Anglers Unhappy Over Restrictions

For much of the last decade, California’s saltwater anglers have been engaged in the fight for what they perceive to be their historic right to fish.

Their task got a lot harder Tuesday when the California Fish and Game Commission unanimously agreed to create 29 marine-protected areas, encompassing nearly 200 square miles between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. About half of this area will be marine reserves and off-limits to any fishing. The rest will either entail bans on commercial fishing or other limitations.

Fishermen said these restrictions will deal them a major blow along the Central Coast and will have a sizable impact on the state’s $2-billion sportfishing industry. The new state edict could go into effect as early as November.

“It’s going to put people out of business in Morro Bay,” said Tom Raftican, president of the United Anglers of Southern California. “Tourists who watch the boats will stop coming. The motels will take a hit. It has the effect of destroying communities.”

These new protected areas, fishermen warned, will be only the first in a series of marine havens set up along the state’s coastline.

In 1999 the state Legislatures passed a law calling for a network of marine reserves, but the plans were stalled by budget cuts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revived the effort and focused first on the Central Coast area.

The next area to be considered is Southern California. In January the Department of Fish and Game begins meetings with commercial fishermen and others about possible marine reserves between Point Conception and Mexico.

“We are going to activate as many recreational anglers as we can because this can have a potentially disastrous and chilling effect if more large fishing grounds are taken away,” Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, said of the next round of discussions pertaining to Southern California.

Cindy Gustafson, one of five commissioners, hailed Tuesday as “a landmark day” that sets California at the forefront of fisheries protection. But the Central Coast plan blindsided anglers and commercial fishermen because it imposed restrictions beyond the “preferred alternative” plan supported by the Department of Fish and Game.

“It was a slap in the face to all of the fishermen who worked so hard on this process in good faith, and were told they’d be listened to,” said Jim Martin, West Coast regional director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. “It felt like we were up against a firing squad.”

Raftican said that the commission chose “a protectionist attitude.”

Bill Romanelli, spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game, said that the plan increases the protected area along the Central Coast from less than 4% to about 18%.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance contends this involves critical rocky-bottomed areas containing structure for rockfish, halibut, lobster, shellfish and other species living year-round in the region, so the closures actually remove 60% of fishable waters in the area.

Rockfish “is our bread and butter,” said Mike Forrest, a spokesman for Virg’s Landing in Morro Bay.

In Southern California, fair weather and a wider range of species works in favor of sport fishermen, but they have nonetheless already seen their territory diminished.

The 4,000 square-mile Cow Cod Conservation Area was established in 2001 by the federal government, and more recently, a 175-square-mile parcel within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary was made off-limits.

The federal government also recently unveiled a plan that will double existing no-fishing zones around the five northern Channel Islands and impose stricter restrictions on an additional 12-square-mile area.

The state Department of Fish and Game believes these federal restrictions would fall within its state-imposed marine havens.

But angling lobbyists want to make sure, said Joel Greenberg, chairman of the Southern California chapter of the RFA.

“We can’t stay home or just go fishing,” he said.

“We need to gather our best and brightest and show up at the [public] meetings ... and testify on our behalf to show that we already have enough closed areas....

“It’s astonishing that we would need any more.”