Jeff Crumley

I am learning that it is not the enviro movement but the hitch-hikers and highjackers that use it as a vehicle to extort and terrorize the ignorant. The only way to liberate environmentalism is to remove the terrorists by exposing their “misinformation.”
There is a lot of $ in environmentalism.
As stated in scientific papers, there are three main effects on the marine ecosystem…
1. Water Quality ( we used to call this pollution).
2. Marine Mammal Take ( the MMPA has done a very good job, one species, California sea lions are now thought to be above historic numbers. There are probably more California sea lions now than 500 years ago).
3. Human take (In 1995, DFG estimated the California sea lion population at 186,000 and consumption at 500,000 tons (1.billion lbs.) annually of squid, salmon, anchovy, rockfish and flatfish. Commercial fishing for these species in 1995 totaled 281.million pounds or 28% of California sea lion consumption).
Yet, the MLPAI does not address these other issues. POLLUTION being the worst!!!, it only targets humans use fisheries.
There is a movement underway that is bringing the truth and exposing these extreme idealists and the Big Green Monster that is making them rich off the dollars you donate(as if they need more money). These extreme, idealistic preservationist are now threatening other species existence with their theoretical experiments on the peoples public property. It’s an orgy of marine science bidding for billions in grants and big oil getting the fishermen out of the way.
Yes, big oil!
How is it even considerable to have the queen of the Western Petroleum Assoc.(Cathy Reheis-Boyd) as the chair for the Blue Ribbon Task Force? (Arnold’s fast track MLPAI force)… Fishermen are one of the biggest obstacles to offshore oil.
Even if this is a coincidental chain of events, someone ought to have enough common sense to recognize a clear conflict of interest and the required need for a holistic and adaptive approach.

By Steve Rebuck

Mrs. Carol Fulton-Yeates, representing Friends of the Sea Otter, appears to have it all figured out: just ban one more Central Coast fishery and all will be well for the sea otter in California. After all, we are only talking a few fishermen, right?

In 1971, the U.S. Congress held hearings on what would become the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). One of the articles used to “educate” Congress was titled “Sea Otters Ambushed.”

Discussing illegal shooting of sea otters, the article states: “The otters killed have been sacrificed to the mistaken belief that they threaten a minute fishery for a luxury food we could well do without. The town of Morro Bay, population 8,500, is the self styled abalone capital of California and center of the abalone-otter dispute. Despite this prominence in the matter, only 25 families in Morro Bay make their living fishing for abalone or processing them.”

My parents moved to Morro Bay in the early 1950’s to fish abalone. As I remember it, there were a lot more than 25 families involved in this unique enterprise. I remember well how it was all of us who were blamed for many years for the decline of abalone and Pismo clams. In recent years, published scientific studies have vindicated the commercial abalone and recreational clambers.

Who gives Friends of the Sea Otter the right to declare what foods are a luxury and unnecessary? When I was a youngster, fish, abalone, and clams were a staple. Some of us even traded our abalone sandwiches for peanut butter and jelly at Morro Bay Elementary School, the children of the more affluent people having the peanut butter and jelly.

Sea otters were listed as a threatened species in 1977 due to the risks posed to them by oil spills. Yet, we have seen the sacrifice of one fishery after another, in order to protect sea otters from harm. This makes no sense. It appears to me that Friends of the Sea Otter is engaged in a vendetta against fishermen. But there is much more to it.

Two years go, sea otters entered a “no otter” zone south of Pt. Conception. This zone was negotiated by Friends of the Sea Otter, commercial and recreational fisherman, the state of California, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Congress. We on the fisheries side thought we were negotiating in good faith.

Recently, after years of frustration and additional lost fishing grounds in Santa Barbara County, the Commercial Fisherman of Santa Barbara, California Abalone Association and California Aquaculture Association sued the Department of the Interior for not living up to agreements they make in regards to federal law PL 99-625. This law made it legal for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to capture and relocate sea otters from San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties to San Nicholas Island in Ventura County. It also required them to protect the commercial and recreational fisheries of the other islands. Since 1993, this has not been done.

A Sept, 11, 1986, article in the Morro Bay Sun-Bulletin cites Mrs. Yeates as saying she felt fishermen should be pleased with the selection of San Nicolas Island. “Otters wandering south will be halted at Pt. Conception. In essence, no sea otter will be found south of that point. It seems then a fair trade-off with the shellfish industry,” she said.

The downside of all of this is that Mrs. Yeates and her organization have been cheerleaders to the Fish and Wildlife Service in recent years, encouraging them to break the law. It’s shameful that fishermen now have to pay for an expensive lawsuit in order to get a federal agency to live up to its commitments and promises.

The Friends of the Sea Otters has also contacted the Interior Department and suggested that other fisheries also threaten sea otters: lobster and crab, live fish, sea urchins and abalone. Eben the lights used by squid boats were identified as threats. Must humans give up all uses of shellfish resources in order to protect otters from oil spills?

Many of the fishermen targeted by AB 2570 have actually participated in efforts to clean up offshore spills, trained by the Fishermen’s Oil Response Team. Some have even received awards for their efforts. Eliminating these fishermen seems shortsighted. Rather than making sea otters safer, it could increase risks should there be additional oil spills.

Friends of the Sea Otter have been blaming fishermen for what appeared to be a decline in the sea otter population. Evidence hasn’t been part of their claims. The otter population was up 1.7 percent last fall and is up 10.5 percent, according to recently published reports.

It appears that Mrs. Yeates  and the Friends will have to find a new scape-goat in their efforts to have sea otters in California declared an “endangered species.”

If we are to have both sea otters and human-use fisheries, we need to strike a balance between preservation of the otters and conservation of shellfish. This only happens if we can trust the environmental community, the government agencies and elected officials.

Steve Rebuck of San Luis Obispo was technical consultant to the “Southern Sea Otter Recovery Team.”

The Marine Life Protection Act was designed to act as conservation tool to protect marine ecosystems.

Instead, it has become a tool for progressive preservationists. Special interest groups, funded by big private corporate foundations have seized on the opportunity to advance the agenda for their ideals.
In a published scientific paper, three things were cited as the main issues for dealing with ecosystems and species management…Human take, Marine Mammal take, Water Quality. The current flavor of the MLPA process has evolved into a bashing of any fishing activities, blaming fishing totally, for any perceived decline.

Are you aware the Blue Ribbon Task Force, that Gov. Schwarzenegger assigned to “fast-track” the MLPA, is of “PRIVATE” peoples? The MLPA implementation is being paid for by private, progressive corporate environmental, NON-governmental foundations. There is a facade of a diplomatic, democratic approach to the decision making process…leading one to believe that the citizens of the state are involved in the process.We are NOT!

It seems the Greenpeace corp. has shown that green is big business…and VERY profitable. Lies, cons and greed…the years of not producing results(and telling lies that they have) are coming full circle. The truth has now become public. Greedy profiteers secrets are now out in the open for all to see.

In this video, Vern Goehring, Representative of the California Fisheries Coalition and Executive Director of the California Sea Urchin Comm., explains very simply to the Dept. of Fish & Game the lack of full oversight in the MLPA implementation. Yet, they do not listen.

This hits the nail right on the head !

The debate over implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 (MLPA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) has become the hot marine resource debate of the year. It seems for the past few years, each year there is a new crisis of one sort or another heaped on commercial and recreational fishermen Meeting after meeting after meeting must be attended, all over the state. And even thought the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) knows what days they allow fishermen to fish, meetings always seem to be scheduled for those few work days. It’s amazing how often this happens.

Each year, new laws are imposed, yet, time isn’t given to see how they work, before the next new law is introduced.

The State of California has approximately 90 marine parks, reserves, preserves, etc. Most have been around for decades. At Pismo Beach, for example, we have had an Invertebrate Reserve since 1977 and a Pismo Clam Preserve since 1985. DFG established these next to areas open to clam fishing to measure human use versus sea otter predation. Locals and DFG know the results: sea otters have eliminated most legal clams in both areas. While this result remains a subject of debate, DFG has published these findings by several scientists.

In the rush to impose even more restrictions on commercial and recreational fishermen, DFG, environmentalists, politicians and others seem to ignore two even larger impacts on coastal fish: pollution and marine mammals.

Commercial fisherman Tom Capen raised these issues with DFG marine biologist, John Ugoretz in Morro Bay July 17th. Mr. Ugoretz responded by explaining that DFG had no jurisdiction over water quality (pollution) and that marine mammals were protected by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and so DFG had no authority there either. No, but what they can do is regulate fishermen.

To me, restricting sewage disposal, dog and pet waste, urban run-off, etc. would do far more to protect the nearshore marine environment. My marine reserve would run along the coast for miles and extend inland, not out to sea.

As for marine mammals, one species, California sea lions are now thought to be above historic numbers. There are probably more California sea lions now than 500 years ago. The lack of mainland predators– grizzly bears and wolves– has allowed sea lions to occupy habitat not formerly used. And, there are five other species of seals and sea lions common to California.

In 1995, DFG estimated the California sea lion population at 186,000 and consumption at 500,000 tons (1.billion lbs.) annually of squid, salmon, anchovy, rockfish and flatfish. Commercial fishing for these species in 1995 totaled 281.million pounds or 28% of California sea lion consumption. Yet, the MLPA does not address marine mammals, it only targets humans use fisheries when it can be demonstrated humans take less than some marine mammals.

If these laws are truly to address suspected declines in fish stocks, they must be holistic, meaning they address all sources of fish mortality. Unfortunately, the current examples of good intentions and wishful thinking by politicians will predictably continue to fail, just like the Pismo clam preserve failed.

How much money is spent on California and US waterways that could be spent on say…helping out of work Americans?
Did you know that Sea Otters,(that are NOT endangered), just got a $ 25,000,000 bill approved for MORE studies. Right now, we are forcing litigation to stop the lie about Sea Otters. Sea Otters NEVER were endangered! They were listed under “threatened,” the threat coming from the possibility of an oil spill that could threaten their habitat. They were NEVER in any danger of becoming scarce.
THIS IS A MYTH!!!
Sea Otters are doing too well in fact. They have passed the required number of animals allowed to have a sustainable food supply. It is a DOCUMENTED FACT that Sea Otters are starving themselves, due to OVERPOPULATION!!! Just like the Wolves in Yellowstone Park. The US Fish and Wildlife Service still created a new law to allow more Otters…Why? It is a documented FACT that Otters have eaten ALL of the abalone,scallops,clams that are in their “Otter Range.”

The Big Green Machines poster child isn’t the harmless fuzzy little creature they want you to believe, and the truth and the proof of this is now available to the public.

Well the good news is..the White House Office of Science and Technology has announced the new policy to make available the scientific research funded by the Fed. This would mean that you and I could go on the internet and read scientific research results, then watch the peer reviews of this research. This would prompt the private research community to the obligatory transparency required to meet the needs of data to determine any decisions being made in the MLPA process. Full disclosure?…Transparency? Well, maybe.

The bad news is…the back door of the White House is busy with the traffic of Obamas “special appointees” to widen the control of the federal government. Obama has set up EVERY drop of water in this country to be under federal jurisdiction. Do you know how many different entities of government, state and federal, that control the same drop of water? Redundant is an understatement!!!

This is a typical far left Democratic agenda of taking away control from states and building federal control.
There is already too many redundant controls. Occams Razor would apply well right now!!!

I am getting so fed up with hearing people use this statement. The worst on record don’t mean squat!!! The majority of “human record” only goes back a couple of human generations. What is that in geological terms?…not even a blink of an eye.
Mr. envoro…your alarm clock is broken! Or is that just the bells going off in your empty skull! We as a people need to step back and look at history for a moment. What has been the controlling factor of mankind “on record?”…FEAR! Man has spent his existence with the instinct of survival. This is what has kept us alive. Today, we live in a relatively safe environment. Most people can walk around without the fear of something jumping out of the bushes and eating them. However, the instinct is still there. So, some genius comes along and figures that peoples fear can make him money(not a new idea). Remember, one who doesn’t learn from history is doomed to repeat it.
Here is the fact!…science is proof through trial and error. To take a hypothesis and act upon it with repeated experiments to remove doubt and incorporate variables. Todays corporate environmentalist funded science is using pretend experiments. Todays tainted “pay for science” has created it’s own form of science…”JUNK SCIENCE.”
Look at what they are actually saying to you…Be scared for your lives people, the sky is falling, only they can help you, just give them all the money and power and you’ll be saved.
Don’t be fooled by the charlatans, this is just more of the same ‘ol same ‘ol.

Here she goes! As if Jane Lubchenco, the administrator for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,doesn’t already have enough to do (having only three months to establish a comprehensive plan for all US waters)… told the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that evidence that has come to light since 2004 shows carbon dioxide pollution makes the oceans more acidic as they absorb the gas.
“Carbon dioxide is a plant food, not a pollutant;” says Ian Plimer,professor at the University of Adelaide.
“Human activity only produces three percent of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions each year. Early earth had 1,000 times more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than now…through five ice ages, yet there was no run away greenhouse effect, tipping points or acid ocean. Even if we burned all the fossil fuels on Earth, the atmospheric carbon-dioxide content would not double.” Pilmer goes on to say that “dissolving CO2 in ocean water has not created acidity. The constant chemical reactions between ocean water and sediments and rocks(limestone), on the sea floor have kept the ocean alkaline. When we run out of rocks, then the ocean might become acidic.”
Jane, your just another tool in the workshop of the out of control, money hungry, hypocritical, “Big Green Propaganda Machine.” You are part of the problem, not the solution.
Stop the lies!!!

Laguna Beach city council members admit…They are ignorant and don’t know the facts. “I haven’t seen any of the science,” says Elisabeth Pearson. She goes on to explain…” I don’t know that we are over fished I don’t know that we need replenishment.” Yet, without knowing the facts, the city has endorsed the six mile closure in Laguna. In a recent article, the council members have heard testimony on issues like water quality(pollution), and sustainability. Yet Ms. Pearson expresses disgust at sport divers actions, like the take of Garibaldi. This is directly due to lack of educating the public.
There is a bigger issue in this closure than a couple of Garibaldi. It is the FACT that North Laguna has become an “Urchin Barren.” Nobody seems to be aware of this except a couple of us Commercial Urchin Divers.
Watch this video…this is from a sport diver,who unknowingly, filmed Shaws Coves’ Urchin Barren. See it for yourself.

I just can’t leave this one alone!!! This is straight out of the Science Daily one of the best examples of “junk science propaganda” on the internet. Do they really think you are that stupid? Maybe we should hire these guys to find Osama Bin Ladden!!!

“Scientists matched the park service data to data provided by SeaWiFs, a satellite monitoring project that photographs and analyzes ocean color for information about ocean life.
“Organic coastal run-off — from fertilizers and sewage overflow — increases the amount of organic material in the near shore ocean. According to the study, differences in the amount of organic material do not have much effect on the delicate food chain of the kelp forest ecosystem. However removal of the fish at the top of the food chain has a profound effect.” Kelp forests are so sensitive,” said Halpern. “If you remove some of the predators, then you can have an effect on the entire kelp forest ecosystem.”
He explained that until now studies of kelp forests looked at either overfishing or increased nutrients. This is the first study to put both variables together to see which is more important.”
Watch this video…it’s from 200 yards in front of UCSB campus, where this story comes from…