The Fish and Game Commission on Dec. 15 passed historic regulations for Southern California under the state's Marine Life Protection Act. It voted 3-2 to adopt a plan that had been hashed out with help from dozens of marine experts over two years. The strategy incorporates about 350 square miles of state-controlled waters — or about 15 percent of the region's total — into a reserve system, which bans or greatly limits harvesting of marine creatures.
Conservationists generally supported the approach even though many wanted more areas placed off limits to harvest in hopes of seeing large-scale increases in marine creatures off the coast.
Fishermen made no secret of feeling disenfranchised by the process in recent months and they had signaled a legal battle before the commission's vote. They worry about the closures creating crowding in other areas, reducing income for commercial vessels, not being well enforced and other issues.
Their lawsuit says that the state's process for designing marine reserves failed to follow what the Legislature mapped out in the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999. The law ordered a revamping of the state's mishmash of marine reserves, which had been established over decades without a scientific master plan.
California's coast was broken into five regions for the remapping process, including the southern section that extends from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border. The north Central Coast section runs from Pigeon Point near Santa Cruz to Point Arena in Mendocino County. That plan was adopted in 2009.
Fishing advocates also said the environmental review process was fundamentally flawed and did not adequately address baseline conditions, cumulative impacts or alternatives. And, they said critical decisions that should have been subject to greater public scrutiny were made behind closed doors.
The fishing groups want a judge to declare the marine protection plan void and unenforceable.
Adrianna Shea at the Fish and Game Commission declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday, though state officials earlier have defended the transparency of the process. She said the new protected areas for Southern California may not go into effect until March 2012 as state agencies complete their paperwork and look for the best time to make them go live.
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