MLPA update

Folks:

I attended the MLPA stakeholders group meeting representing you all yesterday in San Rafael.  It general it was a very informative meeting.  There are now 10 different proposals that vary in overall closure of 10 (fishing) to 40%(enviro's) of the coast line.  Important for us:  most of proposals have the Fort Ross to Salt Pt region open, however the Enviro package has the bean closed.  I fortunately have one of the authors of the Enviro package in my workgroup, so I will be working on saving the bean.  I have a feeling that it may mean giving up Linda Mar (many of the packages have it closed) as well as a good portion of the Fitzgerald Reserve and the Halfmoon Bay fishing grounds.  The stakeholders group is charged with narrowing down the proposals to 3-5 packages.  The stakeholders currently have 6 packages, which will be reduced to 3 at the next meeting (Dec 11-12).  There are 5 outside proposals that represent fishing and enviro concerns and they are encouraged to find consensus and get that potentially down to two.  The next meeting is going to be very important for getting our concerns into the stakeholder  process, so if you all could chime in and give me an idea about what you want that would be great.  I don't want to get into negotiations over Bean Hallow and Linda Mar without your guys input. 

Jim

Yesterday was the first meeting I have missed.  After driving hours to attend the last meeting, my overall level of disgust was high, and its getting higher.  The BRT was rude, disingenuous, and wrong on a number of key issues.  People from enforcment and the SAT didn't know the difference between mooching and chumming...glad to know they are scoring our proposals 

Most of the enviro advocates have a cumulative water time equal to of about 1/2 of Jelly's...and they are "experts".  Many of the people trying to "save" the Farallons, have never seen them.  The whole thing is starting to smell, and not in a good way.  I am sOOOoo close to circling the wagons with Coastside and telling the main group to go eat tofu its not even funny. 

Sean you lasted way longer than I could ever have.

Linda Mar would suck to lose but if we only lose it to RCG that would suck less. Are we talking the entire cove or stuff south of the point?

Bill,

If I recall correctly,  one proposal has the Fitzgerald boundary south of Pedro Point. About 50% of the rest have the Fitzgerald boundary ending at Pedro, the rest extend the boundary such that you could kiss rockfish goodbye in the area north of Pedro.

I know that I'm in the minority of those voicing opinions, regarding a desire to keep rockfishing alive and well for kayakers in the Linda Mar area. Still, I'd like to see at least 2 of the 5 proposals (3 from stakeholders, 2 from outside) keep the northern Fitzgerald boundary placed at maybe 1/4 mile south of Pedro. By doing so, we keep kayak fishing in the LM area much more attractive. I think even the preservationists would be willing to admit that converting anglers from power boats to kayaks is going to be a plus for the overall health of the fishery.

Jim, Sean, yet again I want to thank you for your work. I know it can't be easy for you to deal with the "experts" on one side, and folks like me adding our opinions on the other side.

Regards,
Scott

Let me be clear, I want to keep LM open for everything.

However IF we have to compromise I would rather it not be shut down for EVERYTHING. Crabbing, stripers, and especially salmon are why I love LM. RCG has really been hit or miss for me there so while it would really suck to lose it there, it would not be the end of the world for me personally. It sure would suck for the locals though. 

My groups proposal would have the Pt San Padro and to the south.  SO you could fish north.  But the protection is for a reserve which means no fishing for anything.  How would people feel if the boundary was the Pt itself.  Would that leave enough area to fish for striper and crab?  The problem with moving the boundary is that we have to a have definable boundary and so when we were drawing this one out the next clear boundary would be 10 or so mile to the south.  I choose that one, but that makes the fitzgerald reserve smaller and that was what spurred the enviro in our group to propose bean hallow.   

And I second Sean's views.  I absolutely cannot believe that the folks who rate the proposals know absolutely nothing about fish, fisheries or fishing. 

Jim

Yesterday was the first meeting I have missed.  After driving hours to attend the last meeting, my overall level of disgust was high, and its getting higher.  The BRT was rude, disingenuous, and wrong on a number of key issues.  People from enforcment and the SAT didn't know the difference between mooching and chumming...glad to know they are scoring our proposals 

Most of the enviro advocates have a cumulative water time equal to of about 1/2 of Jelly's...and they are "experts".  Many of the people trying to "save" the Farallons, have never seen them.  The whole thing is starting to smell, and not in a good way.  I am sOOOoo close to circling the wagons with Coastside and telling the main group to go eat tofu its not even funny. 

And I second Sean's views.  I absolutely cannot believe that the folks who rate the proposals know absolutely nothing about fish, fisheries or fishing. 
Jim

They're clueless......are they at all reasonable? Are they making an effort to understand whats being discussed?



I concur with Bill, if they want a bone throw them South from Pedro Point.  That should leave the cove open for crab, stripers  and salmon if they ever return plus the rocks North of it.   

(snip)The problem with moving the boundary is that we have to a have definable boundary (snip)
 Jim

Jim,  Do you mean visually identifiable?

Why?  The pinnacles in Carmel bay are defined only by a set of gps points.


Randy

And thats part of the problem, they don't want any more boundaries/spots like that for enforcement reason. Line and points of reference need to be easy and as straight as possible.

If I may also voice my .02, I too would like to see LM remain accessable.  I don't want to lose the opportunity to finally catch stripers out in the big blue.

Thanks, Sean and Jim, for putting up with all the nonsense on all our behalf!