State Designates Science Reserve Off Point Mugu : Environment: Like three others, patch of ocean will be isolated and studied for its biological richness. Local fishermen call the decision an assault on their industry.

After two years of debate, top state wildlife officials have chosen a small patch of ocean off Point Mugu for a state ecological reserve where scientists can study such things as halibut habits and the benefits of artificial reefs.

The Big Sycamore Canyon Ecological Reserve, a two-square-mile area four miles west of the Ventura-Los Angeles county line and about 50 yards out to sea, is one of four such coastal reserves designated by the California Fish and Game Commission on Nov. 5.

The action capped two years of public hearings, debate and rancor that pitted sport and commercial fishermen against each other and against the state Department of Fish and Game.

The creation of the reserves establishes the small regions as areas preserved for scientific research. Commercial or sport fishing and scuba diving are prohibited within the boundaries.

Although the reserve areas are tiny in the dynamic environment of the ocean, they will offer pictures of ecosystems relatively undisturbed by humans, biologists say.

“It will create isolated areas of richness, and you can see how the area would look without other effects,” said Ron Dow, head of the environmental division at the Point Mugu naval base. The Big Sycamore Canyon reserve is about a mile east of the marine wetlands at Point Mugu, which are the county’s largest.

The ocean reserves could also provide areas where fish could spawn without interference from fishing, said Carl Benz, biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife office in Ventura. “It could be like a resource bank to help populate other areas,” he said.

But Ventura County commercial fishermen said the creation of the Big Sycamore Canyon reserve represents yet another assault on an industry under siege.

“For years they’ve been taking little bits and pieces away from us,” said Hank Hubble, a gill-netter who docks at Ventura Harbor. “This is just another piece of my livelihood they’re taking away.”

A report on the likely impact of the reserves says the four areas will have a minor effect on the fishing industry. At the Big Sycamore reserve, the cumulative loss to all fishermen is estimated at $4,000 a year.

In addition, the report says the area would be fished less anyway if the Marine Resources Protection Act takes effect in 1994 as scheduled. The act bans the use of gill nets within state waters up to three miles offshore.

But Hubble said that act may not take effect because of suits filed by fishermen’s associations. Meanwhile, he said, the Big Sycamore Canyon area is in prime commercial fishing grounds for halibut and squid.

“They just shut it off to us,” he said. “It’s pretty good halibut grounds, there’s no doubt about it.”

Bob Fletcher, president of the Sport Fishing Assn. of California who served on a committee advising Fish and Game, said he recommended the Sycamore Canyon site to steer agency officials away from a proposed reserve off Dana Point.

“The Dana Point site would have devastated a number of my members,” said Fletcher, who represents about 200 people who run sportfishing boats in the state. “The Point Mugu site is not as heavily used.” He said he recommended sites based solely on impacts on the sportfishing industry.

“My concern wasn’t that we come up with the best refuge with different habitat or tremendous research potential,” he said. “My first concern was that it not seriously affect my membership’s ability to operate.”

The reserves were created to comply with a provision of the Marine Resources Protection Act, also known as the gill-net initiative, passed by voters in 1990.

The areas were chosen and configured to have the least impact on business and recreation, said Don Schultz, who manages the program for the Department of Fish and Game. To avoid closing off beach access to surfers and beach-goers, the department set the inward boundary at the 30-foot contour, the point where the ocean is 30 feet deep.

The Big Sycamore Canyon Reserve is a trapezoid-shaped area that begins at a 30-foot depth and extends to 120-foot-deep waters. The inward boundary is 2.3 miles long, the outer boundary 2.9 miles, and the sides about one mile.

Schultz said the department set up committees and held countless meetings to find areas with the least impacts and the fewest objections. The committees finally whittled 20 potential sites down to the final four that prompted the least resistance.

“It’s been a long, hard, involved process,” Schultz said. “It hasn’t been simple and it hasn’t been pleasant. No matter where you put these things, it’s going to have some impact on fishing.”

The other reserves are at King Range in Humboldt County, Big Creek 12 miles south of Big Sur in Monterey County and the southern end of Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

Schultz said it is too early to tell which research projects will be approved for the area, but sport fishermen have already proposed building an artificial reef. That would tell scientists which fish are attracted to such habitat. But it may not be appropriate for the reserve, Shultz said.

Instead, he said, other projects might include studies on how to sustain a commercial fishery, possibly for halibut or sea urchins.

“We are more interested in looking at research with some practical applications,” he said.

Although biologists welcomed the reserves for their scientific study value, some questioned whether they are too small to really provide an accurate picture of an unaffected ecosystem.

“Two square miles is a good showcase area, but as far as protection of an ecological area, I don’t think it would be substantial,” said Point Mugu’s Ron Dow. “These little islands of study area will not be nearly as productive as a larger area, but it’s still important to show how rich an area could be if it were left alone.”

Big Sycamore Canyon Ecological Reserve

The California Fish and Fame Commission has established an ecological reserve off Big Sycamore Canyon, a two-square mile area set aside for scientific research, where activities such as sport or commercial fishing and scuba diving are prohibited.

Source: California Fish and Fame Commission