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California
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Communities step up to support protection of treasured ocean areas
This article by the Ocean Conservancy's Kaitilin Gaffney highlights several volunteer science and education programs formed to ensure the effectiveness of marine protected areas in California and Hawaii. Coastal communities depend on the ocean for jobs, food, recreation, beauty, and environmental health, and are stepping up to help the state steward ocean parks in their backyards. This kind of collaborative public private partnership is integral to the success of California's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The public is overwhelmingly supportive of ocean protection, and groups and individuals all over the state are involved in monitoring, education and outreach.
Two weeks ago I spent a whirlwind 46 hours in Honolulu. I didn't go surfing off Waikiki or snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Instead I spent two days under florescent lights in the conference room of a downtown hotel talking with state and federal agency staff, conservationists and fishermen about ocean conservation. But it was time well spent. What I learned in Hawaii was the importance of community engagement to their ocean stewardship efforts - a lesson that is also being taught right here at home in California.
For more than five years, Hawaii's Makai Watch Program has proven the value of partnerships between state agencies, conservation and community groups to give local citizens a direct hand in managing ocean protection efforts. With agency staffing limited and budgets shrinking, local citizens in more than ten communities throughout Hawaii have stepped up to educate the public, perform citizen monitoring and provide eyes and ears on the water to report problems to law enforcement.
Back home in California, similar efforts are underway. Communities from San Mateo to Santa Monica are jumping on board to help ensure our state's new system of underwater parks, created through the Marine Life Protection Act, are effective with efforts by land, air and sea.
Citizen volunteers from Monterey Coastkeeper and Otter Project's MPA Watch program have been tracking uses of the Central Coast's marine protected areas for over a year, surveying popular spots like Ano Nuevo, Point Lobos, and Lover's Point to record the number of people on the beach and the water enjoying the abundant sea life. Heal the Bay has just launched a similar citizen science program, where volunteers help collect data on coastal and ocean use to help inform management of the soon-to-be-created marine protected area at Point Dume near Santa Monica.
Surveyors are also taking to the air: Monterey Coastkeeper, Santa Monica Baykeeper and Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission worked with LightHawk to do aerial surveys during the salmon season opening weekend. The Santa Monica groups have been conducting similar flights on the south coast for over a year to document use in and around the planned underwater parks.
Citizen researchers are also in and on the water conducting fish surveys in and around protected areas: This article describes a collaborative monitoring project between scientists at Moss Landing Marine Lab and Cal Poly and local fishermen in Monterey and Morro Bay. Volunteer divers trained by Reef Check swim along California's nearshore reefs to count plants and animals, gathering data that can be used to assess overall ecosystem health.
The ancient Hawaiians had a proverb: "ho'okahi ka 'ilau like ana" (wield the paddles together). Thanks to the MLPA and the work of thousands of Californians who support ocean conservation, we have secured lasting protections for the waters around iconic places like Point Reyes, the Big Sur coast, and Catalina Island. It's great to now see so many Californians getting their hands wet to help protect the ocean they love. Through continued community involvement, by paddling together, we can ensure California's new underwater parks are a long-term success.
For more than five years, Hawaii's Makai Watch Program has proven the value of partnerships between state agencies, conservation and community groups to give local citizens a direct hand in managing ocean protection efforts. With agency staffing limited and budgets shrinking, local citizens in more than ten communities throughout Hawaii have stepped up to educate the public, perform citizen monitoring and provide eyes and ears on the water to report problems to law enforcement.
Back home in California, similar efforts are underway. Communities from San Mateo to Santa Monica are jumping on board to help ensure our state's new system of underwater parks, created through the Marine Life Protection Act, are effective with efforts by land, air and sea.
Citizen volunteers from Monterey Coastkeeper and Otter Project's MPA Watch program have been tracking uses of the Central Coast's marine protected areas for over a year, surveying popular spots like Ano Nuevo, Point Lobos, and Lover's Point to record the number of people on the beach and the water enjoying the abundant sea life. Heal the Bay has just launched a similar citizen science program, where volunteers help collect data on coastal and ocean use to help inform management of the soon-to-be-created marine protected area at Point Dume near Santa Monica.
Surveyors are also taking to the air: Monterey Coastkeeper, Santa Monica Baykeeper and Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission worked with LightHawk to do aerial surveys during the salmon season opening weekend. The Santa Monica groups have been conducting similar flights on the south coast for over a year to document use in and around the planned underwater parks.
Citizen researchers are also in and on the water conducting fish surveys in and around protected areas: This article describes a collaborative monitoring project between scientists at Moss Landing Marine Lab and Cal Poly and local fishermen in Monterey and Morro Bay. Volunteer divers trained by Reef Check swim along California's nearshore reefs to count plants and animals, gathering data that can be used to assess overall ecosystem health.
The ancient Hawaiians had a proverb: "ho'okahi ka 'ilau like ana" (wield the paddles together). Thanks to the MLPA and the work of thousands of Californians who support ocean conservation, we have secured lasting protections for the waters around iconic places like Point Reyes, the Big Sur coast, and Catalina Island. It's great to now see so many Californians getting their hands wet to help protect the ocean they love. Through continued community involvement, by paddling together, we can ensure California's new underwater parks are a long-term success.
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Thanks to all of the hard work from volunteers and partner agencies that are helping to enforce these new regulations - which is especially valuable given the state's financial strife.
"In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, funded privately by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, imposed a network of so-called "marine protected areas" along the California Coast (http://www.fishsniffer.com/content/1016-marine-protected-areas-%96-paper-reserves.html).
"Unfortunately, these marine protected areas created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from water pollution, oil spills and drilling, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. The panels that oversaw the implementation of the MLPA process included a big oil lobbyist, real estate executive, marina developer and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest."
"Unfortunately, these marine protected areas created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from water pollution, oil spills and drilling, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. The panels that oversaw the implementation of the MLPA process included a big oil lobbyist, real estate executive, marina developer and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest."
For more information:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/1...
Corruption Takes The Initiative
by David Gurney
The confusion and controversy over the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative” (MLPAI) began when private money took over administering the law. The MLPA was passed in 1999 under Gov. Gray Davis.
However, the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative” was revived in 2004 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger using funds from wealthy individuals and corporations, shielded by a double-tiered foundation scheme.
The new MLPAI was called an “Initiative” though it never was one, since this word specifically means the process by which a measure is put on the ballot, to be voted on by the people. [For reference on what the legal definitions of an initiative actually are, go to the California Attorney General's website (#1 of the FAQs) , or the "Initiative Guide" at the CA Secretary of State.]
The official Wikipedia definition says an Initiative “…provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters, can force a public vote (plebiscite) on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or legislative bodies to consider the subject by submitting it to the order of the day.”
With the MLPA “Initiative,” no petitions or votes by the people were ever taken. An important part of the democratic process was ignored – the vote by the people. This so-called “Initiative” was formed using private money to enforce a slumbering law that had been passed in the state legislature, but never administered – the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999. Thus the “Initiative” was never what it claimed to be from the start, and so the MLPAI of 2004 began under a cloud of fraud, deception and misunderstanding.
The original Act called for the revaluation of existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to form a network that would increase the effectiveness and ease the administration of these closed areas. It also included the possibility of adding new areas to increase the effectiveness of the entire network as a whole.
The MLPA Initiative instead took the five year old law as an opportunity to randomly close fifteen to twenty percent of the Northern California coast to local fishers and food gatherers only, while ignoring needed protections from ocean industrialization, pollution, onshore development, global warming, acidification and other crucial threats to our ocean.
Using the clout of behind the scenes special interests to work their will on the official policies of the State of California, many of these special interests, either overtly or covertly, managed to get their special interests met. All by pushing through of a flawed and corrupt privatized process, under the banner of a fraudulent “Initiative.”
by David Gurney
The confusion and controversy over the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative” (MLPAI) began when private money took over administering the law. The MLPA was passed in 1999 under Gov. Gray Davis.
However, the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative” was revived in 2004 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger using funds from wealthy individuals and corporations, shielded by a double-tiered foundation scheme.
The new MLPAI was called an “Initiative” though it never was one, since this word specifically means the process by which a measure is put on the ballot, to be voted on by the people. [For reference on what the legal definitions of an initiative actually are, go to the California Attorney General's website (#1 of the FAQs) , or the "Initiative Guide" at the CA Secretary of State.]
The official Wikipedia definition says an Initiative “…provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters, can force a public vote (plebiscite) on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or legislative bodies to consider the subject by submitting it to the order of the day.”
With the MLPA “Initiative,” no petitions or votes by the people were ever taken. An important part of the democratic process was ignored – the vote by the people. This so-called “Initiative” was formed using private money to enforce a slumbering law that had been passed in the state legislature, but never administered – the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999. Thus the “Initiative” was never what it claimed to be from the start, and so the MLPAI of 2004 began under a cloud of fraud, deception and misunderstanding.
The original Act called for the revaluation of existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to form a network that would increase the effectiveness and ease the administration of these closed areas. It also included the possibility of adding new areas to increase the effectiveness of the entire network as a whole.
The MLPA Initiative instead took the five year old law as an opportunity to randomly close fifteen to twenty percent of the Northern California coast to local fishers and food gatherers only, while ignoring needed protections from ocean industrialization, pollution, onshore development, global warming, acidification and other crucial threats to our ocean.
Using the clout of behind the scenes special interests to work their will on the official policies of the State of California, many of these special interests, either overtly or covertly, managed to get their special interests met. All by pushing through of a flawed and corrupt privatized process, under the banner of a fraudulent “Initiative.”
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