MONTEREY — The California Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday banned or severely restricted fishing across nearly 18% of the waters off Central California, beginning to roll out the nation's first network of marine reserves next to a heavily populated coastline.
The commissioners settled on a network of 29 marine protected areas, stretching from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz counties, that collectively cover about 200 square miles of state waters. About half are reserves that forbid any fishing; the other protected areas ban commercial fishing or impose other restrictions. Some of the areas are off Point Sur along the Big Sur coast, Ano Nuevo in northern Santa Cruz County, Piedras Blancas near San Simeon and Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc.
This set of reserves, more than six years in the making, is expected to be a model as additional reserves are created along the entire California coast to help depleted fish populations rebound.
"This is a landmark day, an historic day in California," said Commissioner Cindy Gustafson of Tahoe City. "We need to take great pride in our efforts to protect the coast of California."
Although the Legislature passed a law in 1999 calling for a statewide network of reserves, the plans have been stalled for years by budget cuts, staffing shortages and ferocious opposition from commercial and recreational fishermen who argued that the closures would imperil their livelihoods or pastimes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with funding from private conservation foundations, revived the process by focusing first on the Central Coast before considering reserves along four other sections of the state's 1,100-mile coastline.
"Today's milestone makes California a national leader in oceans management and is proof of what can be done when all those involved -- the fishing industry, environmentalists and others -- work together," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Southern California waters, from Point Conception in western Santa Barbara County to the Mexican border, will be the next battleground in this innovative approach to ocean management.
Marine reserves represent the most restrictive effort to revive plummeting fish stocks, some of which, experts say, have fallen by as much as 95% in recent decades. Regulations that limit the number of various types of fish that can be caught have failed to stave off the decline marine scientists fear could lead to a collapse of marine life. The reserves, by making all fishing off-limits, are designed to protect every marine creature in them -- from the biggest bass to the smallest snail -- and their oceanic habitat.
