Posted by Chris on February 06, 2004 at 13:20:11:
from Florida Sportsman Article
Schwarzenegger May Undo California No-Fishing Zones
New governor names Ducks Unlimited leader to head Fish and Game.
The inside word from California is that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is moving toward changing the huge Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas where family-level recreational fishing has been banned along with large-scale commercial hauls as part of a nationwide MPA campaign championed by several environmentalist groups.
The Channel Islands closures were pushed through by former governor Gray Davis, acting through three members of the Game and Fish Department. Now, the changed administration is expected to re-address the total no-take approach, and one sign of an improvement appears to be the recent appointment of Loris "Ryan" Broddick as director of the state's fish and game department. Broddick was Ducks Unlimited's conservation director in the west and has a long history of protecting outdoor resources while allowing recreational use of them on a sustainable basis.
California's re-evaluation of the Channel Islands zones is expected to have a positive effect toward stopping the MPA blanket closures. Many sportfishing advocates contend that traditional management techniques can be far more effective to control overfishing than total closures in only certain zones.