Decision on a controversial plan adopted last week to restrict fishing off the area’s would be on December 9. This proposal is a mishmash as it is alternately opposed and supported by environmentalists, commercial fishermen and recreational anglers. It is said that the plan ultimately curtails fishing off popular spots like Rocky Point and around the Channel Islands, but to a lesser degree than sought by a coalition of marine biologists, coastal activists and environmentalists throughout the region.
It is informed that the plan will now have to work around additional restrictions on fishing off Point Dume, Catalina, Malibu and south Orange County. The plan now goes to the California Department of Fish and Game Commission for a Dec. 9 vote. The commission rarely overturns or alters proposals made by regional blue-ribbon panels tasked with implementing the 1999 state law known as the Marine Life Protection Act.
The plan called Heal the Bay which had launched a year-long grass-roots effort to expand protections for underwater marine habitats, explained their position by arguing that commercial fishing limitations will ultimately allow the region’s rapidly depleting fishing stock to return to levels not seen in decades. In the end, however, the coalition will have to work with the compromise – and use areas where more severe restrictions are adopted to prove their point.
