Subject: Rockfish Open!!


At 1:45 pm today (Nov. 20, 2003) Superior Court Judge Martin Tangeman
ruled in favor of Central Coast Fishing Conservation Coalition ("CCFCC" - see
www.rightotfish.com) to temporary restrain the Department of Fish & Game
from enforcing the prohibitation of the taking of rockfish in state waters
(http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/groundfish_112103closure.html).

President of CCFCC and attorney Melvin ("Mel") de la Motte successfully
argued that the Department of Fish & Game erroneously noticed the closure.
Mr. de la Motte also argued that the recent Governors Executive Order
S-2-03 (http://www.governor.ca.gov/) prohibited the closure from occurring. The
judged ruled in favor of the argument that the notice was not properly
issued (Fish & Game Code 27.82?) for the entire ten (10) days as required.
The Court did not fully agree that the action was covered by the Executive
Order. Mr. de la Motte was assisted by attorneys Shauna Sullivan and
Claire Corcoran both of Los Osos, Ca. They are preparing for a full court hearing
on the matter scheduled for December 8, 2003 at 8:30 am in San Luis Obispo
superior court (Judge Tangeman).

Today's ruling allows California fishermen to continue fishing in state
waters until either the Fish and Game Department takes another action,
such as re-issuing the notice to close. Also there is a possibility that the
federal National Marine Fisheries Service and/or Pacific Marine Fisheries
Council could exercise powers and prohibit rock fishing in State Waters.
This has never been do before and would require some pre-action and/or
notice by the Federal government I assume.

With regards to the Department of Fish & Game re-issuing the closure
notice, they would have to run it for the proper amount of time of 10
days, then they might be able to close the state waters. So watch for a notice
and then count the days after the notice is post marked or posted on the
Departments web page (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/news.html).

The Attorney General's representative defending the state in court today
said he did not know what the Department of Fish & Game would do when they
found out the judge ruled against them. He said that "he would be
surprised if they did issue the notice again", but then turn right around and shook
his head and said "well actually, I would not be surprised at anything
now", implying that the Department might in fact re-issue the notice to
shut down the rock fishing ten days after the notice is properly given.

This was a costly endeavor and the two paid attorneys (Mel did his work
pro bono!) cost thousands of dollars in preparing for this hearing. Fishermen
can contribute funds to CCFCC by sending donations to:

CCFCC
1239 Higuera St.
San Luis Obispo, CA. 93401
(Make checks out to "CCFCC")

Mel de la Motte can be reached at (805)544-2424 Wk.

It was an interesting day in court watching how the judicial system works
and how the attorney general argues on behalf of his client , the State
Department of Fish & Game!


Jay Elder


 

Copyright (c) 2005 RightToFish.com