California’s 30 x 30 plan was in serious jeopardy of being hijacked by extreme protectionists. The plan is actually a worldwide movement and is being considered in many of our U.S. states as well, but not like here in the Golden State.
In California, protectionists tried to make it about locking people out of big, new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where people cannot fish from shore or boat for the family table. Heck, you can’t even pick up a seashell.
The rights of recreational anglers are protected in the 30 x 30 process of most states and countries because family and friends fishing together is culturally important and provides the freshest protein of all. Our fish are exceptionally well-managed for sustainability so future generations have plenty of fish.
Californians by the hundreds and thousands reached out to our state representatives and together, with the capable help of Coastal Conservation Association of California (CCA-Cal), we have convinced the state that protecting 30% of ocean waters should be about much better purposes.
We are now talking about protecting our marine ecosystems and biodiversity from the true evils of coastal pollution, urban runoff, sewage spills, and toxic waste. This is where we need to focus our efforts to protect the ocean and is part of what CCA-Cal is trying to do.
The recent good news is the state has now gone on record to assure anglers there will be no new MPAs as part of the 30 × 30 plan.
“There is no separate process to expand existing or create new MPAs to achieve 30 × 30 goals,” according to Jenn Eckerle, executive director of the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), the regulatory agency heading up the coastal portion of the state’s 30×30 plan, which seeks to protect 30 percent of waters and land by the year 2030.
Eckerle made the statement on March 15, 2023, at the California MPA Day in Monterey, California.
Eckerle’s statement is in direct response to CCA CAL’s Stop the Closures campaign, which launched in January to create public awareness of the potential threats to anglers posed by 30 × 30.
“We thank the OPC and Jenn Eckerle for addressing the angling community’s concerns about 30 × 30,” said Wayne Kotow, executive director of CCA Cal. “The OPC’s acknowledgement that fishermen are not the enemy, and that 30×30 will not include more MPAs is clear evidence our voices were heard.”
For myself, I am happy to see the 30 x 30 plan refocus on protections that provide clean and healthy marine ecosystems, which can support broad biodiversity. Our existing protected waters such as Marine Sanctuaries overachieve the 30% goal. We are there and can be proud.
