MLPA article in "Terrain" magazine -

[NoyoJim]

Read the full article here:
http://ecologycenter.org/terrain/iss...9/sea-combers/


Some environmental groups have lauded this effort as inclusive and effective. Kaitilin Gaffney, Central Coast program manager for the Ocean Conservancy, has been following the process for five years and believes it is one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation in California. She feels that the process has been more than fair: “I would say the MLPA is clearly the most participatory and inclusive process that I’ve ever participated in.”

Yet some local stakeholders who use the ocean as a subsistence food source and were not selected for a decision- making position feel steamrolled. Jim Martin, the West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, who has been involved with various MLPA plans for ten years, feels that the process wasn’t as inclusive as it’s been made out to be: “That is complete BS. It’s open in the sense that there are a lot of meetings to go to and a lot of things to read and speakers to listen to. But when it comes to public comment, you get one minute.”

Both sides of the dispute care deeply about conserving Northern California’s ocean ecosystems, but they disagree about the best way to achieve that goal. For Gaffney, the act offers an opportunity for the complete preservation of some areas, promoting research and hopefully spurring the resurgence of some key marine species. Yet local stakeholders like Martin, Knowles, and John Lewallen—one of the first seaweed wild-crafting enthusiasts on the West Coast, who started his Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company in 1980—feel that the act fails to address one of the most pressing threats to the marine life—water pollution—and disregards the importance of the ocean to the local food supply. “Our job is to tell the truth to the environmental movement, because I think they have lost sight that humans are part of the ecosystem,” says Lewallen. “We should strive for stewardship and sustainable harvesting.”

[zimo]

Thanks for the article Jim, good read.
This part of the article says it for me:

For Mendocino natives, the most pressing concern is local control: Many feel deep resentment over the privately funded process, believing corporate money is pushing the process through in an aggressive and single-minded manner. “We are Californians,” says Lewallen. “We want a clean ecosystem and a sustainable source of food and instead it’s moving towards industrialization and gentrification of the coast… The MLPA has us fighting each other. It couldn’t be set up by the people. It couldn’t be set up by the state. It’s corporate!”

The seaweed harvesters are particularly concerned that the MPA system may give the illusion of complete ocean conservation, but through its selective protection of marine life will undermine local calls for the stewardship of the entire Mendocino Coast. The area has remained pristine, they say, because local stakeholders have invested in the ocean and have fought for decades to keep industry and oil interests out. They want to know who will carry on the battle if the small