tions as well as pollution incidents and even
security threats through the Coast Guard’s
America’s Waterway Watch Program. What
has many of them nervous is the feeling
that well-funded environmental organizations that seem bent on eliminating fishing
have taken over the planning process.
According to one California
Department of Fish and Game estimate,
the MLPA, from enforcement to ongoing
research, could cost the state more than
$30 million annually by the time it’s fully
implemented, likely by 2011.
Budget shortfalls since the law’s passage in 1999 scuttled two early attempts
to implement it. In 2004 the department began accepting funding from a
branch of the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation to continue the process and
to date the non-profit organization has
donated approximately $18 million toward
the MLPA process. Many anglers saw that
as an attempt to influence anti-fishing
regulations and point to the 170 square
miles of ocean that are now closed to fishing. During deliberations over Southern
California waters last spring, angler sentiment ran so hot that MLPA Blue Ribbon
Task Force chairman Don Benninghoven
had to defend his panel’s objectivity.
— Jack Innis
The BoatU.S. National
Advisory Council met at the
St. Petersburg (Florida) Yacht
Club, November 7-8. The
club celebrated its 100th
anniversary last year.
The Advisory Council,
comprised of leaders in recreational boating, took up
issues ranging from boating
safety to public access to
the water. Council members,
from left to right, are (back
row), Chuck Husick, former
president, Chris-Craft and
editor, Chapman Piloting and Seamanship;
Steve Budar, past national commodore,
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary; John Bonds,
former executive director, US SAILING.
Middle row: Terry West, president,
National Association of State Boating Law
Administrators; Tony Gibbs, former editor,
Yachting, and council chair; Bob Nelson,
retired U.S. Coast Guard vice commandant; Chuck Hawley, VP, West Marine; Jim
Ellis, former president, BoatU.S.; Elbert
Maloney, former editor Chapman Piloting
and Seamanship and Dutton’s.
National Advisory
Council Tackles Issues
Front row: Doris Colgate, president,
Offshore Sailing School; Kris Carroll, president, Grady-White Boats; Lenora Clark,
commissioner, California Dept of Boating
and Waterways; Richard Schwartz, founder
and chairman, BoatU.S.; Dean Clarke,
executive editor, Bonnier Marine Group;
Margaret Podlich, BoatU.S. VP for government affairs; Bill Oakerson, CEO,
BoatU.S.; Ruth Wood, President, BoatU.S.
Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean
Water. Not pictured is BoatU.S. President
Nancy Michelman.
