PSO brings it on - sues Fish and Game to halt MLPA closures
Recreational fishing groups answered the challenge of Commissioner Richard Rogers to "bring it on" and have sued to overturn closures in both the South Coast and North Central Coast.

Member organizations of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), which represents California's recreational fishing and boating community, have filed a lawsuit in the San Diego County Superior Court seeking to set aside regulations established by the California Fish and Game Commission in connection with the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The commission approved regulations for the North Central and South Coast study regions in August 2009 and December 2010, respectively, establishing marine protected areas - essentially no-fishing zones - in large areas of the state's coastal waters. The lawsuit, filed by United Anglers of Southern California, Coastside Fishing Club and Robert C. Fletcher, cites a lack of statutory authority for adopting the regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the commission's environmental review of the regulations.

"From the outset, it was clear that the MLPA process was set up to reach a predetermined outcome under the fiction of an allegedly open and transparent process," said Bob Fletcher, former president of the Sportfishing Association of California. "In a rush to establish regulations based on political timelines and a pre-determined agenda, the Fish and Game Commission has ignored the legal requirements it must follow."

Most notably, the petition states that:

The commission does not have the statutory authority to adopt, modify or delete marine protected areas under the MLPA's main rulemaking provisions until it has approved a final Master Plan for the state. The final Master Plan has yet to be written or approved.

The other statutory authorities that the commission relies on do not provide the commission with the authority it needs to adopt these MPAs. The privately-funded "MLPA Initiative" process has been conducted in a manner inconsistent with the process the state legislature directed in the MLPA, and meetings held by MLPA planning groups that should have been open meetings were closed to the public.

The South Coast study region regulations were adopted on the basis of an environmental review process that is in violation of CEQA.

The items above were raised by PSO attorneys during comment at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Santa Barbara that approved closures along the South Coast, together with the possibility of legal action, causing Commissioner Rogers to utter his "bring it on" challenge.

"Our concerns were presented to the commission prior to its December 2010 vote to approve regulations for the South Coast," Fletcher further said. "Ignoring the information before them, the commission went forward with approving regulations to close 116 square miles of southern California's coastal waters to recreational fishing. These closures don't just disappoint the fishermen - they take away jobs and income for many California small businesses along the coast and elsewhere. Particularly concerning are the flaws in a regulatory process that has been fueled with private money from special interests. The end result of this process has been a rush by the commission to adopt regulations without the authority it has to have to adopt them, and without a proper review of the environmental consequences of what they're doing. That should be a concern for all Californians, whether they fish for fun or for a living, or whether they've never been fishing at all."

"Much of the best fishing areas are now closed under the MLPA process," noted Dan Wolford, Science Director for the Coastside Fishing Club. "Anglers in the North Central region are now suffering because of excessive, unnecessary closures that we believe were improperly established. We find it extremely concerning that anglers, who are the original conservationists, are being taken off the water through a seriously flawed process, while the real threats to the health of our ocean, such as contaminated stormwater runoff and industrial pollutants, are allowed to continue unabated."

The petition is the second lawsuit involving the MLPA by members of the PSO. In May 2010, Fletcher filed suit against the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force and Master Plan Team - also known as the Science Advisory Team - for failing to respond to a Public Records Act request, as state agencies are required to do. These groups claimed that they were not required to make their records available to the public on the ground that they are not "state agencies." Last October, a California Superior Court ruled that the Blue Ribbon Task Force and the Science Advisory Team are indeed state agencies and therefore are compelled by California's Public Records Act to share information that they were withholding from public view.

"The good intentions of the MLPA have been derailed by private interests and political motivations," said Fletcher. "We urge anglers, outdoors enthusiasts and anyone who supports good government and the public's right to know what its government is doing, to visit www.oceanaccessprotectionfund.org and donate what they can to help us to continue to fight this flawed process in the courts."

IMAGETHE FINAL LA JOLLA design approved by the Fish and Game Commission extended the no fishing area in La Jolla Cove all the way out to the point and up to the Scripps Pier and in the south from Big Rock to the Crystal Pier.