Saving fish with parks in Pacific

In a second measure, called the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), a broad mosaic of no-fishing zones along the coast is being proposed, all overseen by Department of Fish and Game.

Already, the department oversees ocean areas out to three miles from land, about 3,000 square miles.

The newly proposed areas - still on the drawing boards - might restrict or ban fishing in 15 to 20 percent of these state waters spread over 41 preserves. Working proposals have been made with the input of scientific experts from up and down the state, but are not yet finalized.

The MLPA has become so controversial that additional time has been legislated to draw public comment for another 18 months. The problem, for both fishermen and consumers: the short term prospects of fewer fish.

"We feel the state has talked only to scientists who have spent limited time on the ocean," says Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations. "The reaction from recreational and commercial fishermen as well as divers is not unexpected: They've gone ballistic at seeing some of their prime areas closed off."

Other groups are banding together to propose alternatives.

"This is the largest thing to affect marine sport fishing ever in California," says Tom Raftican, president of United Anglers of Southern California, who anticipates a possible constitutional challenge to the MLPA.

His group proposes a host of other measures, including season closures, bag and slot limits (restrictions on the number and size of catchable fish) and rolling closures. "The reserves they are proposing will be the largest in the world, but they haven't done the science that assures any improvement in the fisheries. This is our concern."

Partly because of reactions such as this, Assemblyman Shelley helped win passage of A.B. 1673 which allows for a one-year postponement of the proposed preserve sites for MLPA.

While these and other players gather to pursue alternatives, many academics are entering the fray as well, trying to raise public consciousness about what's at stake.

"The most important thing for the public to realize is that all of these resources belong to the society as a whole - all of America, not just California," says Paul Dayton, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "They are just like everything in the national forests, parks and wilderness areas. Those things don't belong to farmers and ranchers and miners, and these fish don't belong exclusively to fishermen or anyone else either."

Out on the water, Warden Chris Graff has another concern, even when the amount and placement of such reserves is decided. In a word enforcement.

"This is a huge portion of ocean to patrol," says Graff, whose San Pedro based crew is charged with patrolling the southernmost 200 miles of California coast - with a secondary duty to patrol federal waters out to a distance of 200 miles.

His crews have recently been engaged to help the coastguard handling terrorist threats in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy. "Enforcing these two, new measures are only a small percentage of the larger task we have," he says.

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