Environment 10-29
The Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council named its Conservation Working Group Partner of the Year in a ceremony on 10/27. The 12-member Conservation Working Group, headed up by the Environmental Defense Center’s Linda Kropp, has been working since the summer of 2008 to raise awareness about the threat posed to the sanctuary and ocean ecosystems at large by the sorely overlooked phenomena of ocean acidification.
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The Marine Life Protection Act’s Blue Ribbon Task Force delayed its final decision on the designation of an array of protected waters south of Point Conception and north of Mexico. The contentious debate process began more than a year ago, and the governor-appointed board had struggled to find a solution among three array proposals: a fisher-friendly, protection-light option; an option heavily weighted toward conservation; and a final option that compromised between the two. The Task Force will reconvene on 11/10 in Los Angeles to revisit the debate.
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Although behind schedule due to heavy rains this month, El Jaro Creek fish passage restoration is expected to be completed in November, and possibly close to $200,000 under budget. Composed of a series of weirs, the project raises the creek bed to allow steelhead trout access to inland reaches of the creek-which runs from Rancho San Julian near Jalama out to the ocean-currently blocked off by a concrete road crossing.
