Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach coastal areas were in earlier proposals for marine sanctuaries. Red represents proposed state marine reserve. Blue represents proposed state marine conservation area.
OCEAN BEACH, CA. For some reason, Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs were cut out of the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s recommendations for Southern California coastal marine sanctuaries.
We had reported earlier that Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs had been included in proposals for redesigning California’s system of marine protected areas along the southern coast, as well, of course, other parts of San Diego County. Marine experts have been putting together proposals for a year. The OB coast had been considered one of the chief areas of contention. We had said:
The experts have come up with three proposals for marine sanctuaries – and all of them would more than double the space to be set aside for protecting sea life on the Southern California coast. The trio of proposals would provide from 380 to 413 square miles of near-shore waters as safety zones for species — more than twice the current amount of 182 squares miles.
The panel just met again on November 10th, and accepted new sanctuaries off south La Jolla, Encinitas, Imperial Beach and other county spots in its bid to safeguard sealife along the coast. For some reason, the earlier proposals that included the areas off Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach did not make it to the new batch of recommendations.
The panel’s recommendations now go to the state’s Fish and Game Commission for a final determination next summer of fall. Different groups, like fishing advocates and environmentalists, still have hopes of influencing the Commission.
I have been in touch with Annie Reisewitz, who does public relations for the panel, for some kind of explanation of why OB and the Cliffs were excluded, but we didn’t get a chance to conclude our conversation. I plan to follow up on this.
Meanwhile, check out marinemap.org/marinemap for maps of the different proposals (go to top right of screen and hit “proposals”).
Here’s the SignOnSanDiego article:
A state panel unanimously embraced new and expanded marine sanctuaries off south La Jolla, Encinitas, Imperial Beach and other county spots yesterday in its bid to safeguard sea life along the coast.
Meeting in Los Angeles, the five-member Blue Ribbon Task Force issued a landmark recommendation to the state’s Fish and Game Commission, which is expected to make its final determination next summer or fall. Conservationists and fishing advocates still hope to influence the commission, which relied heavily on the task force in its recent remapping of sanctuaries along the north central coast.
At this stage, the task force wants to roughly double the 182 square miles of existing marine protected areas off Southern California that ban or limit fishing and other seafood harvesting. The newly proposed zones are based on size and spacing standards developed by scientists to increase the likelihood they will benefit a variety of species. They were crafted to minimize the effects on military and recreational boating activities.
For the remainder of this article, go here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I stopped by the Marine base to find out the deal. It seems the Marines prefer shorelines that contain graffitit. Since we did the clean up this coastline does not qualify.
“At this stage, the task force wants to roughly double the 182 square miles of existing marine protected areas off Southern California that ban or limit fishing and other seafood harvesting.”
Might the fact that pier fishing is a popular activity and the pier is the only fee-free fishing area in the city that I know of conflict with the above-stated goal? I suppose you could make the argument that having an exception for the pier could still qualify for the ‘limited’ designator, but just posing a theory…
this is all well and good, but it’s confusing… why did the cliffs and our beach get deleted from the plans for sanctuaries? too many commercial fishing people? god knows we don’t have too many conservationists. so why did we get aced out – call your council person, call somebody, call the ob rag, why did this happen? who had so much power that they were able to get the plans for our coast reserves trashed?