Aliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries
P O Box 1309, Carmel Valley, CA 93924 (831) 659-2838

August 26, 2004

Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, USN (ret.)
Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere
Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Admiral Lautenbacher,

We are writing to you to tell you of a resolution passed by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, and of the reason that our organization brought this issue to the Board.

On August 3, 2004, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, who are five elected officials representing different districts within Monterey County, voted to send the following language contained in a resolution to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary:

“NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Monterey County Board of Supervisors does:
1. Reaffirm the original promise made to the fishing industry that the Sanctuary would not take an active role in fisheries management and regulation”

The entire resolution and staff report is attached for your review. Prior to this action, the same request was heard by Monterey County’s Overall Economic Development Commission, who also voted twelve to one to endorse this resolution and requested that the Board of Supervisors pass it. Ultimately, the resolution was passed by the Board unanimously.

Extensive testimony was heard on this issue, both to the Supervisors privately and in public.

Support by the Board of Supervisors for this resolution is indicative of the widespread understanding in our region that fishermen were promised, in exchange for their support for the Sanctuary designation, that the Program would not become a regulatory agency over them. Further, it is also well understood that the Sanctuary would not have come into existence had it not been for the support of the fishing community.

In relating this information to you, we want to also renew our commitment to work constructively with the Sanctuary Program on issues that affect the protection, conservation, and sustainable use of Sanctuary resources. However, this should not occur in the context of a threat of regulation by the Sanctuary Program. It could well be that the outcome of the constructive dialog which we are trying to maintain with the Sanctuary Program, the conservation community, and other stakeholders on these issues, will result in recommendations which the fishing community will actively support to the state and federal fishery management agencies. At the same time, what we cannot accept would be a scenario in which Sanctuary officials demand of the fishery management agencies regulations which have not been supported by the fishing community. Also unacceptable to us would be for the MBNMS to try to change Sanctuary Designation Documents to utilize the authority of the National Marine Sanctuary Act to directly create fishing regulations, again without the support of the organized fishing community.

With support of local elected officials, as indicated by the Board of Supervisors, to keep the promise made to us, we hope that Senior Sanctuary Staff will understand the history of this promise and the fact that community leaders expect the National Marine Sanctuary Program to operate with integrity in maintaining it.

We would look forward to discussing this issue with you directly, should you travel to the West Coast. Thank you for considering our interests.

Sincerely,

Mike Ricketts, Co-Chair, ACSF

Kathy Fosmark, Co-Chair, ACS

CONTINUED