The ever changing California coastline

So there was a big vote in Monterey this week on issues pertaining to the protection of the California coastline's fish populations.

Many veteran scuba divers and environmentalists have claimed that through the years there has been a marked decrease in fish populations from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara.

The professional fisherman have survived before restrictions on "trawling" in this area of the Pacific that ends on the coastal waters of the Golden state.

Some of the language of the proposed legislation was rather interesting. One such proposal which was passed was to "ban all human activity" in a 110 square mile area off the the coast. (bad news for everyone!)

Other such arguments that were brought forward were in an effort to curb the decrease commercial fishing off the coast, why not concentrate on the inland activity (i.e. pollution) that is poured into the ocean thus, degrading the environment for fish to thrive. Another backed up by published reports was that marine sanctuaries indeed do protect and benefit fish populations.

It looks like this proposition will basically take ocean access away from both people wanting to use the ocean for profit as well as recreation.

The fish now have a proposed law that will allow them to relax and take it easy in high rent areas of the California coastline. Whether they decide to take advantage of this offer to roll the red carpet out for them remains to be seen. When I was diving in Korea a few weeks ago, it appeared that all of the fish that had been populating the eastern Pacific had moved over to Korea and were basking in warmer waters.