by Dan Bacher

Fishermen, environmentalists, Tribal members and the public will have to chance to speak to the Legislature about their concerns regarding the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative on the South Coast during a special hearing at the State Capitol in Sacramento in Room 4202 on Thursday, February 17 from 10 a.m. to noon.

Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), the chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, said the hearing will focus exclusively on the South Coast Study Region.

“This is an opportunity for everyone who has an interest in the Marine Life Protection Act on the South Coast to talk to the Legislature,” Chesbro said. “The Joint Fisheries Committee will be meeting its responsibility to provide oversight of the Marine Life Protection Act.”

The hearing will start with brief presentations by staff of the MLPA Initiative and the California Department of Fish and Game. Public testimony will follow.

The hearing follows by a day the Committee’s 38th Annual Fisheries Forum, scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the State Capitol, also in Room 4202.

The Feb. 16 forum will include an update and public comment on the MLPA statewide.

The Feb. 16 forum and Feb. 17 hearing follow a Jan. 21 hearing the Committee held in Eureka on the MLPA’s North Coast Study Area.

For more information, call Tom Weseloh, Legislative Fisheries Committee consultant, (707) 445-7014, Andrew Bird, Chesbro communications director, (916) 319-2001.

The Marine Life Protection Act was a law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999 to protect California’s marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage. The program is divided into five study areas. The South Coast Study Area starts at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and stretches south to the border with Mexico.

MLPA critics point out that the MLPA Initiative under Schwarzenegger took water pollution, oil spills and drilling, habitat destruction, corporate aquaculture, military testing, coastal development, wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its strange concept of marine protection.

Critics have also charged the MLPA Initiative, funded privately by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, with the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. These include the Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act, the California Public Records Act, the California Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

While MLPA advocates claim the initiative is based on “science,” the process, has completely excluded Tribal scientists from the Science Advisory Teams that oversee the MLPA (blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/07/3020).

Conflicts of interests by MLPA officials have abounded in all five study regions. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that directed the process included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF)!

However, the violations of law and corruption that underlie the MLPA process are finally being exposed. George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), presented a 25 page document documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative officials to the California Fish and Game Commission during its meeting on February 2 in Sacramento.

The PSO, a coalition of national and regional fishing organizations including the Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California, filed suit in San Diego Superior Court in late January, seeking to overturn South Coast and North Central Coast MLPA closures, alleging violations of the State Administrative Procedure Act.

During his brief public testimony, Osborn exposed the corruption and violations of law by the MLPA’s Blue Ribbon Task Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_04BC1acA).

“After reviewing the documents turned over to us, which previously the BRTF had improperly withheld from the public, we now have evidence, indicating that the public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged Kabuki performance, choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions, in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF,” said Osborn. “Clearly, this has not been the most open and transparent process, as it has so often been described.

In the South Coast MLPA hearing, Osborn will be presenting the same 25 page set of documents that he distributed to the Commission. “We’re pleased to have the hearing and we applaud the Chairman for calling it,” said Osborn.

To see the entire set of BRTF private meeting documents, go to the San Diego Freedivers website: http://www.sandiegofreedivers.com/MLPABRTFofflinemeetingdocumentation.pdf.

President Obama this week ordered federal agencies to review existing regulations and to streamline or eliminate those regulations that are not smart, unnecessary, unreasonably costly or no longer needed.

This was a welcome and long-overdue acknowledgment that, as the President noted in an opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “Regulations do have costs.”

This is a simple fact that often gets lost in the massive machinery of government paperwork, rhetoric and bureaucracy that produces, promotes and protects the mountains of regulations that businesses operate under in California.

Few industries are more heavily regulated than California’s petroleum industry. While the environment, workers, and consumers have benefited from many of these regulations, other regulations are duplicative, no longer needed or are unduly expensive. They often require costly solutions to problems that could be solved more easily and less expensively if our industry had the flexibility to do so.

And all of them make living and working in California more expensive. No one knows the total cost of regulations in California but it is in the billions and billions of dollars. We pay more for most of the things we need to survive and thrive because of these regulations. We have some of the highest gasoline costs in the country, in part, because of the many regulations that govern gasoline production.

And worse, businesses are reluctant to invest in places where they lack confidence that they won’t face an ever increasing regulatory burden. As the President said, regulations have cost. And competition for jobs and economic prosperity is real.

President Obama isn’t the only leader who understands that one sure-fire way to help a struggling economy is to lift from the backs of businesses the heavy burden of government regulations. Washington’s Governor Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, has ordered a moratorium on new government regulations other than those deemed essential to protect public health and safety.

“We want businesses to create jobs,” Gregoire said when she announced the one-year moratorium. “In these unprecedented economic times, this action will provide businesses with the stability and predictability they need to help with our state’s recovery.”

New Mexico’s Governor went even further. She abolished the state agency responsible for establishing a cap and trade program for New Mexico designed to address climate change issues. “New Mexico has recently suffered from an anti-business environment exacerbated by policies which discourage economic development and result in businesses setting up shop across state lines,” Governor Susana Martinez said earlier this month.

California, with an unemployment rate stuck at more than 12 percent, would do well to take a serious look at reducing the crushing load of regulations it imposes on businesses. Surely there are ways to ease that burden, promote job creation and restore economic vitality without putting the environment or consumers at risk.

Please mark your calendars for another Joint Committee on Fisheries andAquaculture hearing on Feb. 17, 2011. Assemblyman WesleyChesbro, Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, willconvene the hearing to focus on South Coast Marine Protected Areas. The hearing will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the State CapitolBuilding, Room 4202. The hearing will complement the Jan. 21,2011 North Coast MLPA hearing as well as the February 16, 201138th Annual Fisheries Forum where a brief coast wide MLPApresentation will be provided by MLPAI staff.

The South Coast MPA hearing will include brief presentations by MLPAI andFish and Game Commission staff followed by public testimony.

Assemblyman Chesbro hopes you will be able to attend.

Please spread the word of this hearing.

For additional information contact: Tom Weseloh atTom.Weseloh@asm.ca.gov or 707-445-7014

http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/01/26

MLPA Eureka hearing video now available

Fish and Game Commission meeting on MLPA set for February 2

by Dan Bacher

Those who missed the State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture hearing in Eureka on January 21 concerning the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative now have a chance to watch on-line the testimony by Tribal leaders, fishermen, environmental representatives, MLPA officials and elected officials.

The complete coverage of the event is now available on-demand on Access Humboldt’s Community Media Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/AH-jcfa_1-21-11. In addition, an audio file of the hearing is also posted online: http://ia700409.us.archive.org/24/items/AH-jcfa_1-21-11/jcfa_1-21-11.mp3.

The hearing, chaired by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast), was televised by Access Humboldt and streamed live on the Web.

Held in the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors’ Chambers, the hearing focused on the North Coast Study Area of the MLPA Initiative and included testimony from MLPA Initiative staff, regional stakeholder groups, tribal representatives, environmentalists and local resource users.

During the hearing, Tribal representatives, fishermen and environmentalists gave passionate testimony regarding the unified proposal for a network of marine protected areas on the North Coast and the many flaws and deficiencies of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative.

North Coast residents have strongly criticized the MLPA process for its violation of tribal fishing and harvesting rights, numerous conflicts of interests and corruption of the democratic process. In contrast with the Central Coast, North Central Coast and Southern California coast regions, the stakeholders on the North Coast approved a unified single proposal for marine protected areas.

Thomas O’Rourke, Chair of the Yurok Tribal Council, “said the tribe does not accept any efforts of the state to subjugate a sovereign government by creating rules or regulations in tribal territory,” according to John Driscoll’s article in the Eureka Times-Standard (http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_17167399).

”This act infringes on our rights,” O’Rourke said. “We will not surrender this right. Our rights are not negotiable.”

“O’Rourke said that the unified proposal is the only proposal acceptable — if not endorsed — to the tribe,” noted Driscoll.

“The Inter-Tribal Water Commission wholeheartedly supports and advocates the sovereign right of Tribal Peoples to practice religious rites integrated in natural origins with cultural traditions that are intertwined with water, physical environments, habitat, air, and the gathering of regalia from marine ecosystems for ceremonial continuity,” said Atta Stevenson, Representative of the California Indian Heritage Council and Inter-Tribal Water Commission, reading the Commission’s Position Paper (http://www.itwatercommission.org). “Religious aspects are private matters that should not be governed or interrupted nor limited by the ‘recreational’category currently used. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996), must be recognized and brought into any discussions that may or will infringe upon that right.”

The unified proposal would close or restrict fishing and gathering in approximately 13 percent of state waters, located within 3 miles of shore, in 17 different marine protected areas. MLPA critics emphasize that the initiative has taken water pollution, oil drilling and spills, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave energy projects and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its strange concept of marine “protection.”

Schwarzenegger privatized the MLPA process in 2004 when he directed the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a private corporation, to fund MLPA implementation in a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Department of Fish and Game. The perils of the privatization of conservation were dramatically demonstrated when Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who has called for new oil drilling off the California coast, was appointed by Schwarzenegger to sit on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the North and North Central Coast and to chair the South Coast Task Force.

The California Fish and Game Commission will hold a special meeting with the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to receive recommendations for the MLPA North Coast Study Region on Wednesday, February 2, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at the Resources Building Auditorium, 1416 Ninth Street, First Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814 and on the day of the meeting (for viewing or listening only) via simultaneous webcast at http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/FGCmeetingsvideolinks.asp.

Public testimony will be taken following agenda item 1(F) below.

Here is the draft agenda for the meeting:

1. PRESENTATION OF THE MLPA BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MPA) IN THE NORTH COAST STUDY REGION, ANALYSES OF THE PROPOSALS, AND RECEIPT OF COMMISSION GUIDANCE.
(A) OVERVIEW OF THE NORTH COAST MLPA INITIATIVE PLANNING PROCESS.
(B) COMPARISON OF THE TWO RECOMMENDED MPA PROPOSALS.
(C) SCIENCE ADVISORY TEAM ANALYSES.
(D) DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS.
(E) DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION EVALUATION.
(F) BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.
(G) COMMISSION GUIDANCE TO STAFF ON COMMISSION PREFERRED PACKAGE AND ALTERNATIVES FOR REGULATORY AND CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) PROCESSES. (THE COMMISSION WILL ANNOUNCE THE START OF THE REGULATORY AND CEQA PROCESSES AT A FUTURE DATE.)

For more information, call (916) 653-4899 or go to: http://www.fgc.ca.gov

I wrote this report for Dan Bacher @ the Fishsniffer magazine – thought you’d like to read it. I missed the first part of the meeting with the staff presentations and the panel on tribal issues, so this focuses mostly on the other panelists… -Jim Martin North Coast Fishermen, Tribes Trash MLPA at California Legislative Hearing By Jim Martin, Recreational Fishing Alliance State Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro and Senator Noreen Evans hosted a hearing in Eureka on January 21 of the Joint Fisheries and Aquaculture Committee, in oversight of the

Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process on the north coast. Another hearing in February will be held in Sacramento to focus on the statewide process. “I have long been skeptical of the MLPA process,” said Chesbro. The hearing provided an opportunity for members of the north coast regional stakeholder group, elected officials, tribes and tribal communities, and the general public to support the north coast unified array, and vent about the MLPA process. Fishermen, tribes,  environmentalists and local government agencies have reluctantly agreed to support a single proposal for MPAs on the north coast, but under duress. After presentations by the MLPA Initiative staff and a panel of tribal representatives, the legislators heard from a panel of representatives of government agencies, and several panels of regional stakeholder group members. Dave Jensen, President of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society, was a strong proponent of so-called “special closures” which are “no-go zones” to protect roosting seabirds and marine mammals on the coast. Special closures block all public access, not just fishing access. He was concerned that the special closures might not be considered as part of the Unified Array. “This is akin to saying that the Bill of Rights is not part of the Constitution.”

Except, it’s not. “Special Closures” were not authorized or mentioned in the MLPA statute. It’s an example of the overall “mission creep”  we’ve witnessed with the MLPA process over since former Governor Schwarzenegger handed it over to large environmental foundations for “implementation.” Aaron Newman, President of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, pointed out that the Fish & Game Commission had just published its agenda for the February 2nd. Joint meeting of the BRTF and the Commission (in Sacramento at the Resources Building), and there was no opportunity for the regional stakeholders to directly address the Commission outside of the regular 1 or 2 minutes of public comment. Assm. Chesbro and Sen. Evans responded, “That’s unacceptable,” and indicated that they would work with the Commission staff to rectify the oversight. Tim Klassen, President of the Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers (HASA), commented on the private funding of the process. He said “I’d hate to see the privatization of public resource issues continue in the future.” Chesbro agreed, saying that the private funding of the MLPA has circumvented the normal legislative oversight of government. Pete Nichols, Executive Director of the Humboldt Baykeepers, praised the work of the regional stakeholder group, as did many of the panel speakers. He noted the divisive nature of the MLPA process in other regions, and said that the residents of the north coast had a strong incentive to develop a single proposal because they did not want outside people making the decisions for them. Nichols criticized the staff of the MLPA Initiative for not developing a “threat analysis” identifying or describing any particular problem the marine protected areas should address. “I’m in favor of conservation for conservation’s sake, but the stakeholders would have had much better direction by using a threat analysis.” Dave Bitts, a board member of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (PCFFA), testified that he was “not a fan of the MLPA process.” He recalled that when the MLPA was passed in 1999, “it appeared that rockfish were in serious trouble. Today, most rockfish stocks are recovering, based on the information I get from the federal fishery managers.” Bitts echoed Nichols complaint of the lack of any threat analysis in the MLPA process. Vivian Halliwell, also with the PCFFA, went further in public testimony and strongly opposed the MLPA and said that the PCFFA supported the “no action” alternative – that is, no new MPAs – and in this, she was joined by Judith Vidaver, chair of the oldest local grassroots ocean protection group on the north coast, the Ocean Protection Coalition. “I was not selected to serve on the RSG, despite being nominated by the Mendocino Board of Supervisors and the City of Fort Bragg,” Vidaver protested, “and the interests of the local, grass-roots environmental community in Mendocino County were not represented on the panel. Instead, large non-local enviro organizations were selected for the north coast. I was told by Ken Wiseman that I did not even need to interview for a seat on the RSG, because ‘my reputation preceded me.’ ” Judy Vidaver and the Ocean Protection Coalition oppose any new MPAs and urge a repeal of the MLPA. I spoke on behalf of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), and as a member of the county of Mendocino’s Fish and Game Advisory Commission. The Packard Foundation (and others) paid $20 million for 600 square miles of no-fishing zones in California’s state marine waters. It works out to fifty-two dollars an acre. The state is left holding the bag for another $35 million a year, or $91 an acre, for maintenance. I just want my forty acres and a mule. Many members of the public questioned the science behind the MLPA. According to Richard Young, Harbormaster in the port of Crescent City, “it seemed like there were more guidelines than science.” He recalled the science advice by Dr. Ray Hilborn who said that science is about reproducing the same results when you follow the same process, and that the SAT guidelines would be very different, given a different group of  scientists on the panel. Young quoted Hilborn as describing the science as being “pulled out of thin air” and represented the opinions of a particular group of scientists, rather than science. Along the same lines, in public testimony, Yurok tribal elder Walt Lara told a story about four people on an airplane: “One was a Doctor, the second was a Scientist, the third was a Boy Scout and the fourth was an Indian.” When the plane started to go down, they discovered there were only three parachutes. Lara continued, “The Doctor said he had saved many lives, and would continue to save many people, so he had to live. The Doctor grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane. The Scientist said he had made a lot of important discoveries and he was the smartest guy in the world, so he grabbed the second parachute and jumped. The Indian told the Boy Scout, ‘Look, I’ve lived a long life, and you have your whole life ahead of you. You take the last parachute.”" “The Boy Scout said, ‘No need for that. The smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.”

EUREKA – In his capacity as chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) today announced the Committee will hold a hearing in Eureka this Friday to examine the North Coast Marine Protected Area of the California Marine Life Protection Act. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 21 in the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Chambers, Fifth and J streets, in Eureka.

“The Fish and Game Commission is scheduled to consider the North Coast MPA next month in Sacramento,” Chesbro said. “It is critical we hold a local hearing in advance so that North Coast residents who can’t travel to Sacramento have a voice. It’s also an opportunity for us to focus on the unified proposal – the hard work of the North Coast Regional Stakeholder Group that has been supported by seventeen local government jurisdictions in three counties and adopted by the Blue Ribbon Task Force.”

“I intend to take what I hear from constituents in the local community at Friday’s hearing and relay their suggestions and concerns to the Fish and Game Commission when it meets,” Chesbro added.

The North Coast MPA Study Area starts at Alder Creek near Pt. Arena in Mendocino County and runs up to the Oregon border, encompassing the entire coasts of Humboldt & Del Norte counties.

Under the Marine Life Protection Act statute, the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture has the authority to hold hearings on the Act and its implementation. The Committee is a joint body of the state Assembly and Senate, consisting of four members from each house. Chesbro has served as chair of the committee since last fall. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez reappointed Chesbro chair this week.

State Sen. Noreen Evans, who represents Humboldt and Del Norte counties, is scheduled to attend the hearing. State Sen. Doug LaMalfa, who represents Del Norte County, will send his Crescent City field representative, Scott Feller, to attend the hearing. Evans and LaMalfa both serve on the Fisheries Committee.

The hearing will open at 10 a.m. with a traditional native prayer by Cheryl Seidner, an elder of the Wiyot people. An introduction by Chesbro and an overview of the Protection Act by MLPA Initiative staff will follow.
Eureka fisheries consultant Adam Wagschal will detail the unified proposal for the North Coast Marine Protected Area.

Members of a Native American panel, consisting of several North Coast tribes and tribal organizations, are expected to provide testimony.

Participants in the Regional Stakeholder Group and members of the Blue Ribbon Task Force will also speak. This panel includes local elected officials and representatives from the fishing community and environmental groups.

The hearing will close with a public comment period.

“Everyone who wants to will have an opportunity to comment,” Chesbro said. “I urge all who have an interest in the Marine Life Protection Act and how it is implemented on the North Coast to attend this hearing and make their voices heard. We want to hear from everybody.”

Who: California Fish and Game Commission

What: Notice of determination for south coast marine protected areas and details about the adopted MPAs in MarineMap

When: Available online now!

Where: The notice of determination is at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/regulatorydocs_sc.asp.

To view the adopted MPAs in MarineMap, including detailed attribute information such as boundaries and allowed uses within individual MPAs, click on the public MPA proposal titled, “MLPA South Coast Adopted MPAs” at http://southcoast.marinemap.org/marinemap/.

Note that the south coast MPAs are expected to go into effect in 2011 after review and approval by the California Office of Administrative Law.  Another announcement will be made when the effective date has been determined.

John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary

Dear John

Congratulations on your appointment to the Natural Resources Secretary position by Governor Jerry Brown.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally left office on January 2, 2011 after waging an unprecedented war on California fish populations and fishing communities since he came to power in a recall election. Faced with the environmental wreckage that Schwarzenegger has left in his wake, you, as the new Natural Resources Secretary and the Governor will have a monumental task ahead if you plan to restore California salmon and other fish populations.

You have a rare opportunity to break with the failed water and fish management policies of Secretaries Lester Snow and Mike Chrisman. Rather than pushing the agenda of agribusiness leaders, southern California water agency representatives, water privateers and corporate environmentalists as Snow and Chrisman did, I strongly encourage you to listen to and work cooperatively with recreational anglers, California Indian Tribes, commercial fishermen, environmental justice communities and grassroots environmentalists in an unprecedented effort to restore our declining Central Valley and North Coast salmon and Delta fish populations.

“I hope that Mr Laird remembers to listen to all of the ’stakeholders’ and those to whom the last Secretary failed to hear,” said Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe. “No matter the politics around him, I hope he sees the resources that he is now over seeing as the precious gifts they are and not items of commodity to be abused and sold.”

Here are seven immediate actions that I advise you and Brown to take to begin the recovery of California fish and fishing communities.

First, issue an executive order mandating all state agencies to comply immediately with the provisions of the federal biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species. To comply with these decisions, the state and federal governments must reduce water exports, better manage water releases from dams, remove dams and provide fish passage for fish above dams, including Shasta, Folsom, Englebright and New Melones. The Resources Secretary should work closely with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and federal government to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam.

Second, direct all state agencies, in cooperation with the federal government, to comply with the “doubling goal” of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992. The law set as its goal the doubling of all natural spawning anadromous fish populations – chinook salmon, steelhead, white sturgeon, green sturgeon, American shad and striped bass – by 2002. However, rather than doubling, these populations of fish collapsed to record low levels because of abysmal management by the state and federal governments.

Third, abolish the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that was instituted under Schwarzenegger and all state plans to build a peripheral canal and new dams. Instead of continuing the BDCP’s path to the Delta’s destruction, You and Brown should establish the first ever “Blue Collar Task Force” (a concept inspired by Troy Fletcher, acting executive director of the Yurok Tribe), to recover fish populations and restore the Delta. The task force would be made up of representatives of California Indian Tribes, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, grassroots conservation groups, family farmers, environmental justice organizations and those who have been marginalized in the BDCP and Delta Vision fiascos.

Fourth, cancel or suspend Schwarzeneggger’s controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and work with the Legislature to begin an investigation of corruption, conflicts and the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, under the process. The investigation would begin with an executive order by Brown, citing the provisions of the California Public Records Act, asking the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, MLPA officials, Department of Fish and Game to turn over all of their records relating to the implementation of the MLPA.

This investigation would include an inquiry into why MLPA officials set up so-called “marine protected areas” that don’t protect the ocean against water pollution, corporate aquaculture, oil drilling and oil spills, military testing, wave energy projects and all other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

Fifth, you and Brown should meet with Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, and demand she terminate the “catch shares” program being instituted on the West Coast, since it is a failed environmental strategy that will result in local, sustainable fisheries being replaced with corporate, unsustainable fisheries. This policy, if implemented, will result in the privatization of public trust resources and the concentration of West Coast fisheries in a few corporate hands.

Sixth, the Natural Resources Agency should officially oppose the Water Bond on the November 2012 ballot and should find an alternate source of money to finance California’s costs for removing the four PacifiCorp dams on the Klamath River, like the State of Oregon has done. Schwarzenegger stuck $250 million for Klamath dam removal in the water bond, an initiative that funds new dams in the Central Valley.

Seventh, increase the game warden force in California by at least 50 officers to stop the epidemic of fish and wildlife poaching that has ravaged the state. California currently has the lowest number of wardens per capita in the United States.

These seven actions by you and the Governor would help to reverse the fishery collapses that the Schwarzenegger administration helped to engineer and will begin to put California fish and fishing communities back on the path to restoration and sustainability.

For more information about Schwarzenegger’s true environmental legacy, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/12/03/schwarzeneggers-abysmal-environmental-legacy-exposed.

SACRAMENTO – Governor Jerry Brown today announced the following appointments.

John Laird, of Santa Cruz, has been appointed Secretary of the California Resources Agency. Most recently, Laird taught in the Environmental Studies Department at UC Santa Cruz. He served six years in the State Assembly, from 2002 to 2008, and was the Assembly Budget Committee Chair from 2004 to 2008. Previously, Laird was a member of the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2002. He was the Executive Director for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project from 1991 to 1993. Laird was Mayor and a City Councilmember for the city of Santa Cruz from 1981 to 1990. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $175,000. Laird is a Democrat.

Marty Morgenstern, of Oakland, has been appointed Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Since 2003, Morgenstern has consulted for the University of California on labor relations matters. He was director of the Department of Personnel Administration from 1999 to 2003. From 1994 to 1999, he worked as a private consultant to various labor organizations. Morgenstern was the Chair of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley from 1987 to 1994. From 1982 to 1987, he served as a member of the Public Employment Relations Board. Morgenstern served as the Director of the Department of Personnel Administration from 1981 to 1982. In 1975, he was appointed Director of the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations by Governor Jerry Brown. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $175,000. Morgenstern is a Democrat.

Mary Nichols, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed Chair of the California Air Resources Board, where she has served since 2007. From 2004 to 2007, Nichols served as director of the Institute of the Environment (IoE) at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also held faculty appointments as a professor in residence at the School of Law and the School of Public Affairs. Before joining UCLA, she served as secretary for California’s Resources Agency from 1999 to 2003. Nichols served as chair of the California Air Resources Board from 1979 to 1983 under Governor Brown and was a member of the CARB beginning in 1975. She served as assistant administrator for Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton Administration. Compensation for this position is $142,965. Nichols is a Democrat.

Ronald Yank, of Oakland, has been appointed Director of the Department of Personnel Administration. He is a retired labor and employment law attorney. Previously, Yank served as a neutral arbitrator and mediator in the field of labor and employment law from 2007 to 2009 and was a partner at Carroll Burdick & McDonough from 1988 to 2007. Yank was a partner at Neyhart Anderson & Freitas from 1981 to 1988. Previously, he worked at Carroll Burdick & McDonough from 1974 to1981 and became a partner in 1979. Yank was an associate at Neyhart Anderson Grodin & Beeson from 1973 to 1974. He was an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley from 1967 to 1971 and worked at the Law Offices of R.J. Engel as an Associate from 1971-1973. Yank has represented bargaining units of state employees including the California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association and the CDF Firefighters. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $142,965. Yank is a Democrat.

Brown today also announced the following State Board of Education appointments:

Dr. Carl Anthony Cohn, of Palm Springs, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He has been a Professor and the Co-Director of the Urban Leadership Program at Claremont Graduate University since 2009. Previously, Cohn served as the Superintendent of Schools for the San Diego Unified School District from 2005 to 2007. He was a Clinical Professor with the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California from 2002 to 2005 and the Superintendent of Schools for the Long Beach Unified School District from 1992 to 2002. Cohn is a member of the Association of California School Administrators. Cohn is a Democrat.

Louis “Bill” Honig, of Marin, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He has been President of the Consortium on Reading Excellence since 2005. Previously, Honig served as a Visiting Distinguished Professor at San Francisco State University’s School of Education from 1993 to 1998. He was the Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1983 to 1993. Honig previously served on the California State Board of Education under Governor Brown from 1975 to 1983. Honig is a Democrat.

Dr. Michael Kirst, of Stanford, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He currently serves as a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1969. Previously, Kirst served on the California State Board of Education under Governor Brown from 1975 to 1982. Kirst also served as the Director of Program Planning for the U.S. Office of Education and was Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment, and Poverty from 1967 to 1969. Kirst is a Democrat.

Aida Molina, of Bakersfield, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. She has served as the Executive Director on Academic Improvement and Accountability for Bakersfield City School District since 2005. Previously, Molina was a Commissioner with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing from 2004 to 2007. Molina was a principal with Bakersfield City School District from 2001 to 2005, an elementary school principal with the Sacramento Unified School District from 1999 to 2001, an assistant principal with the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District from 1997 to 1999, and a bilingual teacher from 1992 to 1997. Molina is a member of the Association of School Administrators and the California Association of Bilingual Educators. Molina is a Democrat.

James Ramos, of San Bernardino, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. Ramos has served as the Chairman for the San Manuel Band of Indians since 2008, having previously served as Treasurer, as a member of the Business Committee, and as Chairman of the Tribe’s Gaming Commission. Ramos was re-elected in 2010 as a member of the San Bernardino Community College Board of Trustees, where he has served since 2005. He has served as a member and chairperson of the Native American Heritage Commission since 2007. Ramos is a Democrat.

Patricia Ann Rucker, of Elk Grove, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. Since 2008, she has worked as the Legislative Advocate for the California Teachers Association and was a consultant for the California Teachers Association on instruction and professional development from 1997 to 2008. She also served as a teacher in the Del Paso Heights School District from 1983 to 1997. Rucker is a Democrat.

Trish Boyd Williams, of San Jose, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. She has served as the Executive Director for EdSource since 1992. Previously, Williams served as a program consultant to the Director for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth from 1983 to 1990, and as a Presidential Management Intern and then a Management Analyst for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1979 to 1982. Williams is a Democrat.

State Board of Education appointments require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem.

Below is my open letter to John Laird, who is expected to be appointed as Natural Resources Secretary, the top environmental post in California, by Governor Jerry Brown.

Environment California and the Sierra Fund announced his appointment in press releases on January 1, although neither Laird nor Brown have confirmed it yet.

The 60-year-old Santa Cruz resident served in the California Assembly from 2002 to 2008. The Democrat’s career includes Analyst, Santa Cruz County Administrative Office, 1974-1978, 1979-1991, 1995-2002; Santa Cruz City Council, 1981-1990; mayor, 1983-84 and 1987-88; and executive director of Santa Cruz AIDS Project, 1991-1994.

Environment California praised Brown’s appointment of Laird based on his environmental record in the Assembly and on the California Waste Board.

“From waste reducer to wildlife protector Laird is sure to make 2011 a great year for the environment,” said Environment California Legislative Director Dan Jacobson in a press statement. “John Laird is a great choice to defend and protect the environment. His work as a state legislator and on the Waste Board gives him the experience he will need to make a major impact.”

“As the chair of key environmental committees, Laird authored several bills to protect our environment, including several bills to protect our ocean. As the chair of the budget committee he knows how to fund key environmental programs,” Jacobson stated.

The appointment of Laird is expected to garner strong opposition from agribusiness, timber industry and the California Republican Party. In an article in the San Jose Mercury News on January 1, Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring slammed his appointment.

“An appointment like John Laird, to me, is an indicator of how far to the left Jerry Brown is reaching to populate his administration,” said Nehring, a former member of the state Board of Forestry. “John Laird is an extreme liberal, and he believes the only way to protect the environment is to make government as big and intrusive as possible.”

On the other hand, fishermen, Tribes, family farmers and grassroots environmentalists worry that Laird may be too heavily influenced by representatives of well-funded corporate environmentalist NGOs, known for their strong support of controversial programs including Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, the peripheral canal and Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and “cap and trade” corporate “green energy” scams.

They are worried that Laird may not listen to grassroots activists – and will continue the failed ocean and water policies of the Schwarzenegger administration that resulted in the collapse of Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt populations and the creation of fake “marine protected areas.”

“I hope that Mr Laird remembers to listen to all of the ’stakeholders’ and those to whom the last Secretary failed to hear,” said Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe. “No matter the politics around him, I hope he sees the resources that he is now over seeing as the precious gifts they are and not items of commodity to be abused and sold.”

California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative Announcement

Who: California Fish and Game Commission

What: News release (see below) regarding the adopted marine protected area regulations for the

MLPA South Coast Study Region (Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the

California-Mexico border in San Diego County) and certified final environmental impact

report (EIR, prepared under the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA) for proposed

south coast marine protected areas

When: Regulations are expected to go into effect in 2011; the final EIR is available now

Where: A message will be sent to this list when the south coast marine protected area regulations have

been approved by the Office of Administrative Law; the final EIR is available at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/finalimpact_sc.asp

—–Original Message—–
From: Marine Management News [mailto:MarineNews@dfg.ca.gov]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 9:47 AM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: CDFG News Release – California Fish and Game Commission Gives Final Approval for South Coast Marine Protected Areas

California Department of Fish and Game News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 15, 2010

Contacts:

Adrianna Shea, Fish and Game Commission, (916) 508-5262

Jordan Traverso, DFG Communications, (916) 654-9937

California Fish and Game Commission Gives Final Approval for South Coast Marine Protected Areas

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has adopted regulations to create a new suite of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Southern California. At a Commission meeting in Santa Barbara today, the regulations were adopted as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which requires California to reexamine and redesign its system of MPAs with the goals to, among other things, increase the effectiveness of MPAs in protecting the states marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage.

Informed by recommendations generated through a two-year public planning process, the regulations will create 36 new MPAs encompassing approximately 187 square miles (8 percent) of state waters in the study region. Approximately 116 square miles (4.9 percent) have been designated as no-take state marine reserves (82.5 square miles/3.5 percent) and no-take state marine conservation areas (33.5 square miles/1.4 percent), with the remainder designated as state marine conservation areas with different take allowances and varying levels of protection. In addition to approving the MPA regulations, the Commission also certified the environmental impact report prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

The public planning process for the south coast region, from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the California border with Mexico, began in July 2008 and included more than 50 days of meetings with formal public comment held for a 64-member Regional Stakeholder Group, a Science Advisory Team and a Blue Ribbon Task Force appointed by the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. In addition, more than 12,000 written public comments were submitted through the regulatory and environmental review processes to help inform recommendations on south coast region MPAs.

The California Department of Fish and Game, the lead agency charged with managing the states marine resources, will be responsible for implementing the MLPA program which will include enforcement, education, monitoring and research activities. The south coast MPA regulations are anticipated to go into effect in mid-2011 after appropriate filings with the Office of Administrative Law and the Secretary of State.

The south coast study region is the third of five study regions to complete the planning process under the MLPA. Once implemented, the south coast MPAs will join the MPAs currently in place from the central and north-central coast study regions to form a network ranging approximately 875 miles from the California border with Mexico to Alder Creek near Point Arena in Mendocino County. The Commission will receive recommendations for the north coast study region from the north coast blue ribbon task force in February which will mark the start of the formal regulatory process. Planning is under way to develop the process for San Francisco Bay, the fifth and final study region.

The existing MPAs in the northern Channel Islands, which encompass an additional 168 square miles and 7 percent of state waters in the study region, were not modified as part of this decision.

A map of the decisions made today can be viewed at www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/scmpas121510.pdf.

View Newsletter (CA Dept. of Fish & Game)

“The MLPA is trying to ban any and all gathering along our coastline, meaning NO TRADITIONAL gathering whatsoever, in marine protected areas,” said Georgiana Myers, organizer of the Klamath Justice Coalition and Yurok Tribal member. “I urge people to speak out against this insane idea of taking away what is not theirs to take!”… Read more (North Coast IndyBay)

View PDF

MEMORANDUM

TO: Ocean and Coastal Community
FROM: Brian Baird, Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy, California Natural Resources Agency
Amber Mace, Executive Director, California Ocean Protection Council
DATE: November 29, 2010
RE: Online California and the World Ocean ’10 Conference Video, Photo, and Presentation Library

We are pleased to announce that an Internet based video, photo, and presentation library for the California and the World Ocean ’10 (CWO ’10) Conference is now online. The library, which was developed by the talented staff at AGP Video, can be found at the following URL: http://www.cal-span.org/events/CWO/2010/.

By visiting this Web site, you will be able to view complete video recordings for 62 of the 64 concurrent sessions and four plenary sessions, PowerPoint presentations, and photographs taken throughout conference events. We understand CWO ’10 may be the first international ocean conference to establish a comprehensive post-conference online library that will be maintained in perpetuity.

CWO ’10 brought together over 800 experts throughout California, the United States, and the international community to present on ocean and coastal resource management issues facing California, other states, or nations. Presentations made at conference concurrent sessions included emerging topics such as climate change impacts, marine spatial planning, marine protected areas, regional ocean governance, and renewable offshore energy, among other important topics. Plenary sessions included remarks and presentations from prominent international ocean and coastal figures, such as President Tong of Kiribati, John Henke, Vice President, Google Maps, and David Rockefeller, President, Sailors for the Sea. Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce for Ocean and Atmosphere, Administrator of NOAA and U.S. Congressman Sam Farr addressed the conferees at the offsite conference reception and dinner.

Most importantly the conference brought together representatives from government, academia, industry, and the public to forge partnerships, share ideas, foster discourse, and formulate action strategies for the 21st century. We encourage you to use the library as a resource for learning more about the latest advances in understanding, lessons learned, and new policies and approaches to address our growing impacts on our oceans and coasts and the actions we can take to address them.