Groups File Suit Against Arnold’s MLPA Initiative

Groups File Suit Against Arnold’s MLPA Initiative

by Dan Bacher

It was only a matter of time before fishing and conservation groups filed a lawsuit against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fast-track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, considering the many violations of state, federal and international laws that have marred the privately-funded process.

On May 28, United Anglers of Southern California (UASC) and petitioner Robert C. Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, filed a landmark lawsuit in California Superior Court in Sacramento against the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), the MLPA Master Plan Team (Science Advisory Team) and additional related defendants.

The recreational anglers, represented by the law firm of Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble, Mallory & Natsis, LLP, said this is the first step of a multi-stage litigation process.

The firm filed the verified petition for writ of mandate and complaint at the Sacramento County Courthouse for violation of the California Public Records Act, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The suit is tied to numerous requests made by Fletcher for key documents and records pertaining to California’s MLPA implementation process. The BRTF and Science Advisory Team failed to respond to these requests.

“It is my contention that both the BRTF and the Master Plan Team are subject to the requirements of the California Public Records Act,” said Fletcher, a former Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Fish and Game. “As such, their refusal to respond to my requests for certain MLPA related records and documents is a direct violation of that Act.”

Fletcher emphasized, “According to California law, any person may institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief or writ of mandate in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce their right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public record. This is a necessary first step to allow a thorough and careful scrutinizing of the entire MLPA process.”

UASC is spearheading the litigation with the support of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO) and its members. In addition to UASC , the PSO includes the American Sportfishing Association, Berkley Conservation Institute, supporting members of the Avalon Tuna Club, Coastside Fishing Club, International Game Fish Association, Kayak Fishing Association of California, National Marine Manufacturers Association, NorCal Kayak Anglers, Shimano Sport Fisheries Institute, Sportfishing Association of California, Southern California Marine Association and Watermen’s Alliance.

“It has become more and more evident that the MLPA process is being steered off course by special interests – and political motivations – with dangerous potential for restricting many popular areas enjoyed by fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts,” said Steven Fukuto, UASC executive director. “As Robert Fletcher said, this filing is a necessary and important first step in what will be an ongoing and thorough examination of this flawed process.”

“Our legal team has identified several potential causes for action, and we will aggressively pursue any and all legal avenues to protect recreational access for fishermen and all Californians,” Fukuto affirmed.

North Coast environmentalists, outraged by the corruption and the violation of numerous laws that characterize the MLPA initiative, applauded the lawsuit.

“Every Californian should support this lawsuit,” said John Stephens-Lewallen, North Coast environmental leader and co-founder of the Ocean Protection Coalition and the grassroots Seaweed Rebellion. “The MLPA Initiative corrupts everything that it touches. I am glad that the fishing and conservation groups have launched litigation to stop this corrupt process.”

Stephens-Lewallen and other North Coast environmental leaders have slammed the MLPA fiasco for its conflicts of interest, mission creep and privatization of resource management. The Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversee the creation of so-called “Marine Protected Areas” (MPA) are dominated by oil industry, marina development, real estate and other corporate interests.

In fact, an oil industry superstar, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), is the chair of the MLPA Initiative’s Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast. She also sat on the task forces for the North Central Coast and now sits on the task force for the North Coast.

Incredibly, Reheis-Boyd has called for new oil drilling off the California coast even as the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, continues to devastate the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and the fishing communities that depend on the healthy fisheries for their livelihood.

“WSPA has not taken a position on specific offshore projects,” Reheis-Boyd, recently stated on the WSPA website (http://www.wspa.org). “But we have been vocal about our views that California businesses and consumers would benefit from development of the huge reserves of petroleum off the California coast, in both state and federal waters.”

Lewallen and other conservationists and environmental justice advocates contend that Reheis-Boyd oversees the MLPA process for one reason – to make sure that existing offshore oil operations in Southern California and future plans to drill oil off the Point Arena Basin and other areas are not impacted by so-called “marine reserves.”

At the same time, the Schwarzenegger administration and its collaborators have completely taken water pollution, habitat destruction, aquaculture, oil drilling and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing in the creation and implementation of these fake “Marine Protected Areas.”

Besides violating the California Public Records Act as charged in UASC’s lawsuit, Schwarzenegger’s MLPA Initiative has openly violated numerous other state, federal and international laws, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The MLPA Initiative has banned the Kashia Pomo Tribe from their sacred site in northern Sonoma County, “Danaka,” in spite of pleas by Lester Pinola, past chairman of the tribe, and other tribal members to continue to allow seaweed harvesting and shellfish gathering off Danaka as part of their religion.

There is no doubt that Schwarzenegger’s MLPA Initiative is an out-of-control, lawless process that must be stopped. The May 28 lawsuit by United Anglers of Southern California and PSO partners will hopefully mark the beginning of a series of lawsuits by the many diverse communities under siege by the MLPA Initiative.

The rule of the lawless must be replaced by the rule of law. Ken Wiseman, MLPA executive director, the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), the MLPA Science Advisory Team, Michael Eaton, the executive director of the Resource Legacy Fund Foundation that funds the MLPA process, and Schwarzenegger administration officials must be finally held accountable for the many violations of law that have occurred under the MLPA.

The MLPA officials and the California Fish and Game Commission under Schwarzenegger have shown no respect for the rights of indigenous people, fishermen, seaweed harvesters and other Californians. As Violet Chappell, Kashia Pomo elder, said in reference to the MLPA’s closure of their sacred site, “I don’t think the Fish and Game Commission would be allowed to close down a Catholic Church, would they?”

For more information about how you can support the lawsuit against the MLPA, contact Steven Fukuto, UASC, (562) 494-9900, steve [at] unitedanglers.com.

For more information about the violation of indigenous subsistence, cultural and religious rights under the MLPA, go to the facebook page of Violet Wilder, Kashia Pomo tribal member, “KEEP THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHES ACCESSIBLE FOR THE COASTAL TRIBES” (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105945012781743).