MLPA discussion

Quote from toptuna

Well you guys missed our meeting the other night. I give respect where it is due. I do not respect the TWO officer that came to our meeting. They lost my respect. I still have respect for the others. I'm also not telling people to break the law. A dive on New Years Eve is perfectly legal.

And I respect your right to have MPLA discussion including opinions of first hand personal encounters.

My post was not directed to any one person, just a heads up on any posts suggesting support or a call to arms for poaching. Feel free to vent as needed , this a huge personal loss to many speros in Laguna and other ''back yard'' dive spots. Carry on...

Cheers, Don

Out of curiosity, who were the two wardens that were present?

I don't remember. We got it on video though.

first names we're Michael (Leiutenant) Scott (?) . I remember because someone made a crack about the office

That was me cracking the joke lol I remember now. I thought Dwight schrute was coming too.

Quote from littlemark

volunteers are going to snitches, like fishcop. i really hope this whole thing grenades in face of the dfg somehow. i think there should be a fish-in on new years day in front of main beach. ill donate a keg of beer if someone wants to put it on thier boat and drop anchor directly in front of the gaurd tower. i think if we get enough people together we can some attention drawn to us, and possibly get an opportunity to get word out publicly about the corruption and deception behin the MLPA. then again it may just result in ALOT of tickets.

so we can just do no guns, no bait, no hooks. just paddle out or anchor in front of main beach. if we keep fishing poles on the boat, but no lines deployed, no bait and no hooks present i dont think they can cite anyone, and we wont be in violation of the law. it will cause the people of laguna to panic as the fish in THIER personal aquarium will appear to be threatened. more of a wake (as don paul put it) than a fish-in. like josh said we can transit MPAs with fishing gear as long as it remains in the boat and not in the water.

I plan on taking advantage of the reserves. Wildlife viewing, freedive training, u/w photography etc..I don't support closures but I am willing to give them a chance and make lemonade out of those lemons.

Quote from ladvr

I plan on taking advantage of the reserves. Wildlife viewing, freedive training, u/w photography etc..I don't support closures but I am willing to give them a chance and make lemonade out of those lemons.

Funny you say that, I told my son that he and I will still have his back yard to dive in and hunt for a perfectly focused, well composed images of paired White Sea Bass.

Cheers, Don

I plan on doing my own monitoring of my local reserves. I will be diving them at least every few months and observing any changes in fish size/quantity, and urchin/kelp abundance. I am willing to bet that I will see larger fish inside the reserves as the years pass, but I am interested to see if fish behaviors change and if the area becomes an urchin barren.

ive dove the reserves in catalina a few times, its pretty entertaining. not nearly as many fish as you would think, but the size and fearlessness of the fish in the reserves is rediculous. i brushed the lateral line of an 8-10 lb calico once and it tail slapped me, swam 5 feet away and turned on me, doing that famous calico stare. it was so gnarly it was actually intimidating. i think the larger fish push the smaller ones out of the reserves once they set up territories...atleast in the case of calico and sheephead. when i first jumped in i wsa expecting walls of reef fish, but found the opposite, about a dozen 3-6 lb calico looming around, and a handful of decent sized female goats, with one reefmaster, and one calico that looked like a mutant grouper. the lobsters were of average size, there were donkeys in the back of the deeper skinnier caves, but not more than i see in laguna.

[quote='littlemark','http://spearfishing.world/forums/index.php?thread/&postID=59741#post59741'] i brushed the lateral line of an 8-10 lb calico once and it tail slapped me, swam 5 feet away and turned on me, doing that famous calico stare.

I hear ya Mark, I have had that happen in the Chi Chi Club on my first trip to Cat... she was very sporty.

Cheers, Don

ok i dont live close to you guys but i have a question. i have a gps map 76 from garmin , on that gps will show the limit line for us to be off ??
ty info in advance ..
sergio..

Quote from littlemark

ive dove the reserves in catalina a few times, its pretty entertaining. not nearly as many fish as you would think, but the size and fearlessness of the fish in the reserves is rediculous. i brushed the lateral line of an 8-10 lb calico once and it tail slapped me, swam 5 feet away and turned on me, doing that famous calico stare. it was so gnarly it was actually intimidating. i think the larger fish push the smaller ones out of the reserves once they set up territories...atleast in the case of calico and sheephead. when i first jumped in i wsa expecting walls of reef fish, but found the opposite, about a dozen 3-6 lb calico looming around, and a handful of decent sized female goats, with one reefmaster, and one calico that looked like a mutant grouper. the lobsters were of average size, there were donkeys in the back of the deeper skinnier caves, but not more than i see in laguna.

Funny you say this... another observation I have of the smal MPA at Catalina;

Avalon MPAs; the only fish you see are right next to the entrances where people feed the fish and next to the path of the subs... if you dive Casino point to the north the fish are few and far between.

West end Invertabrae sanctuary... SMCA no take of all inverts (lobster, urchin, squid, ect.); For some reason when I dive these areas I see very littlle amount of lobsters and the reefs are barren of abs and bugs compared to other spots like Empire that are heavily hit.:confused1:

Quote from Tailsurfer

Funny you say this... another observation I have of the smal MPA at Catalina;

Avalon MPAs; the only fish you see are right next to the entrances where people feed the fish and next to the path of the subs... if you dive Casino point to the north the fish are few and far between.

West end Invertabrae sanctuary... SMCA no take of all inverts (lobster, urchin, squid, ect.); For some reason when I dive these areas I see very littlle amount of lobsters and the reefs are barren of abs and bugs compared to other spots like Empire that are heavily hit.:confused1:

ive never dove the avalon or empire reserve, ive only dove the reserve outside of 2 harbors. like i said there arent that many fish, not nearly as many per acre as say, isthmus reef, a few hundred yards away. however the fish in that reserve are big, and bold. great place to take a camera. however i dont need any more places to take a camera, i need places where i can take home dinner. from what i remember about heisler park, it was a similar situation. not that fishy, but a few toads hanging around if you look for them.

Quote from littlemark

ive never dove the avalon or empire reserve, ive only dove the reserve outside of 2 harbors. like i said there arent that many fish, not nearly as many per acre as say, isthmus reef, a few hundred yards away. however the fish in that reserve are big, and bold. great place to take a camera. however i dont need any more places to take a camera, i need places where i can take home dinner. from what i remember about heisler park, it was a similar situation. not that fishy, but a few toads hanging around if you look for them.

very true, but Hiesler MPA is way inside the kelp bed and often has very little current. Bass love current inwhich they feed on bait pushed into the kelp. I think thats why most of the fish are outside the reserve at hiesler.

Reserve Calicos should be forced to share with the other calicos so its fair to every fish. I say we organize a bunch of starving calicos to stage an occupy MPA until they, the calicos of the reserve, start sharing with everyone else.