SMOKE AND MIRROR: KEN WISEMAN "BACKED OFF" ON EXTERNAL C?

[zenspearo]

Let's take stock team. The initial impression ain't what it seems.

Okay, just got off the phone. It's been a nut house. I had to cut off one RSG member (sorry dude...)so I can go and take a leak--it's been a 3 coffee-pot morning.

Phone now on no-disturb so I can type this out.

My first pass, putting on my five-cent lawyer hat and having a few minutes in between calls to look at this, is that the change is a mere change in form and not substance. Chris Fiero independently came up with the same conclusion.

"A Round 3 process may include suggestion by the BRTF of which proposals SCRSG members may use as a starting place for Round 3 negotiations or identification of very similar proposals that should logically be merged."

"Encourage SCRSG members to draw on all of the MPA ideas to date to develop their Round 3 MPA proposals, including borrowing and incorporating ideas from external proposals as useful and appropriate."

Analysis: What they are saying is that all the work, all the hard-fought compromises had resulted in something the enviro side didn't like. The in-your-face approach of including External C going forward backfired. They are trying the back-door approach of changing the rules on the RSG. Now, the ideas of External C, including the possibility of the BRTF requiring that External C as the starting place for Round 3 negotiations, are there.

Why the f&ck did the RSG do all the work and compromise in round 2 for if they are now required to go back and rehash on the ones they rejected. This guts the whole notion of "winnowing" the proposals if the powers-that-be can tell the participants to consider the ideas in the rejected proposals after the rejected proposal was voted out. This wiped out any gain our consumptive RSGs made but forced them to live with any compromise they gave up on to get to consensus in their gem group.

The starting line now is the compromised maps (which our consumptive RSGs gave up some here and there to get to concensus) and THE IDEAS of the extreme map (e.g., External C). Not explicit External C map, but all of its ideas are now put back in the process. In other words, the enviros didn't compromise on their External C. It's still brutally oppressive for consumptives. And its concepts are allowed to move forward. Look at the external C map. That means the concept of a huge closure off La Jolla, off Point Loma, off the entire Laguna/OC coast, off the most used reefs in the Santa Barbara area, of huge swaths of the islands, are now back in consideration and the RSGs must deal with them again. I'd be dancing if I were on the enviro side--money DOES buy everything.

By the way, this is a huge change in operating procedure and the whole RSG is in chaos. I've spoken to a few after this, and they are in confusion. Not because they are not smart but because they are being gamed again, and the rules are shifting--WTF are the ground rules now?

And don't ignore the obvious slamming of the consumptives for "block voting" and intimidation. What a crock of sh$t. That will be their rally cry going into the third round.

Bottomline: This is still smoke and mirror. They are backing off the in-your-face approach and trying the cutesy backdoor approach to sneak the ideas and concepts of the rejected External C back in.

Some RSGs feel this is even more insidious. Either way, it wiped out their work in the previous round.

Stay tuned. We are revising strategy to deal with this. But you must go still and point out the problems. They hope this will take the wind out of our sail. One RSG member pointedly say that you guys (the rank-and-file fishermen and spearos gearing up and the prospect of hundreds of angry fishermen showing up to hammer the point home) forced their hands. They are counting on us being stupid not to see it. Smack 'em. See you Thursday.