California will enforce rules and regulations within an expanding network of marine-protected areas as part of the Marine Life Protection Act. In the meantime the federal authorities issued a statement implying that poaching will not be tolerated in federally protected reserves.
According to NOAA the owners and operators of the commercial fishing vessel Risa Lynn will pay a $10,000 civil penalty as a settlement in an illegal-fishing case within a marine-protected area in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The incident was reported after a two-week federal and state operation in March 2008.
The officials said that the fishermen were observed setting gear in the Footprint Marine Reserve, south of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands. The reserve is one of several federally designated no-take fishing zones. The California Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Coast Guard assisted in the operation. Don Masters, special agent in charge of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, southwest division, informed that this case is a primary example of what can be achieved through cooperative law enforcement efforts to protect our nation’s natural marine resources.
