diego Freedivers website:
http://www.sandiegofreedivers.com/MLPABRTFofflinemeetingdocumentation.pdf

The Ocean Access Protection Fund (OAPF) was formed to collect funds for legal action against policies that do not recognize the conservation efforts of fishermen, or impact recreational access to the ocean on behalf of all California anglers and outdoor enthusiasts concerned with maintaining public access.
http://www.oceanaccessprotectionfund.org/

Last October, a lawsuit was filed to prove our State’s democratic processes apply!

Ruling Confirms MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force and Science Advisory Team Are State Agencies, Forces Public Access to Critical Information
http://www.oceanaccessprotectionfund.org/news.html

AHRA supports the PSO lawsuit!