The ocean preserves of California gets a protection plan on Friday for creating a statewide system of connected ocean preserves. This would restrict fishing and other human activities, by either limiting or banning them as been adopted by the wildlife regulators.
This first such statewide effort in the country was intended to establish a network of underwater refuges. This plan was unanimously approved by members of the California Fish and Game Commission.
In the first phase of the plan, the waters along a 200-mile stretch of the coast are set aside, which includes tidal areas fanning out three miles from the shore. This is expected to help protect marine habitat between Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, and Half Moon Bay, about 25 miles south of here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council has addressed the approved plan as a ‘balanced compromise using high quality science.’ But, the commercial fishermen have something different to say. According to them, the plan goes a step further than restricting their industry.
Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations said,
Just protecting part of the ocean won’t work. We can’t just restrict fishermen. We need to address pollution and acidification of the oceans.
Hope this plan, once successful, will relief both marine life and the concerned environmentalists and conservationists of the over exploitation of the resources. But, it does not seem to be a easy or a short-term job – as it involves not just restrictions but finding alternatives at the same time to avoid disruption of the state related economy and livelihood.