Longtime commercial fisherman Peter Halmay believes his way of life is hanging in the balance as the state effort to remap the coastal habitats. He is one of a few hundred small-craft fishermen who pursue their catch close to the county’s shoreline. It is said that they could lose access to their favorite fishing grounds as part of an effort to redraw California’s mishmash of marine protected areas, which ban or restrict seafood harvesting to maintain biodiversity.
According to Halmay small-scale fisheries are the most vulnerable to being hurt by a misplaced marine reserve. He plans to attend a state panel’s meeting tomorrow in San Diego to discuss the 43 marine protected areas off Southern California, including 10 along San Diego County. It is true that the massive remapping project is generating rancor among commercial and sportfishing groups, while marine scientists and conservationists are pushing for expansion of the current patchwork of sites.
The Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 authorized the state Fish and Game Commission to reorganize those territories with more consistent standards. The agency would use the latest findings in marine science and consider how the fishing industry would be affected. As per the information Fish and Game officials are working with the Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force, the advisory group that will host tomorrow’s meeting.
Russell Moll, director of the California Sea Grant program at the University of California San Diego, informed that establishing new reserves in Southern California, which stretches from Point Conception to the U.S.-Mexico border, will be a formidable task because local fishing groups wield a lot of political power.
