Thursday, December 2, 2010

Santa Barbara MPA's

 
The Future of Our Ocean Depends on YOU!
 
Please Attend December 15th Meeting in Santa Barbara to Adopt Marine Protected Areas

With your help, history will be made on December 15th in Santa Barbara, when we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to safeguard Southern California's oceans for future generations by adopting a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along our coast. After more than two years and hundreds of hours of stakeholder negotiations, public testimony and agency input, the CA Fish and Game Commission will hold its final public hearing in Santa Barbara to consider and vote on what small sections off the Southern California coast (from Point Conception to the Mexican border) will be established as MPAs. The package of MPAs most likely to be adopted by the Commission, the "Integrated Preferred Alternative" (IPA) proposal, is a compromise between conservation and fishing interests. However, despite the fact that this proposal would set aside only a fraction of the ocean for protection while leaving nearly 85% open to fishing (including the vast majority of popular fishing spots), vocal opponents are still calling for less protection and even attempting to undermine the process entirely. For this reason, it is absolutely critical that we have an overwhelming showing of public support for MPAs at the December 15th hearing. Channelkeeper encourages our community to attend the meeting and voice support for the Commission's adoption of the IPA as the bare minimum level of protection for our invaluable ocean and coast. Please RSVP here to let us know that you plan to attend this historic meeting on behalf of our marine life and so that we can share more meeting details as they become available (e.g. meeting time, etc.)

The Details:
Fish and Game Commission MPA Adoption Hearing
December 15, 2010
Hotel Mar Monte
1111 East Cabrillo Blvd.
Santa Barbara

Please email or call us at 805.563.3377 ext 2 with any questions or for more meeting details.

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