Sanctuary Proposal Under Fire

With a gathering of enthusiastic anglers as a backdrop, sportfishing leaders fired their latest salvo Thursday at those supporting the proposed closing of large portions of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary to fishing.

The American Sportfishing Assn. and United Anglers of Southern California charged, as doors were opening for the second day of the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show in Long Beach, that state and federal officials have “dramatically underestimated” the economic impact of such closures.

The charge was backed by an independent study that cites potential losses of $100 million or more annually, and the loss of 2,700 jobs under the most restrictive of options being considered by the California Fish and Game Commission, which will rule on the issue in August.

Potential losses projected last year by a CINMS panel were pegged at $17.7 million and 487 jobs.

Proposed regulations include six alternative “Marine Protected Area” networks involving 12% to 34% of sanctuary waters; an alternative for no change to the existing system, and an alternative to include the Channel Islands marine reserves process as part of a coast-wide process that won’t be determined until 2003.

The Department of Fish and Game and the CINMS manager are backing an alternative that would close 25% of sanctuary waters. Sportfishing interests favor including this issue in the coast-wide process, which will involve more input from affected parties or individuals.

The latest study, conducted by Southwick Associates in Fernandina Beach, Fla., found the CINMS panel’s evaluation to have “used old angler data and flawed methodology that did not include equipment such as tackle and boats--items that are the majority of anglers’ purchases.”

Peter Wiley, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration economist who was on the panel, declined to comment on specifics but took exception to claims that the panel’s findings were flawed.

“We derived a portion of our expenditure profiles from older studies,” Wiley said, “but most were from the 1990s [and] our expenditure profiles for fishermen did include equipment costs.”

Those involved, for example, expenditures of $22.22 per person per day for charter- or party-boat trips; and $38.63 per person per day for private boat fishing trips.

The ASA-UASC report went beyond per-day trip equipment expenditures and included everything from rods and reels to binoculars to boats to vacation homes.

In other words, said ASA President Mike Nussman, “They included everything you will find here at the show.”