Posted by Brad on January 23, 2002 at 19:04:30:
In Reply to: Close San Nicolas posted by tcortez on January 23, 2002 at 09:56:20:
I would love to see Nicolas closed to all consumptive usage. I don't see the need to keep others away as their impact on the recovery effort is neglegable. That said, Nicolas would not be the best candidate because as you stated, the gains would not be easy to determine because of the lack of recreational pressure.
Just imagine; if any one of the 8 Channel Islands had (always) been off limits to consumptive usage, it would now be the gem of the entire west coast! It would be the biggest diving attraction this side of Hawaii.
To address the point about seafood that was made in this thread. The rockfish depletion that drove the largest closure in OUR history benefitted the FOREIGN markets and was not generally available for local consumption. Right now, the foreign market is responsible for the massive sardine and squid reduction effort currently underway. These are OUR waters, but the fish don't belong to us....
Unfortunately, the recreational community was too busy fighting their 'war' against the recovery effort to address the real problems in OUR waters!