Posted by posted for Rocky Daniels on August 19, 2000 at 10:27:11:
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From: Rocky Daniels, norcadiver@sonic.net
Subject: Request for input (or... who gives a rip?)
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 06:53:03
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The Department of Fish and Game is currently developing a state wide
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for California's abalone resource. Part of
that process is soliciting public input on what issues or questions the FMP
should address. To get this input, the Department sponsors public Scoping
sessions where the goal is to brainstorm and generate questions relevant to
California's abalone and how it should be managed in the future. As one
might imagine, there is a strong tendency toward digression during this
process but, usually, the session facilitator is pretty good at what they
do and keep things on track.
There is no attempt to answer the questions that come during a scoping
session. There is also no useful debate that occurs. The Scoping Sessions
are strictly for the purpose of helping to establish what questions the FMP
must address. Examples might be "how often do abalone successfully
spawn?", "what is the geographical distribution of Withering Syndrome?",
"how do El Nino cycles affect the abalone populations?", "how will sea
otter access to recovering abalone resources be limited?", "when will San
Miguel Island be reopened for commercial harvesting?", ... and so on.
The job of the experts developing the FMP is to compile the issues into a
coherent whole and, to the extent practical, answer all the questions
asked. The resulting draft FMP is then slated for peer review (a bunch of
science types not associated with development of the FMP review it for
content). There's also a period (60 days?) when the draft is available
for public input (which may/will force revisions to the draft to address
new issues that come out of the public comment period).
I'm asking for input now on what people/clubs should be notified about the
public Scoping Sessions (as in, where and when). Put differently, which
groups/organizations/shops/clubs/families would have an interest in
participating? Addresses and contact info would also be nice (but I can
work it out if you don't have it available). Also, do you have any
suggestions as to where these sessions should be held?
Thanks for your interest. If you have any specific issues you'd like to
see addressed by the FMP, I'm collecting a list and will submit it during
my own attendance at one of the Scoping Sessions.
Rocky Daniels
Sebastopol, California
http://www.sonic.net/~rocky (Last Updated:June, 2000))
http://www.sonic.net/~rocky/wsban.htm for information on aquaculture
shipments of infected abalone to northern California
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