MLPA Update: Volunteer Help Needed
MLPA Update: Volunteer Help Needed
United Anglers of Southern California (UASC) wants to thank all the people who testified for Map Proposal 2 of the South Coast Region of the Marine Life Protection Act process. We continue to believe that Map 2 is the best option for conservation, meeting almost all the science guidelines while maintaining access for fishermen.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) concluded their meeting in Long Beach. They decided to 1) send all three proposed maps to the California Fish and Game Commission for consideration for adoption and 2) build their “Integrated Preferred Alternative” or IPA, which will be the BRTF’s specific recommended proposal for adoption. They did not complete the construction of their IPA and United Anglers of Southern California (UASC) has concerns of the marine protected areas currently placed on the IPA, especially in Laguna Beach. The proposed IPA complex on Laguna will shut down almost every coastal access point in the city. A BRTF member stated the placement of this reserve was based, in part, on the city’s request and then the science. UASC needs your assistance.
Bill Shedd from American Fishing Tackle Company, (AFTCO) and United Anglers of Southern California are introducing a petition campaign for the residents of Laguna Beach to refute the statement of the Laguna Beach City Council that eighty percent (80%) of the residents favor a marine reserve on the entire city coast line. We need volunteers for the petition drive to gather signatures within the city. We also need volunteers to conduct a survey at coastal access points of persons who use the ocean to collect economic data.
WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Please assist us by volunteering time for these tasks. Help our fishermen in Laguna! You could be helping to keep your own access. Contribute directly to changing the outcome of ocean access at Laguna Beach. Please contact Dave Elm at Aftco (949) 660-8757 or email him dave@aftco.com.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force has scheduled a final meeting on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. It will be held in the Los Angeles Airport area at a hotel to be named later. At this point, there will be no public comment session. UASC will work with the MLPA to open a public comment period.
Steven Fukuto
President,
United Anglers of Southern California
DOWNLOAD PETITION TO OPEN LAGUNA BEACH HERE
Dear Sportsman;
My name is Dave Elm. I am the Chairman of the Board United Anglers of Southern California (UASC) and production manager of the American Fishing Tackle Company (AFTCO) in Irvine. I understand you are a sportfisherman and resident of Laguna Beach. We need your help. You probably already know about the Marine Life Protection Act process and that the majority of your Laguna Beach City Council members are working hard to encourage the state to close the entire Laguna coast line to both all recreational fishing and all recreation lobster diving and spear fishing.
At a recent Blue Ribbon Task Force hearing, Laguna city councilwoman Toni Iseman, who is leading the Laguna closure effort, said that 80% of the people who live in Laguna agree with the city’s recommendation to the state to close the entire Laguna coastline to sportfishing and lobster diving. This 80% statement is not true, but it is having a major impact on the closure process because the folks at the state level don’t know how the Laguna residents feel about this other than what our council members tell them. We are organizing a petition effort to bring out the truth (see attached) to gather signatures to let both our city council and the state government officials know that we disagree with our city council’s recommendation. We need your help with that petition.
What we are for is conserving the marine resource off Laguna and along the entire coastline of California in a way that allows for reasonable balance between that conservation and access by the public who owns this public resource. Proposal #2 provides that balance and by signing our petition you are voicing both your disagreement with the Laguna city council’s one sided unbalanced closure approach and your agreement with proposal 2, a more balanced approach that even though it will close about half the Laguna coast, it does provide for access in the other half.
Please contact me here at AFTCO (949-660-8757) so we can discuss how you might help in this petition drive. Signatures need to be back here at AFTCO no later than November 9th, as the Blue Ribbon Task Force will make their final decision and recommendation to the California Fish & Game Commission on November 10th. To keep this effort focused and most productive we need only signatures, names and addresses of people 18 years or older, who either live or work in Laguna. If they work in Laguna and live outside the city they are to show their work address on the petition.
Thank you.
Dave Elm
Chairman, United Anglers of Southern California
Phone 949-660-8757 Fax 949-660-7067
