SAC is sad to announce a loss for the marine rec world. We will let you know how the Partners for Sustainable Oceans and the United Anglers decide to proceed with the battle.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/17/judge-preserves-marine-protected-areas/
San Diego Union-Tribune
South Coast ocean closures not approved by state’s law office
In what is a big blow to environmental groups who seek massive fishing closures off the coast of California, the marine protected areas called for by the Marine Life Protection Act’s South Coast Region have been disapproved by the state’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL).
The third set of marine protected areas established by the MLPA process will be delayed by months or more, according to a high-ranking Department of Fish and Game official who requested anonymity. The OAL has ordered the Department of Fish and Game and the MLPA Initiative team to correct deficiencies in the MLPA’s final documents. The flaws must be fixed before the closures are approved, according to a document released Friday by the OAL.
The OAL listed several reasons why it did not approve the closures. Included among them is the MLPA staff’s failure to provide reasons for rejecting alternative proposals for closures. And perhaps the most telling reason is the MLPA’s Initiative team’s failure to adequately respond to all of the public comments regarding the proposed closures.
The ruling came 17 days before the entire process will be on trial in San Diego Superior Court. Bob Fletcher, a former state Fish and Game assistant director and one-time president of the Sportfishing Association of California, and the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans sued the MLPA Initiative team for its mishandling of the process. The trial is set for Sept. 26.
In recent months the sport fishing groups have scored significant rulings against the backers of the marine closures. In June, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ocean Conservancy had no legal right to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Fletcher and his group. Fletcher filed the lawsuit on Jan. 27, 2011 for members of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans such as the United Anglers of California and the Coastside Fishing Club. The suit asks that the court set aside regulations established through the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative.
The PSO lawsuit against the MLPA Initiative cites a lack of statutory authority for the California Fish and Game Commission to adopt the closure regulations. The group cites numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in the Fish and Game Commission’s environmental review of the regulations.
Fletcher said the judge’s decision to keep the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ocean Conservancy out of the lawsuit was crucial to his group’s success in proving a flawed and corrupt process determined the South Coast region’s ocean closures.
“These environmental groups have played a major role in influencing the MLPA Initiative towards excessive and unnecessary fishing closures through a seriously flawed process,” Fletcher said. “Throughout the MLPA process, anglers have had the deck stacked against us due in large part to the deep pockets of these pro-closure environmental organizations.”
We received this message from the CA Dept. of Fish & Game yesterday. This is good news for our fleet and the commercial fisherman who would be affected by these closures.
The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) will discuss alternative effective dates for implementation of the Southern California marine protected areas (MPAs) at its next meeting. The MPAs were previously expected to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, after the Commission chose that date at its June meeting. They will now discuss a new implementation date at the Sept. 15 meeting in Redding.
This decision comes after the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) informed the Commission that they will not approve the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) south coast MPAs regulatory package in time to make it effective Oct. 1, 2011 as anticipated. It is a complicated package and OAL informed the Commission that it has additional questions and requests for more information that will require a re-notice.
On Dec. 15, 2010 the Commission adopted regulations to create a suite of MPAs in the South Coast Study Region, which spans which spans state waters from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S./Mexico border. Developed under the MLPA Initiative planning process, this network of 36 MPAs will be added to the 13 existing MPAs and two special closures in the Northern Channel Islands, which were established in 2003. Combined, the 49 MPAs and two special closures cover approximately 354 square miles of state waters and represent approximately 15 percent of the region.
Check out this article. It sounds like some Environmental organizations are getting smart. This is a step forward for the Fisherman. We always welcome support from sound minded people and organizations.
California’s Anglers Claim Another Legal Victory
Judge Denies Motion by Environmental Groups to Intervene
in Litigation Challenging Regulations Closing Ocean Areas to Sportfishing
Sacramento, CA – June 6, 2011 – A San Diego Superior Court judge has ordered that the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ocean Conservancy have no legal right to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to preserve ocean sportfishing in California. That lawsuit, filed on January 27, 2011, by members of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO) – United Anglers of Southern California, Coastside Fishing Club and Bob Fletcher – asks the court to set aside regulations established through the “Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative” which created massive fishing closures along California’s North Central and South Coasts. On the matter of intervention, members of the PSO argued, and the judge agreed, that the two environmental organizations did not have a direct and immediate interest in the litigation, and therefore will not be allowed to intervene on the side of the Fish and Game Commission.
“This is a significant victory for our overall legal effort,” said Dave Elm, Chairman of United Anglers of Southern California. “The state is capable of representing itself in this case, and allowing the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ocean Conservancy to intervene on their side would have only created additional burdens for the Court and unnecessarily added to our legal costs.”
The lawsuit against the MLPA Initiative cites a lack of statutory authority for the California Fish and Game Commission to adopt the closure regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in the Commission’s environmental review of the regulations. Soon after its filing, legal counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ocean Conservancy announced that they would seek to intervene on the side of the Commission. Had intervention been allowed, these groups would have become parties to the litigation with full rights to participate.
“These environmental groups have played a major role in influencing the MLPA Initiative towards excessive and unnecessary fishing closures through a seriously flawed process,” said Bob Fletcher of the Sportfishing Association of California and former Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Fish and Game. “Throughout the MLPA process, anglers have had the deck stacked against us due in large part to the deep pockets of these pro-closure environmental organizations. We finally have a level playing field in the courts, and fortunately we have one important factor on our side – we’re right.”
The ruling on intervention is the latest in a series of victories for California’s sportfishing community in the legal effort against the MLPA Initiative. Last year, Fletcher filed and won a suit against the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force and Master Plan Team– also known as the Science Advisory Team – for failing to provide documents related to their MLPA planning efforts. These groups incorrectly claimed that they were not required to make their records available to the public under the Public Records Act on the ground that they are not “state agencies.” Once these records were finally disclosed, numerous long-standing suspicions about the lack of openness and transparency within the MLPA process were confirmed, including that the Blue Ribbon Task Force met numerous times outside of the public view in scheduled private meetings.
On March 11, 2011, a California Superior Court ruling ordered the Blue Ribbon Task Force and Master Plan Team to pay 100-percent of the legal fees incurred by members of the PSO in the Public Records Act case.
“Clearly our legal effort has strong standing, as the court has now decided in our favor three times,” noted Elm. “However, these victories don’t come cheap. I urge all anglers, and anyone who supports public access to public resources, to help us fight the flawed MLPA process in the courts by visiting www.OceanAccessProtectionFund.org and making a donation today.”
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