|
|
|
Beach fishermen ride in on wilderness bill
A rider inserted into a bill that would expand wilderness areas in Northern California would also allow surf fishing to continue on the beach at Redwood National Park in Orick.
The bill was written by Rep. Mike Thompson and, if passed through the Senate, would keep 27 permits available for surf fishermen forever. That's a shift in how Redwood National Park has approached the issue, opting in its 2000 management plan to phase out permits through attrition, as well as conditions to allow fishermen to drive on the beach.
Local fishermen and local members of the off-road vehicle and public access group Blue Ribbon Coalition wanted to keep the tiny smelt-fishing industry going, preserving a use that stretches back before the park was created.
Fisherman Mike Zamboni said that during years when other fish are unavailable or restricted -- as salmon are this year and rockfish have been for years -- surf fishing is vital.
”I have to go beach fishing if I want to work,” Zamboni said.
A decent day surf fishing with nets for Zamboni brings in 2,000 pounds of smelt. He sells them for about 35 cents per pound to Pacific Choice Seafoods, which sells about half of the local catch to Oregon for human consumption, and the rest for sturgeon bait and to zoos.
He said 27 permits is about the right number to have a market for the fish while keeping a good share for each fisherman. A permit could also be transferred when the current user no longer wants it.
The bill would designate 273,000 acres of public land in Northern California as wilderness. It would also name 51,000 acres as a recreation management areas for off-highway vehicles and mountain bikes, another provision pressed for by the Blue Ribbon Coalition and the International Mountain Bicycling Association. The bill has twice before passed the Senate but was stalled in the House.
Thompson, a St. Helena Democrat, said when he first contacted the park about smelt fishing years ago, he was told an act of legislation would be needed to stop the phase-out of permits. When members of the Blue Ribbon Coalition recently contacted House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, Pombo asked Thompson to write the measure into the bill.
Thompson said that restrictions are in the language as to where the fishermen can drive -- only on the wave slope -- and keep access to only highway-legal vehicles. The issue, he said, is not one of vehicular access, because Yurok tribal members will still be allowed to drive on the beach to fish even if other fishermen had been grandfathered out.
”It's a pretty righteous issue,” Thompson said. “It's not harming anything.”
The bill applies to Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and the beach north and south of Redwood Creek in Redwood National and State parks.
Park spokesman Rick Nolan said the bill keeps in place the park's ability to manage for endangered species -- like the western snowy plover -- and for public safety. But he said it is a significant move away from the park's 2000 management plan.
”It's one that for us does reverse a management practice,” Nolan said.
Some conservationists who backed the bill voiced concern about the rider, but said that overall the bill is a victory. Tim McKay of the Northcoast Environmental Center said he's not as worried about surf fishermen using vehicles to get on the beach as he is about other changes to the bill, such as eliminating the Mad River Buttes area from the bill.
He said given the small number of permits that can be issued and protections for the snowy plover, as well as restrictions expected on vehicle traffic on Clam Beach, the compromise isn't so bad.
”It's not a good situation,” McKay said, “but it's not as bad as it could be.”
|