Marine Sanctuaries

on a foggy morning in aventura harbor the ocean ranger homs infinite the headquarters of the channel islands national park on board the boat is the park's science advisor gary davis davis has worked on the northern channel islands since they became a national park in nineteen eighty he says of failure over the years to recognize the need for a concerted conservation efforts has created a crisis the ocean seems to be seems to be sort of one of the things we've learned in the last four years davis says one place to see the impact people are having on the ocean is the north east end of santa cruz island twenty miles southwest of venture out at a cold called scorpion anchorage for crabs side along a rocky brown pelicans glide inches above the water a few yards offshore they're shiny black eyes of a harbor steel watches inquisitively davis says the steaming abundance of wildlife is deceptive he says over fishing has caused a lot of damage as an example he recalls what happened to the abalone we started by taking the most

vulnerable when they started to deploy and then we shifted to revel in when they decline we went through shallow water and reliable news and very deep and why opponents davis then points to a youth on the giant brown help swaying in the ocean current he says their remnants of what used to be a vast forest of bell number and the abundance of how forests around us about eighty percent of the kelp forest was here nineteen eighties now gone davis says the kelp forest was another victim of overfishing and so what we're seeing is the overgrazing from the small purple urchins were left behind after we took out the things that were most desirable careers davis says el nino storms routinely breakup kelp forests and in a balanced ecosystem they recover in a few years it says because fishermen have harvested many of the animals they compete with and pray on purple urchins the urchins are free to gobble up the remaining help

as kelp forest decline davis says soda many of the more than a thousand species that live in the forest about three hundred and fifty boats and a fish the channel islands national marine sanctuary life and how much of a catch is regulated by state and federal agencies but davis says damage to the islands marine life is proven that's not enough he says it's time to establish so called no tape zones around the island's areas where fishing is forbidden davis says this approach is already working here we have one small reserve the east and a cap on and in that research the kelp forests have been stable stable after the el nino event that worries of the other stories but back up in ventura harbor many local fishermen say there's no need for no take sounds i don't see any stocks right now that we fish they're in any jeopardy whatsoever marty massey is cleaning up a thirty foot boat called the marlin

fans of captivity uses debate cans line the death he insisted any declines in fish or plant life are temporary and related to natural cycles not overfishing three mobsters with any fishery media trends and it's typical of the book that three bats were fissures and i think that their data is so messed up that they don't really realize what what massey says government regulations have already driven some fishermen out of business he and his fellow fishermen scoff at the idea that a bunch of biologists could have a better idea what's going on in the ocean and they did dod needs to massey is re chambers a big guy with the big beard and a kindly manner he's been fishing lobster and crab around the islands for fifteen years chambers says he's bewildered by scientist and environmentalist who want to ban fishing in large portions of the channel islands sanctuary they're afraid of something happen that hasn't happened the last thing we want to have depleted

fisheries are herded anyway if we see a fishery and throw away the first to let people know that now us marine biologist who's studied the area say over fishing is a problem no take zones they say are also intended to protect wildlife for its own sake the state of california is currently considering the creation of marine reserves in the sanctuary and it's looking to a working group made up of environmentalists fishermen and state and federal officials for recommendations for two years the group has been trying to decide on how many zones to create where they should be and how large they should be but the process has not gone smoothly channel islands science advisor gary davis is a member of the working group reading difficulties because no one's going to get everything they want at this time there is no agreement the group is co chaired by the manager of the sanctuary matt pickett he says the biggest problem has been the areas that are most important ecologically are also the best places for fishing so i think the challenge is just trying to balance ecological need at the same time trying to minimize the economic

impact and try to find a fine balance that you can move a line a mile away a tremendous impact the working group has agreed on some know take sounds around the western highlands that has been deadlocked over zones on portions of santa cruz and anna kapur after an all day meeting today the group is supposed to announce its recommendations tonight if state and federal officials signed off on the proposal the first known take areas in the channel islands marine sanctuary could be established within a year for kpcc news i'm elsa said seal in ventura