Remarks by Kathy Fosmark
Fish and Game Commission
February 2, 2007 

Commissioners, my name is Kathy Fosmark.  I am the co-chair of the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries, a regional fishing association made up of recreational and commercial fishermen, and community representatives from Port San Luis to Half Moon Bay.  Our region generally coincides with the Central Coast Study Region.  Our members have been involved in every aspect of the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act.

I am also a member of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, but I am not representing the Council in my remarks today.

The draft regulations include this statement; “From an economic and social perspective the proposed regulation attempts to minimize potential negative socio-economic impacts and optimize potential positive socio-economic impacts for all users to the extent possible.”  This is fundamentally not true.  The Commission has available to it alternatives meeting all the goals and objectives and science guidelines of the Act, that in fact minimize socio-economic costs and optimize potential benefits.   These alternatives are found in Package #1, while the Preferred Alternative in fact causes enormous economic and social hardship to the commercial and recreational fleets, with very little economic benefits.

This leads to my second point, which is about the economic numbers also found in the proposed regulations.  These figures are off by a wide margin, as direct impacts to commercial fishermen.  For recreational fishermen and community-wide impacts, there is basically no information.  It appears to me that the initiative staff in developing these numbers tried to minimize the economic costs.  The Commission, and the public, has no true idea as to the true cost of this Preferred Alternative.  Again, you have alternatives legally available to you that meet the goals and objectives and science guidelines.  I ask that you pick Package #1 alternatives, as those that you finally adopt.

If in the event you cannot adopt Package #1 in total, I urge you to consider recommendations being made by the City of Morro Bay, that you keep open Portuguese Ledge and Soquel Canyon to Spot Prawn fishing, and that you also agendize opening Soquel Canyon and Portuguese Ledge to crab fishing as well.

Thank you for considering these remarks.