State commission severely restricts fishing south of HMB

The California Fish and Game Commisssion plans to ban or severely limit fishing in 18 percent of California’s oceans from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara, reports the Mercury News in an extensive report.

The plan ranks as one of the most significant ocean protection measures in the state since Congress established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992, which banned offshore oil drilling from San Francisco to Hearst Castle in San Simeon.
The five-member commission considered four options, each with complex maps and rules, drawn during the past two years amid public meetings and scientific studies.

The option supported by fishermen would have put 5 percent of central coast waters off-limits to commercial and recreational fishing. The environmentalists’ plan went furthest, setting 13 percent off-limits. In the middle, a plan drawn up by a blue-ribbon task force appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would have placed 10 percent off-limits. And the state Department of Fish and Game staff recommended putting 8 percent off-limits. New fishing limits were put in place in an additional 6 percent to 10 percent under each plan.

The final plan was a compromise between the blue ribbon option and the Fish and Game staff version.

A University of California-Davis researcher estimated each option would cost commercial fishermen about $1 million a year.