Notice of Written Comments are due

During the regulatory process to amend Section 632, Title 14, California Code of Regulations, regarding south coast marine protected areas, changes were made to the originally proposed regulatory language.

Because these regulations are different from, yet sufficiently related to, the originally proposed regulations, the Administrative Procedure Act requires that we make the changes available to you for a 15-day written comment period (October 3, 2011- October 18, 2011).  Comments will also be accepted at the October 19, 2011 hearing in Monterey.

The continuation notice, including an updated informative digest, and the modified proposed regulatory language are posted at http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/2010/#632sc. 

This is also to provide you with a notice of availability of a document added to the rulemaking file.  The November 3, 2010 Amended Initial Statement of Reason identified Attachment 17: California Department of Fish and Game Memo to the Commission regarding outstanding issues identified in the proposed Initial Statement of Reasons to Amend Section 632 Title 14, CCR (October 11, 2010) as a document supporting the proposed regulations.  This document is available for public inspection between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, at 1416 Ninth Street, Room 1320, Sacramento, CA, and on the Commission's website at http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/2010/#632sc. 

Written comments must be received in the Commission office by 5:00 pm on October 18, 2011.  Interested persons may attend the October 19, 2011 hearing in Monterey and offer testimony.

Fish and Game Commission Re-Notices Proposed South Coast MPA Regulations

Sacramento, CA – October 5, 2011 – On October 3, the California Fish and Game Commission opened a 15-day public comment period for revised proposed regulations for the South Coast marine protected areas developed under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process. Revisions were made because the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which must first review and approve the regulations before they go into effect, rejected the regulatory package previously provided by the commission.
The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans, which represents the interests of California's recreational anglers and boaters in the MLPA process, is currently reviewing the revised regulations and will provide suggested issues to consider when commenting on the regulations prior to the October 18, deadline. Comments will also be accepted at the October 19 Fish and Game Commission meeting in Monterey, Calif. It is important that anglers respond to the revised MPA regulations since they may significantly affect their ability to access the most productive ocean areas.
During its September meeting, the commission outlined a proposed timeline to re-notice and finalize the South Coast MLPA regulations, resubmit them to OAL, and seek an anticipated effective date of January 1, 2012. This projected effective date is not only dependent on OAL approval, but also may be affected by the outcome of a pending lawsuit filed by members of the PSO.
The lawsuit seeks to set aside the MLPA regulations for the North Central and South Coast study regions, citing a lack of statutory authority for the Fish and Game Commission to adopt the regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in the commission's environmental review of the regulations. A hearing on the North Central Coast portion of the case, originally set for September 26, will now take place on October 6, in San Diego.

Ask Governor Brown to Remove Richard Rogers

Ask Governor Brown to Remove Richard Rogers
from the California Fish and Game Commission
Rogers' voting record shows he is no friend to California's sportfishing community or the state's economy

Background

At a time when California faces record unemployment levels, Governor Brown can take one simple action to remove a major impediment to the state's economy – remove Richard Rogers from the Fish and Game Commission.

Even though his term expired on January 15, 2011, Rogers continues to sit on the Commission because the Governor has yet to appoint a replacement. Since his 2005 appointment, Rogers has been one of the most vocal supporters of the anti-job and anti-fishing­ Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. We urge Governor Brown to take action and name a new commissioner to take Rogers' seat.

The MLPA is a controversial program that threatens sportfishing in California, and the businesses and 20,000 jobs that depend on it, by unnecessarily closing large areas of the ocean to recreational fishing. The MLPA is costing California jobs and harming communities and businesses, while ignoring the real problems affecting California's coastal waters, such as coastal development, habitat loss and pollution.

On December 15, 2010, Rogers was one of three commissioners who voted in favor of a wide-ranging array of marine protected areas, essentially no-fishing zones, along the southern California coast. Other MLPA regulations – which Rogers also supported – are already in place and have cost jobs and fishing opportunity in California's Central and North Central Coast regions. Because of the flawed nature of the MLPA process, these regulations are currently being challenged in the courts.

The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans believes that Governor Brown should replace Rogers with a commissioner who understands his or her responsibility to conserve California's natural resources, understands the role of anglers in conservation and takes into account the impact of regulations on California's citizens, its economy and jobs for working families.

What You Can Do?

Click here to ask Governor Brown to remove Richard Rogers from the California Fish and Game Commission. Send your message today!

Keep America Fishing

Summer is Here

I hope you had a wonderful 4^th of July holiday and are enjoying the summer weather. With warmer weather and longer days, summer provides more opportunities to fish than any other time of year. Every fishing trip shared with friends and family is a chance to pass on a time honored tradition. Read More...

Policy

Recreational Fish Hatcheries on the Chopping Block

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) is responsible for stocking many of our nation's waters with the fish that anglers enjoy pursuing. In response to recent cuts in the federal budget, the FWS has proposed an $11 million reduction in NFHS funding, with $6 million coming from the account for operating mitigation hatcheries. If approved, this large reduction will result in the closure of nine hatcheries, seven of which are located in the southeastern U.S., greatly reducing angling opportunity in the region. Send a message to your Members of Congress urging them to take the necessary actions to restore the NFHS budget and keep our nation's hatcheries operating (This will be linked to the alert once it is up).

National Fish Habitat Conservation Act Introduced

On June 15, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) introduced the National Fish Habitat Conservation Act (NFHCA), S. 1201, into the Senate with the support of eight other Senators. The NFHCA will authorize the most comprehensive effort ever attempted to improve fish habitat. By restoring fish habitat and boosting fish populations, S. 1201 will improve recreational fishing opportunities across the country, helping to ensure that individuals and their families and friends can get outside and enjoy our nation's aquatic resources. Keep an eye out for an opportunity to support the NFHCA through KeepAmericaFishing coming soon.

Legislation to Stop Unwarranted Fisheries Closures

The Fisheries Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304) will help ensure that science is the primary driver of federal fisheries management decisions. This legislation will guide federal fisheries management towards a more science-based approach and prevent NOAA Fisheries from setting arbitrary and overly-restrictive catch levels on numerous important recreational fisheries. Send a message to your House of Representatives members today in support of H.R. 2304 and help ensure that catch limits are set based on data, not on guesstimates.

New Legislation Opens More Lands to Fishing

Lack of access is the primary reason that keeps anglers from enjoying a day on the water. Fortunately, legislation was recently introduced in Congress that will increase access to angling, hunting and recreational shooting opportunities on federal lands through projects such as easements and access roads. Show your support for the Making Public Lands Public Access Act, send a message to your U.S. Senators and help open hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land to the sports that you love.

Proposed Mine Threatens Wild Salmon and Trout

Photo by Brian O'Keefe

Alaska's Bristol Bay, home to the largest salmon run and several other important recreational fisheries, is under threat by a 20 square mile proposed mining complex. Pebble Mine could produce up to ten billion tons of toxic waste that will devastate the fishery and the Bay if the inevitable spill or earthquake should occur. Send a message to the Environmental Protection Agency and your Members of Congress today urging them to protect Alaska's sport fisheries and the people that depend on Bristol Bay for their livelihoods.

Floridians Defeat Cuts to Fisheries Conservation

Thanks to KeepAmericaFishing™ angler advocates, legislation that would have cut millions of dollars from fisheries conservation in Florida is no longer being considered. This misguided legislation would have dismantled the "user-pay, user-benefit" fisheries management system that is indisputably the best fisheries management program in the world and had a devastating effect on fisheries management and conservation. S.B. 744 became ineligible for further action when Florida's legislative session closed on May 6. Thank you to all anglers that took action against this bill.

Anglers' Voices Heard on Oregon Legislation

Anglers in Oregon helped stop a bill in the State Legislature that aimed to remove fishery conservation measures from non-native fish species, including many of Oregon's most popular sportfish. H.B. 2008 would have greatly reduced the state's recreational fishing opportunities by removing management measures from sportfish such as brown trout and largemouth bass. Due to overwhelming angler response, the Oregon legislature is no longer considering this misguided legislation. This is a huge victory for the angling community and it is thanks to angler activists like you.

Help Fight Unwarranted Bans on Lead Fishing Tackle

Last November, anglers like you helped defeat an attempt to ban lead fishing tackle nationwide, but the fight is not over yet. KeepAmericaFishing™ is asking anglers to rally behind legislation that will definitively protect our right to sustainably fish on our nation's waterways. Please contact your Members of Congress today urging them to co-sponsor the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Sports Protection Act.

California's Salmon are Running Out of Water and Time

Competing uses for water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed are putting the great salmon runs of California's Central Valley in danger of disappearing. Despite the extreme environmental consequences of over-pumping, private agricultural interests are attempting to control even more of the public's water. As a result, the region's salmon fishing seasons were completely shut down in 2008 and 2009 and severely curtailed in 2010. Send a message today to help protect California's renowned salmon runs.

Fish with Your Kids

Get your kids out there! Fishing with kids is a great way to connect with them and to experience the outdoors together. TakeMeFishing.org has an entire section dedicated to helping you share the love of fishing with the little anglers in your life. From safety tips to vacation planning, you can find it here. Read More...

Make It Easy to Plan Your Next Boating Trip

As anglers, we love to socialize – whether at the dock, on the water or online. Now, thanks to Discover Boating, boat owners can invite friends, family and other nautical novices aboard for boating trips using the new Welcome to the Water excursion planner at Facebook.com/DiscoverBoating.

Choose from more than 35,000 places to get on the water and customize the invitation to the type of boating trip, what each guest can bring and more. You can even share photos and videos from your trips.

As added incentive, "captains" will be ranked by the number of people they invite and will be eligible to win weekly nautical prizes, including Sperry Topsiders, $100 Visa gift cards, NorChill coolers, customized shirts with your boat's name from BoatNameGear.com and one-year BoatU.S. memberships. Learn more...

Seven for Kevin

Source: Seven for Kevin by Deb Johnson of B.A.S.S.

Congratulations to Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., for winning the 2011 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) award. This award marks his seventh best-angler title and he's now the first angler to hold four consecutive AOY titles. Read More...

Fishing Fun Facts

Did you know...

• More Americans fish than play basketball (24.0 million) and football (8.9 million) combined?
• If fishing were ranked as a corporation in the Fortune 500, it would outrank Sears, Pepsi, Apple and Intel?
• The number of jobs supported by anglers could employ all attendees of the last seven Super Bowls – twice?

Read More...

Legislation Introduced to Stop Unwarranted Fisheries Closures

The Fisheries Science Improvement Act will help ensure science is the primary driver of federal fisheries management decisions

The Fisheries Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304), introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) on June 23, 2011, with the support of a bi-partisan group of 18 other Members of Congress, seeks to ensure that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is required to set catch limits based on data, not on guesstimates.
This legislation will guide federal fisheries management towards a more science-based approach and prevent NOAA Fisheries from setting arbitrary and overly-restrictive catch levels on numerous important recreational fisheries.
H.R. 2304 provides a timely path for NOAA Fisheries to manage all of America's marine fish stocks based on sound scientific data. View the Fishery Science Improvement Act Fact Sheet.

The Situation

As amended in 2006, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires Regional Fishery Management Councils to put in place annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for every fishery by December 31, 2011. The requirements were intended to end overfishing by 2011 but were predicated on two critical assumptions:

• NOAA Fisheries would make decisions based on up-to-date and accurate stock assessments
• NOAA Fisheries would improve catch data to better anticipate potential problems in a given fishery.

Neither of these obligations has been met.
Scientific management should be the cornerstone of fisheries management at NOAA. However, the agency has felt compelled by statutory deadlines to make major fishery management decisions using inadequate data and incomplete analysis. NOAA Fisheries is simply making guesses in many cases when setting catch limits and in determining other management parameters, and guesswork should have no place in federal fisheries management.

How You Can Help

Please enter your zip code below to send a message to your Congress member in support of the Fishery Science Improvement Act.

IGo to Keep America Fishing to send a support letter - Click Here

On The Lighter Side - Tree Huggers

Splinters in the Crotch  
A woman from Los Angeles, CA who was a tree hugger, a Democrat and an anti-hunter, purchased a piece of timberland near Colville, WA. 
  
There was a large tree on one of the highest points in the tract.  She wanted a good view of the natural splendor of her land so she started to climb the big  tree. As she neared the top, she encountered a spotted owl that attacked her. In her haste to escape, the woman slid down the tree to the ground and got many splinters in her crotch. In considerable pain, she hurried to Mt. Carmel ER to see a doctor. She told him she was an environmentalist, a democrat and an anti-hunter and how she came to get all the splinters.
  
The doctor listened to her story with great patience and then told her to go wait in the examining room and he would see if he could help her. She waited three hours before the doctor reappeared.

 

The angry woman demanded, "What took you so long?" 

 He smiled and told her, "Well, I had to get permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management before I could remove old-growth timber from a recreational area. I'm sorry, but they turned me down."
 GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Yes you can laugh..:-)

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/scmpas121510.pdf
Who:    California Fish and Game Commission

What:   News release (see below) regarding the adopted marine protected area regulations for the

            MLPA South Coast Study Region (Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the

            California-Mexico border in San Diego County) and certified final environmental impact

            report (EIR, prepared under the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA) for proposed

            south coast marine protected areas

When:   Regulations are expected to go into effect in 2011; the final EIR is available now

Where:  A message will be sent to this list when the south coast marine protected area regulations have

            been approved by the Office of Administrative Law; the final EIR is available at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/finalimpact_sc.asp

California Department of Fish and Game News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 15, 2010

Contacts:

Adrianna Shea, Fish and Game Commission, (916) 508-5262

Jordan Traverso, DFG Communications, (916) 654-9937

California Fish and Game Commission Gives Final Approval for South Coast Marine Protected Areas

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has adopted regulations to create a new suite of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Southern California. At a Commission meeting in Santa Barbara today, the regulations were adopted as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which requires California to reexamine and redesign its system of MPAs with the goals to, among other things, increase the effectiveness of MPAs in protecting the states marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage.

Informed by recommendations generated through a two-year public planning process, the regulations will create 36 new MPAs encompassing approximately 187 square miles (8 percent) of state waters in the study region. Approximately 116 square miles (4.9 percent) have been designated as no-take state marine reserves (82.5 square miles/3.5 percent) and no-take state marine conservation areas (33.5 square miles/1.4 percent), with the remainder designated as state marine conservation areas with different take allowances and varying levels of protection. In addition to approving the MPA regulations, the Commission also certified the environmental impact report prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

The public planning process for the south coast region, from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the California border with Mexico, began in July 2008 and included more than 50 days of meetings with formal public comment held for a 64-member Regional Stakeholder Group, a Science Advisory Team and a Blue Ribbon Task Force appointed by the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. In addition, more than 12,000 written public comments were submitted through the regulatory and environmental review processes to help inform recommendations on south coast region MPAs.

The California Department of Fish and Game, the lead agency charged with managing the states marine resources, will be responsible for implementing the MLPA program which will include enforcement, education, monitoring and research activities. The south coast MPA regulations are anticipated to go into effect in mid-2011 after appropriate filings with the Office of Administrative Law and the Secretary of State.

The south coast study region is the third of five study regions to complete the planning process under the MLPA. Once implemented, the south coast MPAs will join the MPAs currently in place from the central and north-central coast study regions to form a network ranging approximately 875 miles from the California border with Mexico to Alder Creek near Point Arena in Mendocino County. The Commission will receive recommendations for the north coast study region from the north coast blue ribbon task force in February which will mark the start of the formal regulatory process. Planning is under way to develop the process for San Francisco Bay, the fifth and final study region.

The existing MPAs in the northern Channel Islands, which encompass an additional 168 square miles and 7 percent of state waters in the study region, were not modified as part of this decision.

A map of the decisions made today can be viewed at www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/scmpas121510.pdf.