Harvesting sea palms along the coast at Pt. Arena.

July 3, 2009 -- A group of 70 people, including environmentalists, seaweed harvesters, recreational anglers, abalone divers, and Native Americans, gathered at the city hall in Point Arena on Saturday, June 13 to begin the “Seaweed Rebellion” to halt or at least slow down the corrupt fast-track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process being pushed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and “Big Green” environmental groups. 
 
The residents of Point Arena, a small fishing town located off the gorgeous Mendocino County coast south of Fort Bragg, have played a powerful role in past battles to stop offshore oil drilling and the clear cutting of redwood forests. Now they are uniting to stop a process that they says is riddled with conflict of interest and mission creep and will remove sustainable seaweed harvesters and fishermen from the Point Arena in order to pave the way for offshore oil drilling, wave energy projects and corporate aquaculture. 
 
“Don't underestimate us,” said Craig Bell, chair of the Mendocino County Fish and Game Advisory Commission, who moderated the event. “We've been giant killers before in Point Arena.” 
 
He emphasized that the MLPA process has been expanded from a $250,000 process, as originally intended when the law passed in 1999, to an out of control $25 to $40 million financial boondoggle. 
 
“This is all while we are seeing precious cuts in our heath care, schools and parks,” said Bell. “The irony is that the MLPA is setting up no-take parks off shore while on land our parks are being closed.” 
 
He noted that the largest de facto marine protected area in U.S. history, the Rockfish Conservation Zone, now extends along the entire continental shelf of California including the Mendocino Coast. 
 
“We are being told by Mike Chrisman, Resources Secretary, that this is one of most inclusive processes ever,” said Bell. “But there’s a difference between being part of a bottom up process and being processed by a top down process as we are.” 
 
He also criticized the Packard Foundation and Resource Legacy Fund Foundation for their “large, undue influence in the outcome of the process” and the deplorable role of the Big Green environmental groups. 
 
“Outside environmental organizations are assuming that we are behind this process and we resent that,” said Bell. “They assume they know more about our ocean that we do.” 
 
John Lewallen, local seaweed harvester and longtime environmentalist, and his wife, Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, organized the “Point Arena Sustainable Fisheries Reality Tour” to acquaint the media, public and government officials with the areas that will be closed to fishing and seaweed harvesting if the Governor and his MPLA Blue Ribbon Task Force have their way. The Recreational Fishing Alliance, Mendocino County Fish & Game Advisory Committee, Mendocino Seaweed Stewardship Alliance and Ocean Protection Coalition sponsored the event. 
 
The event started at 9 a.m. at the Stornetta Public Lands with abalone diving and seaweed harvesting on the minus tide on a beautiful, flat calm day. John talked about his thirty years of sea palm trimming at the proposed new "Sea Lion Rock Marine Reserve," a proposed no-take zone, while Barbara harvested the tops of the sea palms with a Swiss army knife. 
 
The morning events were followed by a delicious lunch of sustainably caught sea vegetables, abalone, albacore, rockfish and sea urchins, then followed from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. by the town hall meeting. After Craig Bell, one speaker after another denounced the no-take zones scheduled to be adopted in August by the California Fish and Game Commission. 
 
Milo Vukovich, President of the Sonoma County Abalone Network, opened his afternoon presentation by quipping that the MLPA process was as “open as a wreck between a train and a bicycle.” He said the MLPA area-based closures, imposed from above with no scientific backing, were based only on politics and would conflict with longstanding species-based fisheries management more suitable to the people and wild ocean ecosystem. 
 
He said the IPA (Integrated Preferred Alternative) would reduce recreational abalone harvesting areas open to public access from 15 to only 7 along the Sonoma and Mendocino County coast, creating increasing pressure on existing areas. Vukovich emphasize that the greatest threat to the North coast abalone is the commercialization of the resource by rampant poaching. 
 
"Abalone are now worth $80 each on the black market," he explained. "Half of the North Coast abalone take – 250,000 pounds per year - is poached, and that is figured in to setting the limits. Instead of spending money on law enforcement along the coast to stop this poaching, the state is imposing regulations on top of regulations.” 
 
John Lewallen took aim at the conflicts of interests of officials involved in the Governor’s MLPA process, explaining that the Point Arena Basin is now in process to be leased for offshore oil and gas development by the federal Minerals Management Service, with public comment open until September. Lewallen noted that Catherine Reyes-Boyd, CEO of the Western States Petroleum Association, was on the five-member Blue Ribbon Panel of "fisheries experts" that chose the new no-take zones in the Point Arena area. 
 
"Is this because they want to clear independent fishermen and seaweed harvesters out so they can make Point Arena an oil drilling boom town?" Lewallen asked? "Do they think this little town is a soft target?" 
 
On a similar note, Judith Vidaver, chair of the Ocean Protection Coalition (OPC), said, “What I see here is a resource grab. The first thing that the corporations want to do before grabbing public trust resources is to get rid of the people who live or subsist on the land and ocean. Whether it’s the oil companies, big energy companies or MLPA Process we’re fighting against, OPC is here and will be supportive of you.” 
 
Ann Maurice, Sonoma County Native American activist, who has worked for years to stop MLPA closures from taking away traditional ocean harvesting areas vital to the survival of Kashaya and other Native cultures, gave her complete support to the Point Arena “Seaweed Rebellion.” 
 
"Native Americans have been systematically deprived of the right to sustainably fish and harvest intertidal food," Maurice said. "Now the same thing is being done to you. Make no mistake about it." 
 
Lauren Sinnott, Mayor of Point Arena, told the crowd that the city was fully backing the fishermen and environmentalists. 
 
Heidi Dickerson, representing Congressman Mike Thompson, read a statement from Thompson describing his good work for salmon and other fisheries in Washington and saying that he heard people's concerns about the MLPA process. 
 
Other speakers included Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, Allan Jacobs, retired scientist and community activist, and Larry Knowles from the Mendocino Seaweed Stewardship Alliance. 
 
It is clear from the big turnout in Point Arena that while Packard Foundation-funded “Big Green” groups are collaborating with Governor Schwarzenegger to kick seaweed harvesters and fishermen off the water at Point Arena to open the door to offshore oil rigs, wave energy projects and corporate aquaculture, the local environmentalists, fishermen and Native Americans are united in opposition to Schwarzenegger’s MLPA corporate greenwashing process.

Urgent Action Alert: Ask Senator Darrell Steinberg why he is undermining legislative oversight of Schwarzenegger MLPA Process!

Some ugly things happened in the state legislature last week. The Budget Conference Committee rejected our proposed language for legislative oversight of the MLPA, and for legislative appropriation of the massive foundation money to "back-fill" the MLPA funding. There is no general fund money for any of this. There is no bond money because all of that is "in suspense." 
 
Instead, the committee welcomed private money, without any oversight, for the management of MPAs in California and went further to invite the Packard Foundation to write fishery management plans, instead of the DFG. This will be a nightmare for fishermen, and fisheries. 
 
Here is a note from our California Fisheries Coalition lobbyist, Vern Goehring. Please call Darrell Steinberg's office! They key staff person in his office is Kip Lipper (really.) Mr. Lipper completely shined on our reps in the committee process. 
 
- Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and Member of the Mendocino County Fish and Game Advisory Commission 
 
The entire fishing community (recreational and commercial) has been waiting and anticipating for months to see if the CA Legislature was going to assert its rightful role and oversee the Administration and its wealthy private supporters as they adopt Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Or would the Legislature just accept the word of the Administration that the process was based on good science and lots of public input. 
 
The fishing community had high hopes that two prominent legislators (Senators Florez and Ducheny) would help ensure transparency. Even hoping that a special oversight hearing could be held to examine the quality of the science, the economic impacts, and the availability of state funds to actually manage MPAs once they are adopted. 
 
Ducheny and Florez tried their best but ran into a brick wall in Senate President proTempore Steinberg’s office. Language requiring (1) the same financial standards that controls public money be applied to the MLPA private money and (2) a delay in new MPAs until fishery management is fully integrated with previously adopted MPAs was solidly rejected from going into a "budget trailer bill." 
 
Instead, Senator Steinberg flipped the language into a huge victory for anti-fishing folks. His language compliments the Governor on the use of private money and private agreements for creating MPAs and encourages him to do the same for adopting Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) under the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA). It invites RLFF, who has already given nearly $34 million to create MPAs, and others to pony up the millions needed to write and adopt an FMP regulating fishing in areas outside of MPAs. 
 
Steinberg recognizes that implementing the MLPA and the MLMA are outrageously expensive ($35 million annually for MLPA), but instead of fixing the problem he says go get special interest money to restrict fishing. 
 
In other words, special interest money could be in total control of fishing throughout the state. With no effective Legislative oversight! 
 
Please make some phone calls now: 
 
1st - Call Senators Florez (916-651-4016) and Ducheny (916-651-4040) and thank them for their efforts regarding MLPA oversight and ask them to continue. 
 
2nd Call Senator Steinberg (916-651-4006 Capitol or 916-651-1529 District) 
 
Ask: Why is he undermining Legislative oversight of the MLPA? Why he supports placing tens of millions of dollars in unfunded mandates on the DFG? How can he allow costly new programs to start up while cutting critical existing programs? 
 
3rd Call your local Assemblymember and State Senator and ask their help in getting meaningful oversight and controls on this expensive unfunded MLPA program. You can find you local representatives at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov Click "Your Legislature" and insert your zip code. 
 
Thank you, 
 
CA Fisheries Coalition