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Fishing Deal Protects Habitat: Fishermen Took an Active Role in Drawing No-Trawl Zones Off Central Coast, Making Them ?As Painless As Possible'

Posted on: Saturday, 17 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By David Sneed, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Jun. 17--Nearly 6,000 square miles of essential fish habitat off the Central Coast have been placed off-limits to trawl fishing, thanks to an unusual cooperative effort involving regulators, fishermen and environmentalists.

The deal protects sensitive fish habitat from Big Sur to Point Conception over an area larger than Connecticut, while allowing continued fishing in other, less critical areas.

The new federal regulations took effect Monday and are part of a larger fishing conservation plan that creates 130,000 square miles of no-trawl zones along the West Coast that prohibit fishermen from dragging large nets along the ocean floor.

While the no-trawl zones along other areas of the Pacific were mandated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the ones off the Central Coast were the result of an agreement between various agencies and groups with a stake in healthy oceans.

"This is unique to the Central Coast," said Steve Copps, a senior policy analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "We tried to close areas that would protect groundfish but not take too big a bite from the local economy."

Coral beds, underwater mountains and undersea canyons are vital areas for fish but are also vulnerable to disturbance. These areas, including the Davidson Seamount and the East Santa Lucia Bank, are now protected from bottom trawling.

This fishing method's use has been restricted in recent years because of the environmental damage it can cause.

Trawl nets can scoop up large amounts of marine life that the fisherman is not intending to catch, and it can damage rocky areas as it moves along the ocean floor.

"With some species of deep-sea coral, one whack can cause damage that can take a couple of hundred years to recover," Copps said.

The deal also leaves open some of the Central Coast's productive fishing grounds, allowing trawl fishermen to continue to catch many of the area's popular seafood items.

These include Dover and Petrale sole, sablefish and various rockfish species. Rockfish is often labeled as Pacific red snapper in markets and restaurants.

Fishing in areas where no-trawl zones have voluntarily been established also gives fishermen the opportunity to market their catch as "ocean friendly" seafood and charge premium prices.

Unlikely group

Fishermen and environmentalists have traditionally been at loggerheads over fishing regulations. Most recently the two groups clashed over plans by the state to establish a string of no-fishing zones along the Central Coast.

But the trawling deal was struck by an unlikely group of fishermen, environmentalists and harbor masters that calls itself the Fishing Heritage Group.

Members include several commercial fishing associations, harbor masters from Port San Luis to Half Moon Bay, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Center for the Future of Oceans and the environmental groups Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy.

The goal of the group is to protect the ocean's limited resources while continuing to provide Central Coast residents with popular seafood and sustaining the area's historic fishing fleet and picturesque fishing villages.

"The Fishing Heritage Group has proven to be a good model that is solution-based with specific goals and has positive energy flow," said Jay Elder, harbor manager for Port San Luis.

Fishermen got involved in the process because they wanted to have a say in which areas were set off-limits to them. Working cooperatively prevented the federal government or environmental groups from arbitrarily drawing lines on a map to create no-trawl zones, said Morro Bay commercial fisherman Jeremiah O'Brien.

"This is painful to the fishing industry, but we can live with it," he said. "We knew this was inevitable, but working together we made it as painless as possible."

Environmentalists are also pleased with the outcome. Federal regulators are much more likely to accept no-trawl zones that resulted from a cooperative process.

"The consensus plan that emerged is based on good science, good conservation values and good faith," said Rod Fujita, a marine ecologist with Environmental Defense.

Regulators relieved

For their part, federal regulators are relieved that the Central Coast no-trawl zones will be relatively noncontroversial. Controversial resource plans often generate lawsuits.

"To see environmental groups thinking about ways to spend their money other than suing us is a good thing," Copps noted.

Although fishing here has fallen on hard times in recent years, the ocean off the Central Coast is among the most productive in the world, Elder said. It is one of just four places on Earth where consistent onshore winds cause nutrient-rich waters to well up from the ocean depths.

Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

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