April 26, 2012, MONTEREY BAY – Last week, fishing interests tried to insert a provision in a state bill that could have led to the return of bottom trawling in Monterey Bay, a fishing practice banned for the past six years.
In the wake of that effort, local environmentalists are touting a new survey suggesting that the controversial fishing method – which can wreck ocean floors and sweeps up tons of unwanted fish – isn't needed to develop a thriving halibut fishery.
Studying three Santa Cruz-based commercial fishermen, Oceana originally began the study as part of a working group on trawling put together by Assemblymember Bill Monning, D-Carmel.
That group was formed after a 2006 bill that banned trawling from most state waters, which typically include a three-mile buffer from shore. Trawling still occurs near the coast of Ventura and off the far Northern California coast.
But fishermen were surprised when the state said it also considered the ban to include the entirety of Monterey Bay. That ended local trawling for halibut, which can be hard to catch but which were traditionally fished from Soquel to Moss Landing.
Monning convened a task force to look at the issue, though it has not met in about a year. It never completed a planned socioeconomic study looking at the impacts of fishing regulations on fisheries.
Read the full story at the San Jose Mercury News.