elmo

The Sea Shepard folks are a bunch of freaking loons bent on endangering human life. Plain and simple, game, set, and match.

Here is video of the confirmation hearing. Fast forward to 45:00 to see his responses. Confirmation hearing Lets see, he united three user groups against him AND was essentially implicated in ethics violations. In 8 months, he has come a long way. Where there is smoke there is fire.

Looks like Biodiversity Guy is up for a confirmation hearing tomorrow (2/18/2010), so well see if he becomes a confirmed commissioner.

Well, since the Makah's own the marina that serves as the primary access point, and their economy is reliant upon fishermen and divers, I would think they have a stake in this. They have an economic development council, or enterprise board. Maybe Jennings could approach them with his idea and see if any tribal members would be interested in starting a dive boat business and provide funding in the form of a microloan for a proper dive boat? I would say that he needs to create the draw to prove his "economic boon" statement. Again, more guesses. The Makahs are co-managers of all of teh resources in their area, and they live and fish there 365 days a year. To say that you "don't think it affects the Makahs" is a very shortsighted statement. Fishermen are self sufficient and they buy their own boats to fish that area. The number of private sport boats compared to commercial charters is heavily weighted towards the private boats. Why don't more diver's do this? They also pay into the WDFW through license fees. A non-fishing diver pays nothing, but expects their own park. I dive and fish, and have my own boat. While a non-fishing diver leaves only bubbles, they also ciontribute nothing to the management of the resource through license fees. This area has been fished for years, decades in fact, and has healthy populations in your words. Where is the science that says there is a decline in population, or that this park is needed? I'll give you a hint, there isn't any.

So if the goal is to repopulate Puget Sound and the Ediz Hook area, why not create this "dive park" closer to that area? This removal of historical fishing area will concentrate fishing pressure around Waddah and Sail Rock, in the direct pathway that these fish would have to take. Doesn't add up based upon your agruement. Why not create the area around Destruction Island? That would be more centrally located along the coast than the most northern tip. No specific science was provided Jennings to the need for this specific area to become a preserve, other than a nice slide show. He is basing his feelings for that need based on his observation, not science. He showed studies of Black Rockfish off the coast, but nothing as it related to chinas. tigers, and canaries. He need to show the science. He states this new dive park will be an economic boon for the area due to new eco tourism. Where are the projections to support this? How does he account for lost angler trips in these projections. How does the Makah tribe feel about the closure area because it is literally in their back yard? How about tyeh Clallam County EDC or Chamber of Commerce. Did they assist in the economic projection data? Jenning's proposal needs to go the full route through the process, and he cannot be allowed to short circuit the process just because he is a commissioner. Pretty much everyone was surprised by the way he shoehorned the project into the meeting process. He even received a rebuke form the Chair, albeit nicely worded, that things need to go the regular route. Just because he wants something for he and his dive buddies, doesn't mean that he gets to abuse his position as a commisioner and not show his work. Show the specific science for the specific area and the specific need. He has shown none of this. Nice slide show, though. And by the way, diving is a legal activity in this area, so why, if this is such a unique area, hasn't this economic boon already occurred?

Saw that proposal for the reserve in the area in the rules proposal. It was only 26 words long, with a map. Pretty scant on information, and no reference to a study on that area or why it is needed. That area is used by fishermen from March to August, as it is protected by the land mass from the prevailing winds and wave action and makes a great area to fish and dive, even in bad weather. I wonder if there was any consideration given to that fact. It also get almost no fishing pressure 6 months of the year, so there is some down time for the proposed reserve area where it gets limited, if any fishing pressure. The area opens up into the Pacific Ocean, as others have stated. Doesn't that immense body of water already provide enough hidey holes for these fish? Why this specific area, as both diving and fishing are both currently legal activities here? I also thought that the WDFW had to use the best and available science when considering a proposal, and I didn't see anything science specific to this area on either the written rules proposal, or in the presentation made by that WDFW commissioner, (Jennings was his name) who talked on the subject. TVW is great! Looks like an attempt at a personal diving playground, in my opinion, by that commissioner Jennings. It would be nice to see some actual science rather than feelings presented to substantiate a need for this reserve. The same commissioner also "guessed" that cabezon numbers were down because divers he knew hadn't seen many. Wow. I guess that based on that logic, when folks drive the logging roads and don't see deer or elk, there must not be any, so we should shut down those seasons as well to protect them. If the WDFW allows that proposal, things are on pretty shakey ground in Olympia. It is also extremely interesting that this proposal wasn't added to the rules proposal until October 16th, yet the date of this post is October 3rd. It is amazing how you knew it was going to be added to the rules proposals ahead of time. Hmmmmmmmm?