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11 14 09 Everyone Who Catches Or Eats Fish From California Coastal Waters Will Be Affected A quick look at the MLPA in Mendocino County - Summer time on the coast. June 13, 2009  Thanks to John Lewallen, 30 year veteran of North Coast Ocean Protection! Point Arena Upwelling: Citizens Roast the Marine Life Protection Act "Process" as local divers, fishers and seaweed harvesters, a representative from Wes Chebro's office and a rep from the Fisheries and Aquaculture Subcommittee (Senator Pat Wiggins' Aide - Fred Euphrat), along with local tribal members, met south of the Point Arena Lighthouse at the edge of the intertidal zone's seaweed beds. June 23, 2009 While EcoTrust Corporation Pushes the Process in Fort Bragg, Ocean Conservancy bumper stickers read  "My other state park is underwater." July 21, 2009 Fort Bragg  The MLPA 'open house'  a circus, dog and pony show... The Seaweed Rebellion will have name tags next time. Summer 2009 - Historical hysteria - betrayal of the RSG by the BRTF - the RDARS Commission Report Friday, May 29, 2009  MLPA LOG: TRUST BETRAYED  Kayak Editor Paul Lebowitz is a stakeholder in the MLPA process and his MLPA log is an ongoing observation within the process. "Hard-won cross-interest gains sabotaged to appease a preservationist agenda." MLPA Initiative Begins Planning Process in North Coast Region    Rising Tide of the Seaweed Rebellion Seaweed Rebel  testimony at the August 5th 2009 California Department of Fish and Game Commission hearing.  188kb PDF From looting the redwoods and worker's pension funds of northern California to the art and culture landscape of LA, the once President of MAXXAM and ENRON, and his old pal who also served as the Vice President of MAXXAM, the lineage continues. Cultural despots and Philanthropy! Dr John Mick Seidl,  President of Maxxam Inc(1985-1992), Pacific Lumber, Enron, Natomas, CellNet, MyHomeKey.com, and Chairman of The Pacific Lumber Company and Chairman of MAXXAM Property Company - was also the Environmental Grant Program Director for the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation's first 4 years. Almost every company Dr. John was president of since the 70's has gone bankrupt. The MLPA Initiative could bankrupt our ocean and our coastal communities." And sometimes, it's too much even for  Barry Munitz.  Too much what???  MONEY & POWER At that same August 5, 2009 the Fish & Game Commission Hearing in Woodland the Commission voted to close Point Arena including Sea Lion Cove to Seaweed Harvests and Abalone diving. Letter: Port of San Diego Concerned About MLPA Implementation: Twisting the Science: The Marine Life Protection Act: Ocean preservation vs. privatization: California to further restrict coastal fishing: California Fisheries Coalition quoted in the San Bernardino Sun August 6, 2009 Ecotrust, (Charles Steinback) begins to "conduct socioeconomic research" and "identify stakeholders" being processed through permanent fisheries closures and intertidal access closures from Point Arena to the Oregon Border with an introductory meeting in Fort Bragg. Also on august 6th, Jennifer Savage of Ocean Conservancy and Jim martin of the Recreational Fishing Alliance discuss the MLPA Initiative on the air with Chris Skyhawk Thursday evening.  My thoughts  "How the MLPA - Initiative is the Backdoor To Oil" are posted in the Fort Bragg Advocate News along with extended information on Frank Hartzell's 3rd and 4th well written articles in his series on the "MLPA Initiative: Preservation v Privatization". California's Marine Life Protection Act, is the first state law in the US to establish a network of coastal protected areas. The MLPA process has become a statewide scandal. Fish & Game Commissioner Jim Kellogg has called for a suspension of the process until it becomes clear how to find the $34 million per year needed to keep people from sustainable harvests of ocean food. Marisla Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Lucile Packard Foundation, ... pursuing both incremental and systemic changes, to name only a few  http://www.regionaloceans.org/documents/WkshpPaperformattedFINAL.pdf State Fish & Game Commissioner Michael Sutton, who pulled down a $152,750.00 salary in 2007 as vice president of the Center for the Future of the Oceans, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and has been a longtime employee of the Packard Foundation which finances the MLPA  process through the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF), is the subject of investigation for his conflict-of-interest by the Fair Political Practices Committee. The FPPC's enforcement division could remove him before the vote, an action that could potentially nullify past  Fish and Game Commission  decisions in which Sutton took part. http://www.pierfishing.com/msgboard/viewtopic.php?p=39605 Catherine Reheis-Boyd, CEO and Chief of Staff for the Western States Petroleum Association is currently on the five-member Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) of "fisheries experts".  http://www.abalonenetwork.org/scan_mlpa_dfg_member_announcement.html The Point Arena Basin is in the process of being leased for offshore oil and gas development by the federal Minerals Management Service, with public comment open until September 2009. 062309 Fort Bragg - NO SCIENCE With 40 fisher people and seaweed harvesters present; MLPA I-Team Executive Director Ken Wiseman and Malissa_miller Henson of California DFG state: "Science was not used to validate the need for MPA's ... there is only the 1999 law" ... Ecotrust's role is to package compromises and public approval. The MLPA process ... does not consider economic impacts to Primary or Secondary Fisheries, as admitted by the EcoTrust group which requested $10,000,000.00 dollars to study impacts to local fisheries and communities ... but $500,000.00 dollars was the budget said the Packard Foundation. Subsistence Food Gathering Was Not Researched And SEAWEED - the basis of the food chain was entirely left out of their 2 year study until October 2nd, 2008. It was at the Santa Rosa meeting with the Lt Governor present,  State Fish and Game Commission,  DFG, and the BRTF, that testimony from Native American Seaweed Harvesters of the Sonoma Coast and the Seaweed Stewardship Alliance  (Commercial Seaweed Harvesters)  of the North Coast HALTED THE PROCESS! On Saturday, June 13 about seventy citizens got together at the Point Arena City Hall on Saturday to prepare and share a freshly caught meal of rockfish, albacore, gourmet seaweed, abalone and uni (sea urchin), and to make an outcry about the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) "process." Over half of the crowd had been out seaside near the Lighthouse that morning as Seaweed was freshly harvested and 3 LARGE Abalone were brought in from the proposed Sea Lion Cove Marine Protected Area. Click on image to DOWNLOAD 9 page PDF 1.13mb Or Click  HERE  for 330kb version without graphic. Everyone's Always Invited: Mr. Lewallen of Mendocino Seaweed Company read from an email he received as "a leader in the fishing community" from Ecotrust ... "I've been asked to invite other stakeholders," Mr. Lewallen said, "but the definition of 'stakeholder' is not clear. I define 'stakeholder' as 'a person who eats ocean food". Craig Bell, Mendocino Fish & Game Advisory Commissioner Described the proposed ocean fishing closures bracketing the Point Arena Pier on both sides as a major livelihood blow to a fishing community already impacted by several closures, including the complete closure of the salmon season and depth-defined bottom fishing closures Mr. Bell called "the largest fishing area closure in the world." Stop the process Mr. Bell suggested, until the marine science and knowledge of long experience could allow creation of reserves that make ecological and economic sense. Milo Vukovich, President of Sonoma County Abalone Network said the MLPA area-based closures, imposed from above with no scientific backing, would conflict with longstanding fisheries management more suitable to the people and wild ocean ecosystem. Most of the Sonoma and Mendocino abalone habitat already is a de-facto no-take zone, where steep cliffs and large ranches offer few access points for abalone divers. Limiting abalone diving to free diving for personal use without SCUBA tanks protects abalone in deeper waters. The greatest threat to the North coast abalone is poaching, which is growing due to lack of funding for wardens and economic stress. "Half of the North Coast abalone take is poached, and that is figured in to setting the limits." When numbers fall below 3,000 Abalone per hectare (about 1200 per acre) there is a voluntary closure in association with DFG - an acre is a square measured at 208 feet on a side. Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in June 2009: Approves letter of concern regarding the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative/North Coast Study Region and the proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) Planning Process;authorize Chair to sign same; and direct staff to transmit letter to the California Natural Resources Agency, the Governor of California, legislative representatives, and the California Fish and Game Commission Members. The Regional Stakeholder selection process, the MLPA Science Advisory Team appointments, and the socio-economic study interview process is scheduled to take place this summer and fall along the Northern California Coast. Humboldt Bay Recreation and Harbor District are hosting public meetings in Eureka. With NO Legislative oversight special interest money could be in total control of fishing throughout the State. The entire fishing community (recreational and commercial) has been waiting and anticipating for months to see if the CA Legislature would assert its rightful role and oversee the administration of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by it's wealthy private supporters. But the Legislature just accepts that the process was based on good science and lots of public input. The fishing community had hopes that two prominent legislators (Senators Florez and Ducheny) would help ensure transparency - special oversight hearings to examine the quality of the science, the economic impacts, and the availability of state funds to actually manage MPAs. Ducheny and Florez tried their best but in Senate President proTempore Steinberg's office, language requiring (1) the same financial standards that controls public money be applied to the MLPA private money and (2) a delay in new MPAs until fishery management is fully integrated with previously adopted MPAs was solidly rejected from going into a "budget trailer bill." Senator Steinberg changed the language to compliment the Governor on the use of private money and private agreements for creating MPAs and encouraged the Governor to do the same for adopting Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) to regulate fishing in areas outside of MPAs. Public Input The Marine Reserves and Protected Areas  (MRPA) are scheduled to be adopted by the California State Fish & Game Commission in August. There will be an 'open house' at Dana Gray Elementary School, 1197 Chestnut St., Fort Bragg, on Tuesday July 21, from 5:00 to 8:00pm. 1st - Call Senators Florez (916-651-4016) and Ducheny (916-651-4040) and thank them for their efforts regarding MLPA Legislative oversight and ask them to continue. 2nd Call Senator Steinberg (916-651-4006 Capitol or 916-651-1529 District) Ask: Why is he undermining Legislative oversight of the MLPA? Why does he support burdening DFG with tens of millions of dollars in unfunded mandates? How can he allow costly new programs to start up while cutting critical existing programs? 3rd Call your local Assembly member and State Senator - ask their help in getting meaningful oversight and controls on this expensive unfunded MLPA program. You can find you local representatives at  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov   Click on "Your Legislature" and insert your zip code. Visit John and Barbara Stephens Lewallen of Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company http://www.seaweed.net/OceanProtection/ For more offical storyline information, go to  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/ Also visit  Seaweed Rebellion North Coast MLPA Resources And send comments on the proposed Point Arena Basin offshore oil and gas leasing and development which would open the Point Arena Basin for leasing in the year 2014. MMS asks that we include our names and return addresses when commenting, and reference "2010-2015 Oil and Gas Leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale 236". Send comments to: Ms Renee Orr, Chief, Leasing Division Minerals Management Service MS-4010 381 Elden St. Herndon, VA 20170-4817 Please visit  http://www.mms.gov  to add your comment. MPA's don't protect marine resources from pollution, or oil exploration/drilling, seabed development, aquaculture, industrialization of coastal waters, or militarization, just food gathering. Astral-Arts Mendocino registered as a Mendocino County business in the Spring of 2003. All artwork, media, audio, video, projet series names and individual titles are Copyright Protected ©2004 ©2005 ©2006 ©2007 ©2008 Author: Thomas DiFiore. All business logos and product line artwork, are marks with specific fonts used in the identification of goods/services as used in commerce, and are trademarks of the author or Astral Arts Mendocino.