September 14, 2016 – In letters sent yesterday to Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), as well as Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), leaders of the Oxnard Harbor District expressed their opposition to the proposal to declare a new California marine monument under the Antiquities Act.
The letters, which were signed by Dr. Manuel Lopez, President of the Oxnard Harbor Commission, and Kristin Decas, CEO and Port Director of the Port of Hueneme. Their opposition to a new monument was grounded in the potential economic harm of a new monument and the non-transparent way by which the proposal was developed.
Under the current proposal, the declaration of a new monument in California’s seamounts, ridges, and banks, would close off numerous areas of high value to local fisheries, including tuna, mackerel, and market squid. These fishing grounds are responsible for millions of pounds of seafood taken in each year. The loss of the squid business alone would be heavily impactful, according to the letter.
“The current squid landing operation at the Port of Hueneme supports nearly 1,400 direct, induced, and indirect jobs, generates approximately $11 million in annual state and local taxes revenues, and provides $56 million of business revenue to local businesses dependent upon existing squid operations,” the letter states.
Dr. Lopez and Ms. Decas went on to criticize the opaque nature of using the Antiquities Act to circumvent existing fishery management laws to declare a new monument. These laws, according to the letter, were passed in a bipartisan fashion and promote science-based analysis conducted fully in the public forum.
Dr. Lopez and Ms. Decas write that the existing proposal for California was done in the opposite fashion, and that the document proposing the new monument was “drafted and advanced with no science, no NEPA analysis, and virtually no public engagement nor outreach to the parties who will be most affected by this unilateral action.”
The letter instead requests that Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Congresswoman Brownley work with the White House and appropriate regulation agencies to support fishery management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.