Suit to Overturn Gill Net Ban Dismissed : Courts: Judge rejects fishing industry’s claims that Proposition 132 is unconstitutional because the public was misled about the danger to porpoises. He says fishermen will have to adapt to the changes.

A San Diego judge Friday dismissed a fishing industry lawsuit aimed at overturning Proposition 132, the 1990 ballot measure that bans the use of gill nets in California coastal waters.

Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress), the initiative’s major sponsor, hailed the ruling by Superior Court Judge Arthur W. Jones as a victory for environmentalists and a vindication of the initiative process.

But fishermen who packed the courtroom complained that Allen and other initiative backers tricked the public into believing that gill nets, which are intended to snag fish by their gills, kill porpoises.

“A lot of gill net fishermen have no idea how we’ll support our families,” said Don Tomlinson, who has fished off San Diego for 35 years. “This puts us out of business.”

Jones said gill net fishermen, like loggers and miners, will have to adapt to changes wrought by the political process. He rejected claims that Proposition 132, which became effective Jan. 1, was unconstitutional because of misleading claims made by its backers or because it conflicts with federal marine fisheries law.

“To say (Proposition 132) was the will of the people, the voice of democracy, is the same as saying a lynch mob is the will of the people, the voice of democracy,” said attorney Peter Flournoy, representing the California Gillnetters Assn.

Larry Goldenhersh, an attorney representing Allen and the San Francisco-based Earth Island Institute, said Jones’ ruling should please “all Californians interested in protecting marine mammals (and) conserving the marine resources of California.”

Proposition 132, which won by 55% to 45%, prohibits gill net fishing in a three-mile-wide zone from Mexico to Point Arguello off Santa Barbara. The initiative contains a onetime buyout plan for gill net fishermen.

Allen and others contend that gill nets are “killing machines” that have trapped thousands of porpoises, dolphins, sea lions, sea otters and sea birds.

The gill netters say the environmentalists have confused them with the tuna seiners whose huge nets surround a school of surface-swimming tuna and sometimes catch other creatures. Gill nets are generally allowed to settle near the bottom of the ocean in pursuit of halibut, white sea bass, barracuda, yellowtail and other species.