Local Activists Support Point Dume State Marine Reserve Designation

• Community Members Plan to Speak Out at MLPA Blue Ribbon Panel Meeting

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

As the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative gears up for the official South Coast Region blue ribbon panel meeting in Santa Monica later this week (after the Malibu Surfside News goes to press), a grassroots group of local environmental activists are working to gather local support and dispel what they say are misconceptions about the process.
A major misconception, MPLA supporters say, involves the fear that the highest level of marine protection will mean that access to the water could potentially be limited. Not so, supporters of the plan state emphatically.
The MLPA is a state law that was passed in 1999. It requires California’s marine protected area system to be redesigned to better protect marine life, habitats and ecosystems. The MLPA Initiative was established to achieve the goals of the MLPA through the use of “the best readily available science, as well as the advice and assistance of resource managers, policy experts and the public,” according to the MLPA Initiative website.
In Malibu, the coast between Paradise Cove and Westward Beach is one of several areas being considered for the highest level of protection as a State Marine Preserve.
According to the Department of Fish and Game’s official website, State Marine Reserve restrictions state: “It is unlawful to injure, damage, take or possess any living, geological or cultural marine resource, except under a permit or specific authorization from the managing agency for research, restoration or monitoring purposes. While, to the extent feasible, the area shall be open to the public for managed enjoyment and study, the area shall be maintained to the extent practicable in an undisturbed and unpolluted state. Therefore, access and use (such as walking, swimming, boating and diving) may be restricted to protect marine resources.”
However, according to MLPA stakeholder group member and Heal the Bay coastal resources director Sarah Sikich, no one in the South Coast Region stakeholders group is discussing limiting access to anything other than extractive—fishing—activities.
“A lot of people are confused,” Sikich told the News. “ In terms of access, we are just talking about [restricting] fishing.” Sikich explained that part of the confusion comes from the fact that some State Marine Reserve areas, primarily in the north or central coasts, could potentially be closed seasonally to accommodate certain highly protected species, but that such closures would be extremely unlikely in the highly urbanized South Coast Region, which extends from Point Conception to the Mexican border.
“Some people are calling [Heal the Bay] anti-fishing, but we’re not anti-fishing at all. Our marine ecosystem is damaged. We need to do what we can to protect it, keep it sustainable, so that there will continue to be fish. There are various levels of understanding, people have been scared, but I think this can be done in a thoughtful way.”
Members of a small but growing group of Point Dume grassroots advocates that have been gathering to discuss the MLPA in private homes agree.
“It’s important to find out facts,” Malibu resident Tamra Davis told The News. “What are the sources of facts? What are the options? We who live here on Point Dume really appreciate what we have. We moved here to be at this beach. We’re blessed. Anyone who becomes aware of the facts really supports the idea of a reserve.”
According to lifelong waterman and Malibuite Dusty Peak, the Point Dume area is the ideal SMR, with a deep canyon, shallow and deep rock habitats, kelp beds and sheltered waters.
“It’ll be like a state park on land,” Peak said. ‘You can hike in the parks, you just can’t shoot the animals. This will be the same way. We’re not being asked to give up surfing, swimming, diving or anything, it just means you can look, but not take.”
“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Sikich told The News. “It really is an underwater park. MPAs have worked all over the world, we’re behind on it. In New Zealand the fishers were completely opposed, now they are the biggest proponents. It’s worked really well.”
“Sometimes you have to give things up [to protect what you have]” Davis said, adding that her two young sons enjoy fishing in Little Dume cove, but that the family is willing to give that up.
“It’s important that we’re good stewards. We have a voice in this issue, as a community we have a chance to say what it is we want.”