Response to "Another Viewpoint Regarding Expansion
of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary"
By Shoosh Crotzer and Colby Crotzer (former Morro Bay City Council member))
[Editor's Note: See Janice Peters', Rick Algert's, and Bill Pierce's "In Response," November issue.
Ideas expressed in the "In Response" pages are those of the writer, not necessarily of the Journal.]
Since Janice Peters has been in Morro Bay politics, the City Council of Morro Bay has been mistakenly protecting, to the detriment of the rest of the citizens, what a majority of the Council she served with thought were the threatened rights of a few local fishers. That Council's votes against extending the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) to include our county have not only affected the city of Morro Bay, but also our county and those who visit, since the California coast is considered a national treasure. The consistent message from Peters, et al., has been "we want local control," which has been a slick way of appearing to care about our oceans, while knowing full well that the oceans are NEVER under local control. Under state and federal statutes, a sanctuary with local control, is not even an option. Expansion of the MBNMS is and always has been absolutely the best way to protect our local oceans from oil drilling (liquified natural gas offloading?), selenium dumping, or anything else that will destroy our oceans.
I, Colby, was on the Council when that misguided majority made it the city's policy to oppose expansion of the MBNMS south of Cambria. I fought for the expansion. The arguments I used are as compelling now as they were then. In fact, it may not even be the city's policy to be against it any longer. Only Peters is left from that Council of almost 10 years ago, and, as far as I know, the new Council has not officially taken a position on the sanctuary expansion. Hopefully we now have a more enlightened Council majority that will consider the logical and rational arguments in favor of expansion.
In 2001, some locals went to the MBNMS Advisory Commission meeting in Big Sur, representing the wishes of thousands of San Luis Obispo County residents who wanted to make sure we protect our oceans for future generations. Simply by standing at local supermarkets during one weekend we collected more than 750 signatures from other residents who feel as we do. We also submitted letters of support from the Sierra Club, which represents thousands of people in our county then - U.S. Rep. Leon Panetta, the SLO Coast Allliance, and many other environmental and civic organizations. We strongly feel that if a poll were to be taken then as well as today, more than 90% of the residents in our county, when presented with the facts instead of with Peters' "local control" misinformation, would be in favor of extending the sanctuary south to include us.
Residents assume that our oceans are being preserved in the best way possible for our grandchildren. When we explain that they are not, people are stunned. Becoming part of the MBNMS is the best thing we could possibly do to ensure that preservation. Some seek to play on the fears of men and women who fish professionally when, in fact, a marine sanctuary would not negatively affect commercial or recreational fishing sanctioned by state and federal standards. Instead, it would help significantly to protect the fish that are a mainstay of our economy here, as well as the livelihoods of commercial fishers.
Janice Peters quotes from a person who died five years ago, showing how she has not really taken the time to review any new updated information from a myriad of sources that show how successful these marine sanctuaries have been, both as a protection for the oceans, and for tourism and business. (The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, for example, supports this expansion, as do many other business-tourism-related groups.)
We are concerned that Janice Peters, along with Bill Pierce and Rick Algert, are doing a disservice to the vast majority of those who understand the importance of protecting our oceans. They are singing the same old political song of the last decade, and it's time we told them to step aside or join us. Their tune was badly off key then and still is.
Belted Kingfisher image on banner by Cleve Nash |
