Noyo Jim
01-09-2009, 08:46 PM
"Task Force Urged to Use Balanced, Scientific Approach to Ocean Health"
Coalition of Family Owned Fishing Businesses, Recreational Fishermen, Seafood Producers Say Thoughtful Effort Needed to Adopt Comprehensive, Equitable Plan
San Diego, Sept. 8, 2008 - The California Fisheries Coalition, a group of more than 14,000 family owned fishing businesses, recreational fishermen and seafood producers, today urged a blue-ribbon task force to use comprehensive science and examine all factors as it develops an equitable plan for ocean health off the coast of Southern California.
"We need a balanced, comprehensive approach to ensure the future health of our coastal waters and diverse marine life," said CFC manager Vern Goehring. "It's imperative that the task force begin its work by consulting the best available, peer reviewed science and commit themselves to evaluating all things that effect our oceans, not forgetting pollution and coastal development."
Unfortunately, past efforts to protect the ocean have neglected to take into account the full range of environmental impacts, and instead have singled out one thing or another - typically fishing, the thing of least benefit and least resistance - in adopting new, narrow regulations.
"Earlier piecemeal approaches certainly gave the public the appearance of progress, but those efforts didn't do any real work of identifying and equitably addressing the problems facing the Pacific," said Dr. Richard Parrish, recently retired as a fisheries oceanographer with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service. "The Marine Life Protection Act is only considering state waters, and if it fails to consider the whole of the southern California Bight including both state and federal waters, it offers only an illusion of protection. This task force must use solid science, and not politics, to protect California's ocean areas for marine life and people alike."
A 2007 poll for the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries showed that two-thirds of Californians support small, independent fishermen and recreational fishing activities. They don't think fishing is the primary threat to our oceans. Instead they support allowing fishing throughout the state - backed up with science-based limits to ensure sustainable harvest.
The Southern California area being evaluated by the task force stretches from the California-Mexican border to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and includes offshore islands.
(Vern Goehring's OpEd that received wide circulation throughout California )
Coalition of Family Owned Fishing Businesses, Recreational Fishermen, Seafood Producers Say Thoughtful Effort Needed to Adopt Comprehensive, Equitable Plan
San Diego, Sept. 8, 2008 - The California Fisheries Coalition, a group of more than 14,000 family owned fishing businesses, recreational fishermen and seafood producers, today urged a blue-ribbon task force to use comprehensive science and examine all factors as it develops an equitable plan for ocean health off the coast of Southern California.
"We need a balanced, comprehensive approach to ensure the future health of our coastal waters and diverse marine life," said CFC manager Vern Goehring. "It's imperative that the task force begin its work by consulting the best available, peer reviewed science and commit themselves to evaluating all things that effect our oceans, not forgetting pollution and coastal development."
Unfortunately, past efforts to protect the ocean have neglected to take into account the full range of environmental impacts, and instead have singled out one thing or another - typically fishing, the thing of least benefit and least resistance - in adopting new, narrow regulations.
"Earlier piecemeal approaches certainly gave the public the appearance of progress, but those efforts didn't do any real work of identifying and equitably addressing the problems facing the Pacific," said Dr. Richard Parrish, recently retired as a fisheries oceanographer with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service. "The Marine Life Protection Act is only considering state waters, and if it fails to consider the whole of the southern California Bight including both state and federal waters, it offers only an illusion of protection. This task force must use solid science, and not politics, to protect California's ocean areas for marine life and people alike."
A 2007 poll for the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries showed that two-thirds of Californians support small, independent fishermen and recreational fishing activities. They don't think fishing is the primary threat to our oceans. Instead they support allowing fishing throughout the state - backed up with science-based limits to ensure sustainable harvest.
The Southern California area being evaluated by the task force stretches from the California-Mexican border to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and includes offshore islands.
(Vern Goehring's OpEd that received wide circulation throughout California )