Marine reserves set along Southern California coast
Yesterday, by a 3-2 vote in Santa Barbara, the California Fish and Game Commission banned or restricted fishing in dozens of marine areas to replenish fish populations and protect marine life. The officials created the network of marine reserves along the Southern California coast.
The new regulations covers waters from Point Conception to the Mexican border and follows two years of negotiations that involved recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, and conservation groups. The regulations come more than 10 years after California legislators passed the California Marine Life Protection Act, adopted in 1999 to establish a science-based system of marine sanctuaries within three mines of shore, statewide.
The marine reserves were created in response to steep declines in populations of abalone, cod, rockfish, lobster, and other ocean species, DESPITE catch limits and other fishing regulations. Scientists who were involved with the plan argued that some species could disappear forever without no-fishing zones in a diverse collection of sandy sea floors, kelp forests, underwater canyons, and rocky reefs.
Commissioner Richard B. Rogers, a long-time scuba diver who voted for the plan, said that it struck an “elegant balance” between conservation and fishing interests and that:
“The overarching goal is to return California to the sustainable abundance I observed growing up.”
-Bill at
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