Central Coast sanctuary would be problematic for fisheries
Since November, the Sierra Club, as well as Surfrider and EcoSLO, have had full-page ads in The Tribune telling of what to expect, in their opinion, from a sanctuary in our area.
They indicated sums of money the sanctuary generated annually from commercial fishing and jobs in the commercial fishing industry that sanctuaries support. As a member of the fishing community for 37 years here on the Central Coast, I know what they have written is unequivocally false.
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992 guaranteed us and made it part of their designation document (contract) that they would not manage fisheries. The sanctuary had multiple infractions of this rule in which they helped to close many areas to commercial fishing in flagrant disregard for our contractual agreement. The most recent of which I spoke about at the Pacific Fisheries Management Council meeting.
The commercial fishing industry does not have the resources to buy full-page ads in our local paper. Please look at our website, www.opccoalition.com, to get an honest review of the sanctuaries.
Please do not give up local control and management to the federal government. We have all been doing a wonderful job of stewardship.
Jeremiah O’Brien, Morro Bay
This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Central Coast sanctuary would be problematic for fisheries."