Bloodydecks.com

So i have been pouring over the states constitution and have discovered a few interesting things. I am sure all of you are familiar with article 1, section 25:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 1 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

Section 25. The people shall have the right to fish upon and from
the public lands of the State and in the waters thereof, excepting
upon lands set aside for fish hatcheries, and no land owned by the
State shall ever be sold or transferred without reserving in the
people the absolute right to fish thereupon; and no law shall ever be
passed making it a crime for the people to enter upon the public
lands within this State for the purpose of fishing in any water
containing fish that have been planted therein by the State;
provided, that the legislature may by statute, provide for the season
when and the conditions under which the different species of fish
may be taken.

But how many of you have read further down into article 1 about our rights to access and the rights of the state to limit that access:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 1 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
(2) A statute, court rule, or other authority, including those in
effect on the effective date of this subdivision, shall be broadly
construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly
construed if it limits the right of access. A statute, court rule,
or other authority adopted after the effective date of this
subdivision that limits the right of access shall be adopted with
findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and
the need for protecting that interest.

Don’t know about the rest of you, but i believe that the mpa’s are restricting our access to CA waters and limiting our ability to fish in public waters. Also, according to the actual research and fishery management, the fish populations in the waters off of our coast are thriving, and there is no need for limitation or further protection. Because of the MPA of 1990, Areas of our ocean have been defined as CA waters, which would make them public, see article 1, section 25. Any map adopted for the MLPA has to be the one with the least amount of restrictions, period, or our rights as californians have been violated.

CA waters as spelled out in our constitution:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 10B MARINE RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT OF 1990

SEC. 2. (a) “District” means a fish and game district as defined in
the Fish and Game Code by statute on January 1, 1990.
(b) Except as specifically provided in this article, all
references to Fish and Game Code sections, articles, chapters, parts,
and divisions are defined as those statutes in effect on January 1,
1990.
(c) “Ocean waters” means the waters of the Pacific Ocean regulated
by the State.
(d) “Zone” means the Marine Resources Protection zone established
pursuant to this article. The zone consists of the following:
(1) In waters less than 70 fathoms or within one mile, whichever
is less, around the Channel Islands consisting of the Islands of San
Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Nicolaus, Santa Barbara,
Santa Catalina, and San Clemente.
(2) The area within three nautical miles offshore of the mainland
coast, and the area within three nautical miles off any manmade
breakwater, between a line extending due west from Point Arguello and
a line extending due west from the Mexican border.
(3) In waters less than 35 fathoms between a line running 180
degrees true from Point Fermin and a line running 270 degrees true
from the south jetty of Newport Harbor.

anybody figure out where i am going with this yet? it gets better. According to the marine protection act of 1990, the state set up 4 MPA’s that were intended to be used for research in order to help fishery management and resource protection:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 10B MARINE RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT OF 1990

SEC. 14. Prior to January 1, 1994, the Fish and Game Commission
shall establish four new ecological reserves in ocean waters along
the mainland coast. Each ecological reserve shall have a surface
area of at least two square miles. The commission shall restrict the
use of these ecological reserves to scientific research relating to
the management and enhancement of marine resources.

Now, considering our right to access our oceans has already been limited, how is it possible for the legislature to restrict our access further? put simply, it is not. our rights to access on public waters have been violated, pure and simple. Our state legislature has gone against our constitution and violated our civil rights, period. there is no way that they can say that they have not. unfortunately, for us, they left themselves an out on the mpa of 1990:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 10B MARINE RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT OF 1990

SEC. 16. If any provision of this article or the application
thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, that
invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this
article which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end the provisions of this article are
severable.

thankfully, they have no such out on the mlpa that i have seen. thats right, we now have, a way to fight back. we, as fisherman of public waters in the state of CA, have had our constitutional rights violated by the MLPA, period. there is no way the enviro’s can beat us, because our rights to access have been violated. we finally have the law on our side. All of the mpa maps that have been discussed or proposed are nice, but only the absolute least restricting maps can be approved, which obviously is not happening, or our right to access has been violated. I know, i know its a long shot, but that is all we really have left unless we can find someone with deep pockets to finance a petition to have the mlpa repealed. The next step is where it gets very difficult, but i am trying to figure out a way to file a lawsuit against who ever we need to sue to start the process of overturning the mlpa. sadly, this does nothing to help commercial fisherman, so i am sorry. the state has the power to restrict when and where and what you can fish for for profit, so i cannot help every body. i am still looking for any other loop hole that i can find to help us, but so far this is the best shot we have. people are very quick to listen when they find out that their civil rights may be in jeopardy, so hopefully we will be able to win the support of the public. Also if you are or know any lawyers who are crazy enough to work for free and attempt to win this case (my ass is broke and my buddies aren’t quite finished with law school) by all means ask them or run it by them to see what they think.

Matt

i also ran across this provision in the finance section. i bet we can find all sorts of ways they are violating this one.

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 16 PUBLIC FINANCE

SEC. 9. Money collected under any state law relating to the
protection or propagation of fish and game shall be used for
activities relating thereto.