MLPA Open Houses: Selling Ocean Privatization. MLPA= Marine Life Protection Act.

[annm4peace]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/18/18651135.php

by Dan Bacher

"The public is invited to attend the open houses to visit informational stations, review and comment on draft marine protected area proposals, provide input on particular areas of interest, and ask questions of staff and regional stakeholders," according to an announcement from the MLPA Initiative.

Photo: Surfs Up - If Catherine Reheis-Boyd gets her way? Here is a photo of the "surf" in the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to the BP Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe. Could this be a vision of California's future if Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the chairperson of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast and a member of the panel for the North Coast, gets her wish to open up new oil drilling off the California coast?




MLPA Open Houses: Selling Ocean Privatization

by Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a privately funded process overseen by oil industry, marina development, real estate and other corporate interests, will be holding a series of "North Coast Summer Public Open Houses in Fort Bragg, Briceland, Eureka, Orrick and Crescent City on July 6, 7 and 8.

MLPA officials are inviting the public to "review and provide feedback" on draft marine protected area proposals for the MLPA North Coast Study Region" from Alder Creek near Point Arena to the California/Oregon border during these "open houses."

"The public is invited to attend the open houses to visit informational stations, review and comment on draft marine protected area proposals, provide input on particular areas of interest, and ask questions of staff and regional stakeholders," according to an announcement from the MLPA Initiative.

Unfortunately, rather than truly protecting the ocean as the landmark law originally intended to do, the MLPA Initiative under Schwarzenegger has completely taken water pollution, habitat destruction, oil drilling, wave energy projects and all other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and seaweed harvesting off the table. These "open houses" are apparently designed to sell the privatization of ocean management through the MLPA process to the public.

North Coast environmental leaders such as Barbara and John Stephens-Lewallen believe that the MLPA Initiative paves the way to the development of offshore oil on the North Coast, particularly in the Point Arena Basin. The initiative is funded by a private corporation, the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, headed by executive director Michael Eaton.

I have a series of questions to ask the MLPA Initiative staff:

• Why does the MLPA engage in cultural genocide by banning the Kashia Pomo Tribe from harvesting seaweed and shellfish off their sacred site, “Danaka," in Sonoma County?

• Why has the Initiative shown no respect for tribal subsistence and ceremonial rights? This is an overt violation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Article 32, Section 2, of the Declaration mandates "free prior and informed consent" in consultation with the indigenous population affected by a state action (http://www.iwgia.org/sw248.asp).

• Why did MLPA staff until recently violate the Bagley-Keene Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by banning video and audio coverage of the initiative’s secretive work sessions?

• Why do the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) and Science Advisory Team continue to violate the California Public Records Act by refusing to respond to numerous requests by Bob Fletcher, former DFG Deputy Director, for key documents and records pertaining to the MLPA implementation process?

• Why did the Governor and MLPA officials install an oil industry lobbyist, a marina developer, a real estate executive and other corporate interests as “marine guardians” to kick Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters, the greatest defenders of the oceans, off the ocean?

• Why is Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, allowed to make decisions as the chair of the BRTF for the South Coast and as a member of the BRTF for the North Coast, panels that are supposedly designed to "protect" the ocean, when she has called for new oil drilling off the California coast?

• Why do initiative officials attempt to divide and conquer environmentalists, fishermen and tribal communities by trying to split them into separate groups in the Regional Stakeholders Group on the North Coast?

• Why has Ken Wiseman, the executive director of the MLPA Initiative, issued a draconian "gag rule" that prohibits members of the stakeholders group from speaking to the press?

• Why does the initiative discard the results of any scientists who disagree with the MLPA’s pre-ordained conclusions? These include the peer reviewed study by Dr. Ray Hilborn, Dr. Boris Worm and 18 other scientists, featured in Science magazine in July 2009, that concluded that the California current had the lowest rate of fishery exploitation of any place studied on the planet.

• Why do initiative officials completely refuse to acknowledge that the California coast has the largest marine protected area (MPA) in the United States – the Rockfish Conservation area - that extends along the entire continental shelf of California?

• Why do MLPA staff and the California Fish and Game Commission refuse to hear the pleas of the representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, who oppose the creation of any new MPAs until they have enough funding for wardens to patrol existing reserves? That’s why the wardens refer to MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”

• Finally, why is a private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, being allowed to privatize ocean resource management in California through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DFG?

These are the hard questions that people need to ask MLPA staff at these so-called "North Coast Open Houses!"

Here is the announcement from the MLPA Initiative about the "open houses."



California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative Announcement

Who: Interested members of the public are invited!

What: North Coast Summer Public Open Houses, where members of the public are invited to review and provide feedback on draft marine protected area proposals for the MLPA North Coast Study Region (from Alder Creek near Point Arena to the California/Oregon border); these draft marine protected area proposals are from Round 2 of a three-round planning process. The public is invited to attend the open houses to visit informational stations, review and comment on draft marine protected area proposals, provide input on particular areas of interest, and ask questions of staff and regional stakeholders.

When/Where: July 6-8, 2010 in five north coast locations

Drop by anytime! Please note specific times associated with each location.

Tuesday, July 6
5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
C.V. Starr Community Center
300 South Lincoln Street
Fort Bragg, CA

Wednesday, July 7
8:00 - 10:00 a.m.
The Octagon/Beginnings
5 Cemetery Road
Briceland, CA

5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center
921 Waterfront Drive, Room 211
Eureka, CA

Thursday, July 8
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Redwood National and State Parks
South Operations Center
121200 Hwy. 101
Orick, CA

5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Elk Valley Rancheria Community Center
2332 Howland Hill Road
Crescent City, CA

RSVP: To ensure adequate refreshments and seating, please RSVP to Delbra Gibbs (916.424.8897 or dga_mlpa sbcglobal.net).


What if I can’t attend one of the public open houses in person?
If you are not able to attend, you may also provide your feedback on Round 2 draft MPA proposals by visiting http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/mpaproposals_nc.asp. Here, you can complete an online form expressing your comments, which will be shared with the NCRSG and BRTF. Additionally, print copies of the feedback forms are available at local libraries and government offices, which can be mailed or faxed to the MLPA Initiative office.

Your comments will be most helpful if received no later than July 14, 2010 so the information can be distributed to NCRSG and BRTF members prior to the start of Round 3.

What is the Marine Life Protection Act?
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) requires the state to re-examine and redesign California’s system of marine protected areas. Draft marine protected area proposals have been developed by a regional stakeholder group with input from external arrays developed by community groups. m