BHA Shuts Down a Petition Attempting to Close Nearshore Fishing in California

Fish & Game Commission voted unanimously to reject a petition that would have closed over 250 miles of nearshore fishing access in California's Central Coast.

A petition before the Fish & Game Commission of California proposed to "prohibit take of groundfish shoreward of 100 feet in the West Coast Central Groundfish Management Area year-round." The petitioner cited struggling kelp forests as rationale for the broad fishing closure of nearly 250 miles of California's central coast for iconic species like rockfish, lingcod, cabezon and more. However well-intentioned, BHA strongly opposed this petition and cited a lack of evidence to support the petitioner's claim, a perspective that CDFW staff had also expressed.

BHA successfully led the opposition to this petition through a counter-petition and in-person commentary at the commission meeting. With encouragement from BHA members and guided by scientific recommendations from the Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Fish & Game Commission rejected petition 2023-02 outright and we applaud their commitment to following the science on this particular issue.