In a Sharp Turn to the Right, Senate GOP Seeks to Undo Bipartisan Marine Protection Law

by Lloyd Levine

There are few things in the Legislature that Democrats and Republicans have been able to agree on in recent years. One of them was the Marine Life Protection Act, a law that attracted broad bipartisan support when it passed and was signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis, and continues to draw the strong backing of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The MLPA, as it is known, would set up marine protected areas in small sections rich in marine life along California’s coast. Several years of involvement by stakeholder groups — ranging from local anglers to business leaders to environmental groups — have led to a series of compromises on protected locations that will boost local economies and allow fisheries to recover. Similar popular underwater protected areas have operated in other states and nations for years, helping ocean resources recover.

But now the MLPA is under attack from foreign fishing gear interests that are pouring millions into an effort to unravel it. First, the so-called “Partnership for Sustainable Oceans” www.somethingsfishyaboutpso.com has launched an aggressive propaganda campaign against it. The Fish & Game Commission, so far, hasn’t fallen for their deception.

So now Shimano Corporation and other special interests (who are also fighting national and international ocean protection laws) are stepping up their battle in the legislative and judicial branches.

They’ve enlisted the new Senate Republican Leader, Bob Dutton. Dutton has a lifetime pro-environment rating of five percent from the bipartisan California League of Conservation Voters — one of the worst in the LegislatURE. And despite the fact that the MLPA is a model of public/private partnership funding, Dutton is seeking to gut funding for the initiative in this year’s budget.

In a letter to the Fish and Game Commission last week, Dutton wrote:

“Given California’s long-standing budget crisis where we face difficult cuts to health and safety programs, please justify for me why the Department should continue with implementation of the MLPA,” concluded Dutton. “As the Legislature is required to pass a balanced state budget by June 15, 2010 please provide your response to me by June 1, 2010.”

Never mind that Dutton is the leading proponent of those cuts to health and safety he references. He completely ignores the funding mechanism that has allowed the law to move forward in tough economic times. Cutting the initiative would be foolhardy. It would cost local economies jobs, taxes, and hurt small businesses particularly hard.

That’s why the law has long enjoyed Republican (as well as Democratic) support. Hopefully, like most of Dutton’s other attacks on California’s natural resources, this one will be ignored by his colleagues as well. The Marine Life Protection Act has strong support from Budget Conference Committee members Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) who have vowed to work hard to protect this assault on California’s oceans by foreign special interests.

 

In a Sharp Turn to the Right, Senate GOP Seeks to Undo Bipartisan Marine Protection Law

by Lloyd Levine

There are few things in the Legislature that Democrats and Republicans have been able to agree on in recent years. One of them was the Marine Life Protection Act, a law that attracted broad bipartisan support when it passed and was signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis, and continues to draw the strong backing of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The MLPA, as it is known, would set up marine protected areas in small sections rich in marine life along California’s coast. Several years of involvement by stakeholder groups — ranging from local anglers to business leaders to environmental groups — have led to a series of compromises on protected locations that will boost local economies and allow fisheries to recover. Similar popular underwater protected areas have operated in other states and nations for years, helping ocean resources recover.

But now the MLPA is under attack from foreign fishing gear interests that are pouring millions into an effort to unravel it. First, the so-called “Partnership for Sustainable Oceans” www.somethingsfishyaboutpso.com has launched an aggressive propaganda campaign against it. The Fish & Game Commission, so far, hasn’t fallen for their deception.

So now Shimano Corporation and other special interests (who are also fighting national and international ocean protection laws) are stepping up their battle in the legislative and judicial branches.

They’ve enlisted the new Senate Republican Leader, Bob Dutton. Dutton has a lifetime pro-environment rating of five percent from the bipartisan California League of Conservation Voters — one of the worst in the LegislatURE. And despite the fact that the MLPA is a model of public/private partnership funding, Dutton is seeking to gut funding for the initiative in this year’s budget.

In a letter to the Fish and Game Commission last week, Dutton wrote:

“Given California’s long-standing budget crisis where we face difficult cuts to health and safety programs, please justify for me why the Department should continue with implementation of the MLPA,” concluded Dutton. “As the Legislature is required to pass a balanced state budget by June 15, 2010 please provide your response to me by June 1, 2010.”

Never mind that Dutton is the leading proponent of those cuts to health and safety he references. He completely ignores the funding mechanism that has allowed the law to move forward in tough economic times. Cutting the initiative would be foolhardy. It would cost local economies jobs, taxes, and hurt small businesses particularly hard.

That’s why the law has long enjoyed Republican (as well as Democratic) support. Hopefully, like most of Dutton’s other attacks on California’s natural resources, this one will be ignored by his colleagues as well. The Marine Life Protection Act has strong support from Budget Conference Committee members Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) who have vowed to work hard to protect this assault on California’s oceans by foreign special interests.