Wild Indigenous Healthcare

Politics of Subsistence Gathering California's North Coast Region

2009-12-18T17:18:00.001-08:00

Community Digital Democracy Portal On The Albion River

Always appreciate having a good story as a lead in.
"Locals, Students, Navigate Choppy Seas of MLPAi"

http://www.topix.com/city/fort-bragg-ca/2009/12/locals-students-navigate-choppy-seas-of-mlpai

by Frank Hartzell 12/11/2009
Staff writer for the Fort Bragg Advocate News and Mendocino Beacon

http://www.topix.com/city/fort-bragg-ca

"Even the most critical of participants have become overwhelmed by both the huge amount of process data coming out and the lack of scientific data by which they must make decisions in very short order."

"One group that has separated itself from a process they don't trust are Albion residents, represented at the meeting by Mike Carpenter, who said their website is up at albionharbor.org."

Yes, please visit us at

http://albionharbor.org

We've tried to organize useful info and recently experiences on the Central Coast, North Central Coast, and the South Coast - see the easily accessible information and links to sources of data from both sides of the situation.

The story of Albion River Campgrounds and commercial dock, and the Albion Harbor Regional Alliance involvement in the Marine Life Protection Act initiative is too big to tell in Frank Hartzell's almost 40 articles on the MLPA initiative. Albion residents have been involved in the process officially for every iteration over the course of 10 years. Strong community ties and social networking capabilities have been the hallmark of Albion's involvement in any issue.

Current AHRA members have worked together wearing many hats under many slogans and organizations for many community projects, not just fishing - but included here are the California Fisheries Coalition, Recreational Fishing Alliance, Salmon Restoration Association and the North Coast Fishermen’s Association not to mention members holding commercial and or recreational fishing licenses in every open fishery.

This summer/fall heated up with the "Take A Stand" concert, also known as Mike Carpenter's Awareness Concert when over 500 people came to learn about the MLPA initiative and enjoy a Wild Food and Seafood Tasting Event. AHRA members were part of the Seaweed Stewardship Alliance and Kashia Tribe (Seaweed Rebellion) that halted the MLPAi process back in Oct 2008 for 4 months. Oh yes, watch the Oct 2nd 2008 video. Stewards Point and Point Arena Sea Lion Cove were eventually closed to Seaweed and Abalone gathering August 5th, 2009.

http://www.cal-span.org/cgi-bin/media.pl?folder=CFG

Members of AHRA are listed members of MOCA and some are RSG nominees. We have been before the Board of Supervisors along with MOCA and the CFC in November. We currently are receiving support and encouragement from Point Arena to Noyo from recreational, commercial, and subsistence sectors including tour operators. We are all in this together. Since the beginning, that has been AHRAs' claim along with a goal to work with MOCA and groups in Humboldt and Del Norte, as stated by myself, Mike Carpenter, Terry Nieves. We get plenty of thank you kudos for our site, the many brochures throughout the summer, and our continuing efforts are gaining momentum.

Before MOCA had it's name, it's vision statement, it's funding apparatus, AHRA had direction and experience. It is a real pleasure to work with the many people in MOCA that I have known through the years. Bill Heil and Linda Perkins, Mayor Doug Hammerstrom and Linda Ruffing, new folks I have met like some of the fishers. It's a small community. We are lucky to have some astute process oriented people in the crowd like Dr Jeanine Pfeifer, and Jim Martin. Also many thanks are due Dave Wright who has great area connections, a mild disposition (useful as group facilitator), tech skills, and in the beginning was the first to invite the Mendocino Ocean Community Alliance to do outreach to local businesses with an educational daylong event.

Critics or not of the process, every fishing coalition, family angler, diver, coastal community and marina or harbor district maritime related businesses in the previous 3 "study regions" are already suffering economic impacts from recent implementation protocols. And everyone reluctantly, participated in being processed.

The only thing we at AHRA have separated ourselves from is the "green money". Yeah, those green collar jobs, backed by payroll science as policy, employing locals and closing cultural place based social structures and local food movements. Fishermen were some of the first against "offshore oil" attested to by an early "NO OIL" sticker found in David Gurney's archives.

We have been busy, we don't stop. Crabbers and Urchin divers are losing money every day they don't work to attend meetings of the external array working group, the MOCA meetings, the BRTF meetings, the SAT meetings, the DFG Commission meetings.

Just the Draft North Coast profile document is almost 170 pages. It must be read, adjusted by comments, corrected, and augmented by the RSG, SAT, BRTF, etc..., all a massive undertaking.

And then there are the Goals and Objectives of the Master Plan Framework. More data to be adjusted for the North Coast region. But the science isn't available. We been asking for it, along with Wes Chesbro for a year. This reality of the grounds for this complaint continues to overshadow the transparency of the process. Cause it ain't. We're just trying to survive it.

Just the process itself keeps fishers out of the water and ought to be considered as an "adaptive management tool and temporal MPA".

The Albion Flats Cafe at the Albion River Campground is our Community Digital Democracy Portal (CDDP) thanks to Bruce Campbell. Albion River Campground is the home of the "Take A Stand Concert".

http://www.albionrivercampground.com/index.html

Science Politics and Salmon: A YouTube Video from Salmon Water Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc5LC3HGWgE&fmt=18

Tomas DiFiore

http://www.albionharbor.org

Inconvenient As Truth And An Unfortunate Misconception!

2009-11-09T05:09:00.000-08:00

Inconvenient As Truth And An Unfortunate Misconception!
Not possible to “buy the bottom” of the publicly owned oceans!

This is an unfortunate misconception. There are significant submerged lands available for lease and ownership in the USA says Mark Carr of the North Coast MLPA Science Advisory Team.

Mark Carr (University of California, Santa Cruz, Long Marine Lab Santa Cruz) - is listed third in the 102709 MLPAI Press Release CONTACT: Annie Reisewitz, MLPA Science Advisory Team Members Announced for North Coast - issued by (subsequently, immediately, and within days) ex-California Department of Fish and Game Director Donald Koch.

CONSERVATION LEASING AND OWNERSHIP OF MARINE RIGHTS: LEASING KELP BEDS TO EXAMINE THE NURSERY ROLE OF MACROCYSTIS CANOPY

Beck, Mike, Mark Carr, and KENDRA KARR. The Nature Conservancy, Santa Cruz, CA, USA (MB), University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA (MC, KK), karr@biology.ucsc.edu

It has been assumed that strategies for marine conservation must be substantially different than those for terrestrial conservation, in part because it is not possible to “buy the bottom” of the publicly owned oceans. This is an unfortunate misconception. There are significant submerged lands available for lease and ownership in the USA.

The Nature Conservancy is exploring the leasing and ownership of submerged lands as a tool for marine conservation for a diverse array of ecosystems. To examine some of the benefits, considerations and strategies of this tool in California, the Nature Conservancy has received approval to lease over 1700 acres of kelp forests within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. These beds will be monitored over 3 years to assess the biodiversity supported by the kelp canopy, and the potential impacts of canopy removal on diversity. After the initial sampling season, surveys have demonstrated a significant decrease in the numbers of settled and newly settling juvenile rockfish and invertebrates after experimental kelp canopy removal in comparison to areas of intact kelp canopy. It is our hope that the study of kelp beds as nurseries for juvenile rockfish and invertebrates may illuminate some of the key factors that control the diversity of these nearshore species and suggest best management practices.

From the:
CONSERVATION WITHOUT BORDERS SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 20th ANNUAL MEETING June 2006 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/FGC/1/d12/5/s15400

CAL. FGC. CODE § 15400 : California Code - Section 15400
(a)Except as prohibited by Section 15007, the commission may lease state water bottoms or the water column to any person for aquaculture, including, but not limited to, marine finfish aquaculture.

A person shall not engage in marine finfish aquaculture in ocean waters within the jurisdiction of the state without a lease from the commission.

(3)To reduce adverse effects on global ocean ecosystems, the use of fish meal and fish oil shall be minimized. Where feasible, alternatives to fish meal and fish oil, or fish meal and fish oil made from seafood harvesting byproducts, shall be utilized, taking into account factors that include, but need not be limited to, the nutritional needs of the fish being raised and the availability of alternative ingredients.

(5)Before issuance of the lease, the lessee shall provide baseline benthic habitat and community assessments of the proposed lease site to the applicable regional water quality control board or the State Water Resources Control Board, and shall monitor the benthic habitat and community during the operation of the lease in a manner determined by the regional board or the State Water Resources Control Board.

Half Of The Fish Consumed Globally Is Now Raised On Farms;
'Aquaculture Is Set To Reach A Landmark'
Underwatertimes.com News Service September 7, 2009

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=14379106852

In the early 1990s, vegetarian fish farms began adding small amounts of fishmeal in their feed to increase yields. However, between 1995 and 2007, farmers actually reduced the share of fishmeal in carp diets by 50 percent and in tilapia diets by nearly two-thirds, according to the PNAS report. Nevertheless, in 2007, tilapia and carp farms together consumed more than 12 million metric tons of fishmeal, more than 1.5 times the amount used by shrimp and salmon farms combined.

"Our assumption about farmed tilapia and carp being environmentally friendly turns out to be wrong in aggregate, because the sheer volume is driving up the demand." On the policy front, Naylor pointed to California's Sustainable Oceans Act and the proposed National Offshore Aquaculture Act, which call for reductions in the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds. "You won't prevent the collapse of anchoveta, sardine and other wild fisheries unless those fisheries are carefully regulated."

Fish oil is the main source of lipid in salmonid diet. Marine fish oils are, in general, excellent sources of long chain n-3 PUFA (EPA & DHA), fatty acids required by salmonid. Other types of oils and fats can be used in salmonid diets. Vegetable (canola, soya, safflower, etc.) oils and animal fats (tallow, lard, poultry fat) can also be used at certain levels in feeds without effect on growth performance and health of the fish.

http://fishnutrition.uoguelph.ca/feedint.html

Which opens the discussion of GMO canola and soya! See my article:
Fishing Down The Food Web to Reduction Fisheries:
The MLPA Initiative Entropy Coefficient

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/27/18626856.php

Tomas DiFiore
Seaweed Rebellion North Coast MLPA Resources

http://www.astral-arts.com/resources.html

Seaweed Rebellion Resources

2009-11-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Seaweed Rebellion Resources 2009-2010

California North Coast Seaweed Rebel Resources:
Requires knowledge in how to use a depth finder!

http://www.astral-arts.com/resources.html

Inconvenient as Truth: MAXXAM's Blue Legacy

2009-10-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Inconvenient as Truth: MAXXAM's Blue Legacy

Two decades ago, the master plan framework of MAXXAM cultural despots Dr. John Mick "ENRON" Seidl, and Chancellor Barry Munitz (President & CEO, and VP; resp) led to an era of hostile takeovers and golden parachutes. Methods employed included: subsidiaries owning mother companies to buffer liabilties, bankruptcy, the looting of the Redwood forests and workers pension funds of NW California, corporate inappropriateness in the art and culture scene of LA at the Getty (2006), and finally 2 coats of Big Greenwash.

Indifference to Indigenous Culture and Subsistence Lifestyles has gone through the green governor certified program and is as carbon neutral as protected areas and eco-tourism.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626155.php

Cultural Capital is the exchange rate, generated along with Natural Capital use. It's the board game of our lives, but the rules are theirs.

Look for cultural Memes and Linguistics as Planning Aides;

in the California Coast Makeover Licensing and Privatization Act.

In the Court of the Crimson King:

Seidl, Munitz, Sen Barry Keene, Gov Gray Davis, BofA Lew Coleman, The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Packard Foundation, NRDC, the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, The Global Borderless Giving Philanthropy Forums, Costa Rica (Eco-Tourism capital of the world), The Nature Conservancy, the Getty Trust, The Western States Petroleum Association, the BRTF....

The Review Process by Truncated Purview: Zero Sum Game Theory

"It is important to understand that the charge of the peer review entity is not to authenticate the data presented to them, but to evaluate the scientific methodology employed and the facial plausibility of the conclusions that can be drawn therefrom. More importantly, the peer review entity is not expected to approve, disapprove, or comment on the wisdom of those conclusions."

"Inadequacy of Socioeconomic Analysis, nothing in the MLPA imposes an affirmative duty to generate socioeconomic data ... the MLPA authorizes the establishment of a Master Plan team of scientists, one of which “may” have expertise in socioeconomics [subsection 2855(b)(3)(A)]."

"The preferred siting alternative must incorporate information and views provided by people who live in the area and other interested parties, including economic information [subsection 2857(a)]. Here, the term “economic information” relates back to “information” so we
reasonably interpret this to mean that it is the “people who live in the area and other interested parties” that provide the economic information."

From the Central Coast MLPA Initiative Final Statement of Regulatory Reasons for Regulatory Action Hearings and Regulatory Compliance, & Kelp Harvest Allowances Date of Final Statement of Reasons: May 14, 2007

Last Month,

The State AG office "informal opinion" of 092509 regarding MPA design, eloquently leaves out any discussion of access to oil and LNG reserves (under State lands, waters) from outside the 3 nm demarcation of State controlled waters. New technologies such as slant drilling techniques and budget drilling by voter initiatives, unless fully understood, will cause a backlash of divisive alliances among coast residents.

Here in Mendocino County we face an attempt by Measure A to privative politics and zoning by mis-information campaigns, and then the vote. How many thick high gloss lies can you buy? In Ventura County, residents and local government face the same re-zoning challenges, but by Venoco Oil to slant drill from shore to an oilfield under State Waters. This is similar to the earlier proposed Tranquillon Ridge project - slant drilling by PXP from a platform in Federal Waters to an oilfield off Vandenberg Air Force Base in northern Santa Barbara County.

Project Paredon, Santa Barbara Independent, "Carpinteria voters to decide fate of oil project", July 30, 2009. A Carpinteria Oil Drilling Initiative may appear on the June 8, 2010 ballot in the City of Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County, ....

Any subsequent reviews by public agencies in offshore resource extraction, are often truncated by legal constraints on agency purview. The State Lands Commission is likely the main bureaucratic hurdle to any drilling project.

From the (U.S. Department of Energy) "Fields under wetlands or cities can be accessed without disruption of the surface. Accessing reserves in environmentally sensitive areas: In some areas, drilling is restricted for environmental reasons or because a rig cannot be set up on the proposed pad site. This often occurs when the targeted formation is under a building, below a shallow lake, or in a protected wildlife habitat. In cases where a vertical well cannot be used, horizontal drilling can access the targeted reservoir while leaving the surface habitat undisturbed."

But there is no "Take" of Protected Species as a Result of Exposure to Oil.

The National Marine Fisheries Service issues no-jeopardy Biological Opinions that contain the following language “NMFS does not include an incidental take statement for the incidental take of listed species due to oil exposure. Incidental take, as defined at 50 CFR 402.02, refers only to takings that result from an otherwise lawful activity. The Clean Water Act (33 USC 1251, et seq.), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 USC 2701 et seq.), prohibits discharges of harmful quantities of oil, as defined at 40 CFR 110.3, into the waters of the United States. Therefore, even though this biological opinion has the effects on listed species by oil spills that may result from the proposed action, those takings that would result from an unlawful activity (i.e., oil spills) have no protective coverage under section 7 (o)(2) of the Endangered Species Act.”

Locally in Fort Bragg, Frank Hartzell's interview with Melissa Henson re: interpretation of an informal opinion, and Federal Jurisdictions, Consistency laws and 21st Century Ocean Planning ... well I thought it could use some enlightened conversation, and a little less "Enlightened Management".

1)The original MOU has changed considerably by amendment at the discretion of the Secretary of Resources, Mike Chrisman.
2)The previous study regions are mostly in open revolt.
3)The master plan for MPAs recommends that MPAs be re-assessed approximately every five years, but no particular action is authorized.
4)"The chair of the BRTF oversees the work of the executive director of the MLPA Initiative" which means Oil Interests are in charge.
5)"some of the MLPA Blue Ribbon task Farce (BRTF) members continued from the previous study region and" one went on to be a DFG Commissioner who cast the 3rd vote out of 5 for the BRTF IPA on 080509, and Sea Lion cove near Point Arena was closed. Like the revolving doors and rubber stamp policy of the commission that Cindy Gustafson once alluded to, before she stepped down as F&G Commission Chairperson.

Perhaps Jane Blue-chenko. the Blue Whale, in death pains our awakening outrage at the "inherent relationships between MLPA-I network design aspects and ecosystem response ... and effectiveness in protecting the state's marine life... and educational and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems that are subject to “minimal human disturbance."

Frank Hartzell's last question to Melissa Henson went like this: "President Obama's Ocean zoning process, which is said to contemplate federal MLPAs, are the consultants of the MLPAI planning to work with the feds to connect MLPAs beyond imaginary lines? Who is in charge of that with MLPAI?

Go I-Team!

"The MLPA Initiative planning process extends only to California's state waters, three nautical miles off the coast. The MLPA does not grant authority to manage uses in federal waters (3 to 200 miles)."

Well duh!

There are Federal MPA's, there are State MPA's, these are Marine Protected Areas. The MLPA is an Act, a State law. The MLPA-I is a business partnership between the State and several Private Billion Dollar Corporations ... Mussolini described it as Fascism.

Fisheries Fascism is a term that evolved this last summer to describe the net impact of the MLPA-I process to coastal communities relying on commercial and recreational fishing, family anglers, subsistence ocean food gatherers, Indigenous ancestral food gathering ways supporting culture and ceremony; and has been given the Green Renaissance Award in the category of “Cultural Genocide”.

Overall, the interview(ee) never offers an acceptable answer. Integrated Marine Spatial Planning is the term Frank sought. Vicki Spruill President of The Ocean Conservancy since 2006 and SeaWeb before that, is out there collecting money for TOC, and selling the MLPA-I off California's Coast to the nation and Obama as recently as July 19th, and August 17 2009 as i-MSP when it's not. All we are getting is Eco-system Based Management, no different than FERC, or MMS siting an Oil lease, or a WAVE Energy lease without an integrated view of current (and planned) regional and local ocean uses. Spatial landscape dynamics and impacts used to be included in the Cumulative Impacts Assessment. But that could be argued. One difference between i-MSP and EBM is the human component, (socio-economic impacts, cultural uses) of an area, the relationship to resources.... One drawback to i-MSP, is the process takes a lot longer. There are others.

Back to this corporate web we weave.
PEW funded the NRDC startup project SeaWeb, it is a COMPASS Partner, and COMPASS is funded by the Packard Foundation.

Seafood Choices Alliance is a program of SeaWeb. The Seafood Summit 2010 is in Paris. Seafood Choices Keynote Speaker is Susan Ashcraft, Senior Marine Biologist and Supervisor of Marine Protected Areas, California Department of Fish and Game
http://www.seafoodchoices.org/seafoodsummit.php

"Interesting discussions explored the sustainability of open ocean aquaculture, fisheries management, international trade and catch shares." Not Good...

Anyways read Morgan Gopnick's report on Integrated Marine Spatial Planning in US Waters: "The Path Forward" by Morgan Gopnik for the Marine Conservation Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (October 2008).

"Creative state and local efforts that involve elements of spatial planning but fall short of true i-MSP such as the MLPA process in California,..."

Eco-tourism is coming and the MLPA Initiative is part of it. Eco-tourism has increasingly become articulated with environmental policies, in particular the creation of protected areas. Such policies have privileged those environments that are of interest to the eco-tourism industry. They have also served to restrict competing forms of resource use. Local populations in particular have seen their access to natural resources diminished. And Cultural Assets? Everything is for sale, price not negotiable, but payment is.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626155.php

California Department of Fish and Game Master Plan for Marine Protected Areas July 21, 2006 p85 Task force recommendations related to appropriate sources of funds: "A state statute should be pursued establishing an occupancy tax on lodging in coastal areas, which is a reasonable way to capture benefits from enhanced marine life to fund implementation of the MLPA.”

Tomas DiFiore

Seaweed Rebellion Brain Food Resources: Requires knowledge of how to use a depth finder.
http://www.astral-arts.com/resources.html

Eco-Tourism Is Coming And The MLPA Is Part Of It

2009-10-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Eco-tourism is coming and the MLPA is part of it.

Eco-tourism has increasingly become articulated with environmental policies, in particular the creation of protected areas. Such policies have privileged those environments that are of interest to the eco-tourism industry. They have also served to restrict competing forms of resource use. Local populations in particular have seen their access to natural resources diminished. And Cultural Assets? Everything is for sale, price not negotiable, but payment is.

Enhanced Wildlife, Biodiversity, Eco-tourism, and Development. Born in its current form in the late 1980s, Eco-tourism came of age in 2002, when the United Nations celebrated the "International Year of Eco-tourism". The tourism industry defines it as being "environmentally responsible travel to relatively undisturbed areas, to enjoy and appreciate nature and accompanying cultural features and to become aware of the need for preserving natural capital and cultural capital.

Along with a locally allowable low impact, affordability, and careful waste planning, Eco-tourism must satisfy several criteria, such as conservation (and justification for conservation) of biological diversity and cultural diversity, through ecosystems protection. Promotion of sustainable use of biodiversity, by providing jobs to local populations. Sharing of socio-economical benefits with local communities and indigenous people by having their informed consent and participation in management of eco-tourism business. Increase of environmental & cultural knowledge. Though just the knowledge, and not the culture.

“Eco-tourism should not be driven by commerce or it will self-destruct. Stakeholders have to realize that eco-tourists are normally educated and pro-conservation." The Stevenswood Lodge, near Van Dam on the Mendocino Coast usually has a fairly good eco-conscious blog, and they promote eco-tourism locally.

Though contrary to MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force discussions, and the MLPA-I Master Plan Framework, tourism revenue generated at a particular area should be directed towards the maintenance and conservation of the local area’s natural assets. What we face under the MLPA-I is top down crown taxation of locally generated revenues to support the continuation of the MLPA-I process. Remember, these are billion dollar private foundations and the controlling interest in this MLPA-I process. But:

Another component of the MLPA-I Master Plan Framework is environmental education, and is only the means to accomplish the objective: the development of eco-tourism. Anyone who is a subsistence or commercial fisher or ocean food harvester, and gets cut out, like we did at Sea Lion Cove in Point Arena, CA, or the Kashia Tribe at Stewards Point, I suppose could go to college and come back and be a museum docent, maybe even a cultural capital prop (CCP).

That's it! Prop Culture!

Ecotourism functions as a clear catalyst of change, in the sense that it incorporates new environments into market economies. It entails a commodification and symbolic reshaping of a variety of localized natural characteristics, in order to extract use or exchange value from them. In the process, the quality of environments can deteriorate through the construction of tourism infrastructure and over-exploitation of attractions. Still, eco-tourism has the pretension of contributing to the preservation of pristine landscapes or fragile ecosystems, in other words to secure environmental continuity. The marketing strategy of the eco-tourism sector evolves precisely around this pretension. Simultaneously, it is also a basic necessity of eco-tourism that the environments it exploits remain unchanged, in order to preserve the direct resource base on which it depends and to secure long term profitability of investments. As a result of this paradox, eco-tourism has often come hand in hand with new environmental legislation, the establishment of protected areas or the regulation of access to natural resources through environmental management plans. Such interventions are aimed at mitigating the environmental impacts of tourism. However, in practice they also serve to restrict competing forms of natural resource use that might deteriorate them.

Not all is sunshine in eco-tourism paradise. Stakeholder interest conflicts between local and external user groups evolve around the development of eco-tourism and the use of the natural environment.

Listen to Kashia Tribal Chairman Lester Pinola's comments on the MLPA-I at the Commission Hearing 080509, wherein the tribe faces loss of traditional access and areas due to closures under the Big Green supported BRTF proposed IPA, and subsequent vote of the Commission. (less than 2 min 400kb mp3)

http://www.astral-arts.com/audiomovie/openthecoast.mp3

The Big Green environmental movement is also vested with power in other ways than its alliance with the affluent eco-tourism sector. Sharing this power base, makes the tourism sector a serious threat to any economically strapped local political body. It (the Big Big Green environmental movement) is backed by formal interventions, national and international per region of involvement.

Quite a fascinating look at what the MLPA-I proposes, and what it closes (culturally).

Nature as "Staged Authenticity"

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-71832003000200010

We may have a different situation on the North Coast of California. But in Costa Rica, where the Nature Conservancy sent Dr. John "Mick" Seidl, immediately after leaving MAXXAM and Pacific Lumber as CEO and President presiding over the clearcut of localized natural and cultural capital assets, eco-tourism can have a fantasy script.

"The Quichua people allow eco-tourists to stay in traditional bamboo lodges and use candles at
night so that the tourists may enjoy the "real" life of the tropical rain forest. The native people, however, live in concrete block, tin-slate houses, lit up by home electric generators."

To enjoy an eco-tour is to engage in a process of cultural production. The "production" of culture is not necessarily homogeneous. The production of culture in eco-tourism has strong connections to consumption. Society and history constrain culture. These constraints also limit the numbers of alternative ways of life, aiding cultural hegemony.

And now we come to the California Coast Makeover Licensing and Privatization Act or MLPA. Look for cultural Memes & Linguistics as Planning Aides.

From the Central Coast MLPA Initiative Final Statement of Regulatory Reasons for Regulatory Action: Excerpts in full, FOCUS: Regulatory Backdrop, Responses to interesting comments, Hearings and Regulatory Compliance, & Kelp Harvest Allowances
Date of Final Statement of Reasons: May 14, 2007

It is important to understand that the charge of the peer review entity is not to authenticate the data presented to them, but to evaluate the scientific methodology employed and the facial plausibility of the conclusions that can be drawn therefrom. More importantly, the peer review entity is not expected to approve, disapprove, or comment on the wisdom of those conclusions.

Inadequacy of Socioeconomic Analysis:

Socioeconomic information is fatally deficient. However, nothing in the MLPA imposes an affirmative duty to generate socioeconomic data beyond that which is required by other applicable laws, such as the Administrative Procedure Act or, to the extent a socioeconomic change induces significant adverse environmental impacts, the California Environmental Quality Act. The MLPA authorizes the establishment of a Master Plan team of scientists, one of which “may” have expertise in socioeconomics [subsection 2855(b)(3)(A)].

The preferred siting alternative must incorporate information and views provided by people who live in the area and other interested parties, including economic information [subsection 2857(a)]. Here, the term “economic information” relates back to “information” so we reasonably interpret this to mean that it is the “people who live in the area and other interested parties” that provide the economic information. Conversely, neither the five MLPA Program elements in subsection 2853(c), nor the eleven Master Plan components in subection 2856(a)(2), address socioeconomics. Socioeconomics, then, is only one factor to consider in the development of a siting alternative [subsections 2855(c)(2), 2857(a)], which still must be consistent with the ecosystem-based goals and elements (Section 2853) and sound scientific guidelines [subsection 2857(c)] of the MLPA. Consistent with CEQA Guidelines [14 C.C.R. subsection 15131(a)].

Like Bill Heil, Albion mill worker use to say, "It's all bull shit" Actually he used to sing it, on the front lines.

And the State AG office "informal opinion" of 092509 regarding MPA design, eloquently leaves out any discussion of access to oil and LNG reserves from outside the 3 nm demarcation of State controlled waters. New technologies such as slant drilling techniques and budget drilling by voter initiatives, unless fully understood, will cause a backlash of divisive alliances.

We here in Mendocino County face an attempt by Measure A to privative politics and zoning by mis-information campaigns, and then the vote. How many lies can you buy? In Ventura County, residents and local government face the same re-zoning challenges, by Venoco Oil to slant drill from shore. Any subsequent reviews by public agencies in offshore resource extraction, are often truncated by legal constraints on purview. The State Lands Commission is likely the main bureaucratic hurdle to any drilling project.

Of course, Eco Tourists use an amazing amount of oil to travel.

Directional and Horizontal Drilling

Horizontal drilling now accounts for 5 to 8 percent of active onshore wells in the U.S., and seems to be increasing every year. The ability of horizontal drilling to reach and extract petroleum from formations that are not accessible with vertical drilling has made it an invaluable technology. Horizontal drilling allows for an increase in the recoverable petroleum in a given formation, and even increases the production in fields previously thought of as marginal or mature. Horizontal drilling also allows for more economical drilling, and less impact on environmentally sensitive areas. In fact, in some areas in which drilling is not allowed for environmental reasons, it is possible to drill horizontal wells to the targeted deposit without harming the environment above.

There are three main types of horizontal wells; short-radius, medium-radius, and long-radius. Short-radius wells typically have a curvature radius of 20 to 45 feet, being the 'sharpest turning' of the three types. These wells, which can be easily dug outwards from a previously drilled vertical well, are ideal for increasing the recovery of natural gas or oil from an already developed well. They can also be used to drill non-conventional formations, including coalbed methane and tight sand reservoirs.

Long-radius wells typically have a curvature radius of 1,000 to 4,500 feet, and can extend a great distance horizontally. These wells are typically used to reach deposits offshore, where it is economical to drill outwards (from shore or from platforms in federal waters) from a single platform to reach reservoirs inaccessible with vertical drilling.

To give an idea of the effectiveness of horizontal drilling, the U.S. Department of Energy

indicates that using horizontal drilling can lead to an increase in reserves in place by 2% of the original oil in place. The production ratio for horizontal wells versus vertical wells is 3.2 to 1, while the cost ratio of horizontal versus vertical wells is only 2 to 1. In carbonate formations, where 90 percent of horizontal drilling is done, productivity of horizontal wells is almost 400 percent higher than vertical wells, while they cost only 80 percent more!

http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction_directional.asp

Fields under wetlands or cities can be accessed without disruption of the surface" (U.S. Department of Energy)

Accessing reserves in environmentally sensitive areas: In some areas, drilling is restricted for environmental reasons or because a rig cannot be set up on the proposed pad site. This often occurs when the targeted formation is under a building, below a shallow lake, or in a protected wildlife habitat. In cases where a vertical well cannot be used, horizontal drilling can access the targeted reservoir while leaving the surface habitat undisturbed.

Directional Drilling - also called Horizontal, Deviated, or Slant Drilling - is the process of drilling an indirect path to a reservoir that cannot be reached directly beneath the drilling site. http://www.enermaxinc.com/directional-drilling/

Project Paredon, Santa Barbara Independent, "Carpinteria voters to decide fate of oil project", July 30, 2009.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Carpinteria_Oil_Drilling_Initiative,_2009

A Carpinteria Oil Drilling Initiative may appear on the June 8, 2010 ballot in the City of Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County, depending on the results of a lawsuit. The initiative is also known as the Paredon Initiative and the Carpinteria Community Initiative.

The drilling rig would allow extended-reach, or slant, drilling, which would allow access to oil and natural gas in the Santa Barbara Channel without building an offshore platform. Efforts by the City of Carpinteria to keep the measure off the ballot have cost the city more than $180,000.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Carpinteria_Oil_Drilling_Initiative,_2009

We are dismayed and astounded that the Venoco Oil Company is now trying to convince Carpinteria voters through a so-called “initiative” and great promises of money that it should be above the law and be able to bypass the City’s public review process for its proposed Paredon oil drilling project. They want to rewrite our local planning policies. http://www.carpinteriabluffs.org/wp/?page_id=23

Venoco, which maintains its West Coast headquarters in Carpinteria, has filed papers for a Carpinteria ballot initiative for its Paredon project, which would use an onshore rig to tap an
estimated 20 million barrels of offshore reserves on one of the firm’s leases over about 15 years. The initiative would bypass the Carpinteria City Council and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to put the project in line for approval from the State Lands Commission.

http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=647&Itemid=1

We support the City of Carpinteria’s current legal challenge to this clever but illegal attempt to bypass our local planning process. But the Motion to Stay was not supported by the Judge. Judge Thomas P. Anderle did not agree completely. He ruled that the initiative did improperly take some of the city’s police powers but that Venoco could recirculate a revised petition for a new initiative later this fall, unless the city appeals the decision.

http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1014&Itemid=31

Pacific Coast Business Times Monday, 03 August 2009

A Santa Barbara County judge has invalidated a part of Venoco’s ballot initiative to approve slant drilling a site in Carpinteria into a lease offshore.

And back to the AG opinion on protections and use within designated MPA's:

“Take” of Protected Species as a Result of Exposure to Oil. The National Marine Fisheries Service issues no-jeopardy Biological Opinions that contain the following language “NMFS does not include an incidental take statement for the incidental take of listed species due to oil exposure. Incidental take, as defined at 50 CFR 402.02, refers only to takings that result from an otherwise lawful activity. The Clean Water Act (33 USC 1251, et seq.), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 USC 2701 et seq.), prohibits discharges of harmful quantities of oil, as defined at 40 CFR 110.3, into the waters of the United States. Therefore, even though this biological opinion has the effects on listed species by oil spills that may result from the proposed action, those takings that would result from an unlawful activity (i.e., oil spills) have no protective coverage under section 7 (o)(2) of the Endangered Species Act.”

It's all bs.

Tomas DiFiore

Seaweed Rebellion

Astral Arts Mendocino

Commercial, Subsistence Seaweed Harvester

JOIN THE SEAWEED REBELLION – OIL EXTRACTION IS NOT AN OPTION

2009-09-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

September 1st Update/Response to
Frank Hartzell's article on the Marine Life Protection Act and Offshore Oil concerns on the North Coast from the Mendocino Beacon 082709

Please note: Richard Charter is quoted here: "The rumors and diversions asserting that the oil companies are somehow lurking behind marine protection, which is another silly conspiracy theory that has been tried by these same outside interests, are so counter-intuitive and imaginary as to lack any real credibility."

First from Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance; Mr. Charter is correct, the oil lobby is not "lurking behind" anything - they are right out in front making the key decisions.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff for the Western States Petroleum Association was appointed to chair the Blue Ribbon Task Force of the Marine Life Protection Act by California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman on August 11th, 2009.

Mr. Charter is incorrect to state that "designating even very limited areas in state waters as marine protected areas under the state Marine Life Protection Act would clearly serve us as a strong deterrent to any consideration of offshore oil drilling farther out in federal waters."

South of Richard Charter's own political neighborhood, the North Central Coast, off Santa Barbara is the Tranquillon Ridge Project. T Ridge is an interesting study in compromise solutions and lies. The more recent drill-by-ballot initiative in the City of Carpinteria by Venoco Oil, has cost the city nearly $200,000.00 dollars.

The Tranquillon Ridge project garnered 25 supporting groups in 2008 (most of them bailing by the time of the first State Lands Commission vote in January 2009).

Defenders of Wildlife, although they never signed on, also NEVER SPOKE AGAINST the deal until they signed on as one of (35 and then) 63 Environmental groups, opposing the plan. Arnold made it easy for the groups to save face by circumventing Legislative Policy and trying to use the Budget Bill, it was, common sense really.

The Tranquillon Ridge plan was given the heave-ho not once but twice by the State Lands Commission in January 2009 and June 2009, but by only a 2-1 vote.

AB 23 was quickly opposed by 63 state environmental groups, including the California League of Conservation Voters, which lobbied legislators from the bill’s inception.

Even officials with the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara – the group which brokered the unusual deal with Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP) – say they can no longer support the plan. David Landecker, the center's executive director, defended the arrangement with PXP, but said the EDC could not support the governor's attempts to legislatively override the authority of the State Lands Commission using the Budget to affect policy change.

But the original T Ridge agreement, combined with the budget crisis, prompted a 21-18 approval of the proposal (AB23) in the state Senate. It won support from Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg and San Diego Senator Denise Ducheny.

Although the California Assembly defeated the bill, AB 23, that would allow oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara with a 43-30 vote, drilling advocates assert “the proposal will be back.”
http://www.sacbee.com/288/story/2075513.html

And currently:
August 13, 2009
Tranquillon Re-tapped By Ben Preston

"Less than a year after the California State Lands Commission denied a proposal by Plains Exploration Company (PXP) to extend an offshore oil lease located at Tranquillon Ridge?a rich oil deposit located beneath the ocean’s floor near Point Conception, a new proposal by Sunrise/ExxonMobil to slant drill from Vandenberg Air Force Base was discussed in an informational session at the State Lands Commission hearing in Long Beach on Tuesday afternoon."

Just a year and half ago:
April 10 2008 Environmental Groups Announce Landmark Agreement to Limit Oil Development and Protect Lands in Santa Barbara County.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., The Environmental Defense Center (EDC), Get Oil Out! (GOO!), and Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara (CPA) announced today that they have signed an historic and unprecedented agreement....

January 26 2009 EDC Coalition Asks State Lands Commission to Help End Offshore Drilling - EDC cites broad environmental support in backing of Tranquillon Ridge project.
By Betsy Weber

The Environmental Defense Center on Monday called on the State Lands Commission to join a coalition of more than 25 local, state and national environmental organizations in supporting an agreement to effectively end all oil production off of northern Santa Barbara County in exchange for allowing slant drilling into state waters from one existing platform until 2022.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS URGE CALIFORNIA STATE LANDS COMMISSION TO SUPPORT DEAL TO END OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING... the dream

For Immediate Release January 27, 2009
Dear Chairman Garamendi and Commissioners:

We, the undersigned environmental groups, hereby express our support for the proposed Tranquillon Ridge project, modified through an agreement forged with some environmental groups. This agreement guarantees a definite end to certain offshore oil and gas production that would not otherwise be required.

The end date for the Tranquillon Ridge project will be enforceable by multiple agencies and private parties. For example, the agreement with the environmental parties can be enforced though a court action if necessary. In addition, the County of Santa Barbara has already added the end date in its Final Development Plan for the project, and can enforce this condition.
The agreement also requires PXP to include the end date in its applications for the Santa Barbara County APCD Permits to Operate, California Coastal Commission coastal development permits and the State Lands Commission leases. As such, each of these entities would be able to enforce the end date.

Of the 25 groups supporting this wet dream, a few of these surprised me!

Kaitilin Gaffney, Pacific Ecosystem Protection Project Director The Ocean Conservancy

Zeke Grader, Executive Director Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations

Steve Shimek, Executive Director The Otter Project

Linda Krop, Chief Counsel Environmental Defense Center "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to put an end to oil drilling off the coast of California"

Abraham Powell, President Get Oil Out!

Scott Bull, Chair Surfrider Foundation, Santa Barbara Chapter

Paul Jenkin Surfrider Foundation, Ventura Campaign Coordinator

The agreement came about following a proposal by PXP to expand its existing production from Platform Irene (located in federal waters), currently being sent to the Lompoc Oil and Gas Plant (LOGP) via both off and on shore pipelines. PXP's proposed expansion involves slant drilling from Platform Irene into the Tranquillon Ridge Field located in state tidelands between PXP's existing federal lease and the shore. PXP is already "draining" the Tranquillon Ridge Field with its existing wells, but permission to drill further into that field will allow PXP to more efficiently extract the oil.

The groups initially opposed PXP's proposed project because it would have significantly expanded the life of existing facilities, resulting in additional risks and impacts. A similar proposal to develop the Tranquillon Ridge Field, by Nuevo Energy Company, was opposed by environmental groups (same reasons) and denied (2002) by the County of Santa Barbara.
In an attempt to obtain support from the environmental groups, PXP offered to shut down its entire operation (both existing and new development) in 2022, when the existing Pt. Pedernales Project is slated, but not required, to end. PXP has also agreed that the 2022 end date will apply to its existing Lompoc Onshore Oil Fields and has committed to terminate its Gaviota Coast operations, i.e., the Pt. Arguello Project, comprised of Platforms Hidalgo, Harvest and Hermosa, and the Gaviota processing site, by 2017.

Finally, the environmental groups and PXP partnered with The Trust for Public Land to convey about 3,900 acres of PXP land to TPL for public protection. The bulk of the donated land, 3,700 acres, is located near Lompoc, adjacent to the Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve.

Included in this donation are lands currently used for onshore oil production and the 800-acre Purisima Hills site that was recently proposed for residential development. As part of the deal, PXP will withdraw its application for this project. Up to 200 more acres of land is located along the Gaviota coast.

"Preserving thousands of acres in the Lompoc uplands for permanent protection is the icing on the cake," said Steve Dunn, President of CPA, a group that not only opposed the original Tranquillon Ridge proposal, but also the Purisima Hills development project.

"Through this agreement, we will guarantee an end to oil development from four separate projects, significantly reduce greenhouse gases and preserve important lands for future generations," he concluded.

Department of Finance officials said the governor’s plan included these elements:
– A budget trailer bill that would allow the Director of Finance to “reconsider” an offshore deal that conformed with legislative language defining six specific circumstances which apply only to the PXP deal; the most important is that oil and gas are draining into state waters at the site, and Tranquillon is the only project that meets that criteria.
– A process by which the Department of Finance would hold a public hearing in Santa Barbara, the Coastal Commission would also have hearings, and federal Minerals Management Service would review the deal in a manner that officials said would be “fully transparent.” The State Lands Commission would not get another opportunity to vote on it, although finance department officials would consult with staff about its environmental concerns.
– A provision to sunset in January 2011 the legislation giving special authority to the Director of Finance to review offshore projects that meet special conditions.
– Sheehy said. “This project has tremendous environmental benefits for California, and we can’t turn a blind eye to the financial benefits.”

But Susan Jordan, a longtime advocate for coastal protection, who broke with her longtime allies at EDC and opposed the PXP deal back in January, was not persuaded. “They’re giving special treatment to this project,” she said. “The most important issue is, they’re not following existing legal process and (they’re) taking away existing legal protections” that govern offshore projects.

The State Lands Commission, made up of the lieutenant governor, the state controller and the director of the Department of Finance, has authority over mineral leases in state tidelands areas, which extend three miles offshore. That authority once rested with the finance director, but lawmakers established the commission in 1938 in the wake of a scandal over the finance director’s too-cozy relationship with the Standard Oil Co.

70 years later :
Chief Deputy Finance Director Thomas Sheehy: “It’s time to look for win-win opportunities.”
Replied Controller John Chiang: “I’m concerned we may be one win short of a win-win.
There is tremendous uncertainty as to the environmental benefits.” Sheehy advised the commission that it was created by statute and its authority can be taken away by a vote of the Legislature. “That power can be altered, changed, truncated or terminated at any time.”

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jun/01/lands-commission-urges-rejection-of-offshore/

http://www.noozhawk.com/news_releases/article/0127_state_lands_commission

This sweetheart deal for one oil company was negotiated behind closed doors, without any legislative hearings to allow public comment.

Arnold wants more oil money and there's a better way. He could resurrect a plan he introduced last year calling for a 9.9% tax on crude oil extracted in the state. California is the only state in the union that doesn't collect such an extraction tax, and Arnold estimated in November that it would bring in roughly $1.2 billion in the next fiscal year, dwarfing the $100 million that would be generated by the Plains Exploration project. (LAT 6/8/09)

In 1980, the US enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act (P.L. 96-223) as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices. The Act was intended to recoup the revenue earned by oil producers as a result of the sharp increase in oil prices brought about by the OPEC oil embargo. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Act's title was a misnomer. "Despite its name, the crude oil windfall profit tax... was not a tax on profits. It was an excise tax ... imposed on the difference between the market price of oil, which was technically referred to as the removal price, and a statutory 1979 base price that was adjusted quarterly for inflation and state severance taxes."

On August 23, 1988, amid low oil prices, the tax was repealed when President Ronald Reagan signed P.L. 100-418, The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988

JOIN THE SEAWEED REBELLION: OIL EXTRACTION IS NOT AN OPTION

ORCA - Ocean Resources Care and Awareness
Astral Arts Mendocino
Tomas DiFiore

Marine Life Protection Act: Closes Coastal Waters Access

2009-08-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

08/27/09

Seaweed Rebellion: Fucus News

Point Arena Sea Lion Cove Closures to Seaweed Harvesting, Diving, Fishing August 5th, 2009

RDARS 2009 Report: Revolving Doors and Rubber Stamp Commission a Farce, a Blue Ribbon Task Farce

First a Big Big Thank you is due the State Lands Commission which in May of this year denied the Governor’s Plan to Drill off Santa Barbara Coast The state panel voted 2-0 to reject a request to overturn its January decision of same. While the Tranquillon Ridge PXP Project was touted as bringing Oil Interests and Enviros and the Santa Barbara Community together, the Enviros finally bailed at the 11th hour. It just wasn't true.

And the old retired guard of GOO!, the 1969 “Get Oil Out” Santa Barbara Group which formed after the 1969 Spill, never supported the compromise.

http://www.getoilout.org/retro.html

http://www.thedailysound.com/012809Oil

http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/060109_lands_commission_denies_governors_plan/

PXP's plan involved slant drilling from Platform Irene on OCS-P 441 in federal waters to access oil in Californian state waters.

This unique project, which 'had' a broad range of support, allowed Plains Exploration & Production (PXP), to access offshore oil and gas in state waters from an existing platform in federal waters four miles off the Santa Barbara County coast. Arnold's intent was to balance the budget on the back of our coasts...and all Santa Barbara County residents.

Risks to the coast in federal waters (OCS) are only magnified in the state coastal sanctuary, which includes Santa Barbara beaches and tidepools.

"And Lt. Governor Garamendi is absolutely correct: we allow our coasts to be bought in Santa Barbara, then the three areas now slated for new federal leases under review by Interior Secretary Salazar, Santa Maria, Oceanside-Capistrano, and Point Arena Basins, will have their business plan written for them by Environmental Defense Center."

Wild Heritage Planners

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/may/14/tranquillon-ridge-project-returns/

The MLPA-I is the Back Door to Oil (Onshore Facilities) on the North Coast

http://www.astral-arts.com/oilthebackdoor.html

Riding on the torrent of oil interests and waterfront real estate development, a river of turbidity and commotion engineered by the obvious railroad job that the MLPA-Initiative has become, the Blue Ribbon Task Farce (BRTF) continues on it's own understanding (of the ever changing MOU) with the State, or maybe it is just with Mike Chrisman the Resources Secretary!

Creation of a BRTF was initially stipulated in a 2004 memorandum of understanding (MOU) to which the California Resources Agency, DFG, and Resources Legacy Fund Foundation were parties. The MOU created a public-private partnership, known as the MLPA Initiative, to help the state implement the MLPA. One element of the initiative was a pilot project along the central coast (Pigeon Point, San Mateo County to Point Conception, Santa Barbara County).

A second MOU was signed in December 2006 for the purpose of continuing the public-private partnership, including a task force, in the north central coast (Alder Creek in Mendocino County to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County),

And an amendment to the second MOU continues the partnership through the south coast study region (Point Conception to the California-Mexico border in San Diego County, including offshore islands), through the north coast study region (California-Oregon border in Del Norte County to Alder Creek) and to begin planning in the San Francisco Bay study region (Golden Gate Bridge to Carquinez Bridge).

Term: Each member of the task force shall serve for the duration of the MLPA South Coast Project, through December 2009, or until relieved of duties. Each member shall serve at the pleasure of the secretary.

The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force October 23-24, 2004 Meeting Summary December 23, 2004 shows:

A BRTF member asked about the involvement of California State Parks in MLPA.

Response: MLPA requires that State Parks have a seat on the science team, and they will be involved in discussions about and designation of marine parks.

And this piece confirms a timeframe.

The Mandate of the Marine Life Protection Act - Ryan Broddrick, Director, California Department of Fish and Game - Summary of main points: MPA networks will be in place statewide by 2011. The science advisory team will be appointed by mid-November. The Department of Fish and Game will seek a broad group of science advisors from across the nation. Six members of the science team will be a sub-team for the central coast. The Science Team will be more than ecological and fishery scientists: social and economic scientists will also be included. One major goal of the initiative is to obtain support from stakeholders. The task force will provide direction on how to gain public involvement.

A BRTF member asked for the decision-making process to be clarified. Response: the BRTF will make recommendations to the Department of Fish and Game, which will exercise independent judgment in determining what to submit to the Fish and Game Commission. The commission ultimately decides on the content of the Master Plan Framework.

The briefing documents, California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative: Conceptual Overview and Charter of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, were summarized for BRTF members.

A BRTF member expressed concern about the short timeline for deadlines. Response: Professional staff will be starting soon and hopefully deadlines will not be moved. The initiative partners want to see the deadlines met.

A BRTF member asked about the relative importance and efficacy of management tools in the chest—MPAs versus traditional fisheries management methods. Response: Fisheries have declined under traditional methods. Unlike traditional methods, MPAs are long-term, more comprehensive, and move beyond single-species management. There is scientific consensus that marine reserves will have strong effects within their boundaries, but how MPAs will affect fisheries is less well known. Therefore, we need to use MPAs in concert with other fisheries management tools.

A BRTF member asked whether the MLPA focuses on more than fisheries management—ecosystem management. Response: the MLPA mandates ecosystem management. Fisheries management now does include a spatial aspect but where fisheries management and MPAs interact is not well understood.

And recently the revolving door between the BRTF and the Fish & Game Commission led to the appointment of Don Benninghoven to the Commission in time for a 3-2 vote (along with Rogers and Sutton) to Ban Indians, Seaweed Harvesters From Traditional Areas in Sonoma and Mendocino County on August 5th 2009. View the Woodland, CA decision hearing at:

http://www.cal-span.org/cgi-bin/media.pl?folder=CFG

On Thursday morning, immediately after the August 5th hearing, Secretary for Natural Resources Mike Chrisman selected Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the CEO for the Western States Petroleum Association to chair the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Farce for the remainder of the MLPA South Project Effective immediately!

Fish & Game Commissioners Dan Richards and Jim Kellogg did not get a chance (080509) to "vote for 2XA". They put forward a motion to suspend the implementation of the regulations until funding is available and studies are completed in the existing reserves in south-central California. This motion failed 3-2. Commissioner Richard Rogers then made a motion to approve the "Preferred Alternative" which passed with Don Benninghoven and Mike Sutton voting "Yea" (and Kellogg and Richards voting "Absolutely Not"). The entire meeting can be viewed at www.slo-span.org (California Fish & Game Commission, August 5th, 2009.)

HEADLINES

August 1, 2009 (Friday) 4 days previous to the 080509 hearing were that California Fish and Game Commission President Cindy Gustafson Resigns:

By Ed Zieralski Union-Tribune Staff Writer

http://californiafisheriescoalition.blogspot.com/2009/08/fish-and-game-commission-president.html

Cindy Gustafson not only was president of the state Fish and Game Commission, but she also was considered a swing vote on a five-member panel that faces some critical votes regarding California's resources and had once before asked “are we just a rubber stamp for the BRTF”.

But by Friday August 1st, quite suddenly, Gustafson resigned her appointed post after being advised to do so by the state Attorney General's office.

The Fort Bragg City Council has authored a letter stating the BRTF may not be a legal requirement under the original law, but if so, then there needs to be local representation.

And so we are left with ominous signs from Implementation of the MLPA - Initiative in Southern California

A good accounting and historical perspective of the MLPA-I process resides across several web-sites. Most are fisheries related, and provide localized view of current resource protections, MLPA-I impacts, the lies and runaway train momentum of the “process”. Northern California is all rough seas so far. Having heard extensive testimony, outrage, and being the 4th region to be processed through area closures, the North Coast is not an easy catch.

California Fisheries Coalition (CFC) MLPA North Coast: Fisherman to Chrisman: Shame On You

http://mlpanorth.blogspot.com/2009/06/fisherman-to-chrisman-shame-on-you.html

June was the month Mendocino County got the wake up call at the Point Arena “Fisheries Reality Tour” CFC June, 2009, the month in review.

http://californiafisheriescoalition.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

Sonoma County Abalone Network

http://www.abalonenetwork.org/

The first lawsuit against the process: Coastside Fishing Club

http://diver.net/bbs/posts001/59769.shtml

American Albacore

http://www.americanalbacore.com/html/californiafisheriescoalition.html

The saga of Munitz and Seidl

http://www.jailhurwitz.com/sevensins.html

Privatization Timespan:

Going Beyond Land & Real Estate Acquisition – Education & Governance Reform

Barry Munitz, Dr John Seidl, Govenor Gray Davis, Ivan Boevsky, MAXXAM, Pacific Lumber, ENRON, Natomas Oil, CellNet, MyHomeKey, Senator Barry Keene, Center For Conflict Resolution (EPA), Nature Conservancy, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, J. P. Getty Trust, Packard Foundation...

How is it that the Captains of Industry – who found every way imaginable to loot not only the Resource of the Commons held in Public Trust, but also the workers pensions and personal savings (IRA) and investments, leaving economic havoc in the wake of their discretion are now the honored Trustees and Chairs of Foundations of Philanthropy?

These very same once-upon-a-time, Corporate Presidents, CEO's, and Vice-Presidents whose lifetime achievements have bankrupted our democratic institutions and then privatized them, these same civic leaders who engineered the failures of Banks and Savings and Loan Institutions, interstate energy schemes and hostile takeovers... have gone on...

FROM LOOTING PACIFIC LUMBER AND THE REDWOODS OF N. CALIFORNIA TO THE ART AND CULTURE LANDSCAPE OF L.A.... WHAT'S NEXT?

The last Public Commons held in Trust? After leaving MAXXAM, Dr John Seidl went to the Nature Conservancy where he learned to spell the word “biodiversity”.

The GLOBAL PHILANTROPHY FORUM in 2001 had as a keynote speaker, Dr JOHN M. “MICK” SEIDL the Chief Environment Program Officer, of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. As head of the newly formed Moore Foundation’s Environmental Program, Dr. Seidl oversaw the Foundation’s efforts to protect biodiversity and intact natural ecosystems across the globe. (Previously - The Nature Conservancy, & then The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation)

The word “Initiative” as used in the MLPA-Initiative is right out of the Funding Program of the Gordon and Betty Moore Moore Foundation funding apparatus. Barry Munitz, after MAXXAM went on to be Chancellor of the CSU System. His corporate inappropriateness finally got him fired from the Getty Trust in L.A. (2006) which led to the first State Attorney General investigation of the Getty, and has focused public discourse and concern toward the unwatched nationwide influence of private foundations and Philanthrophy.

Barry Munitz held Gray Davis' hand as he signed into law the MLPA. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is now a 'private foundation backed Initiative'. The (MLPA-I) is attempting to implement a privatized version of the public law AB993 from 1999.

Like Utah Phillips said to a graduating class of bright young minds: "You are about to be called America's most valuable natural resource. Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources? Have you seen a stripmine, have you seen a clearcut in the forest. They're gonna stripmine your soul, they're gonna clearcut your best thoughts for the sake of profit unless you learn to resist, cause the profit system follows the path of least resistance."

Tomas DiFiore
Seaweed Rebellion
Astral Arts Mendocino

ps: Some history here

http://www.astral-arts.com/dsl/seaweedrebellion_mlpa_ july09.pdf

http://www.astral-arts.com/dsl/maxxam_mlpa_fishunlimited.pdf