VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE ECOTRUST SOUTH COAST MLPA SURVEY

[PAL]

It might be a good idea to start compiling a "List of Kayak Fishing Areas"
that are sacred to us, so we have continuity when answering this Survey.

It can be done in another thread if necessary. Sort of Pre-Running the Survey Process.

Maybe PAL could do something as simple as List all the Areas us Southern Yak Fisherman should be placing our Pennies on.

Its a way of putting up a United Front during this survey process.

Ok, there's a bunch to touch on here.

First off, we can't game the survey without bringing all the data into question. What we can do - and this was a concesssion from Ecotrust, the survey designer - is encourage experienced kayak anglers to sign up.

BUT - I don't feel I'm going to far when I mention that the bays aren't facing the same closure threat as the ocean. Although there will be MPAs (closures) in the bays, as the guidance document is written now, they don't contribute much to a network's conservation score. The game here is pitching a network with high conservation value but limited impact on anglers.

Ah, but that's not all. We get to ground truth the survey. We also negotiated with Ecotrust to perform some surveys face to face or in small groups, rather than solely via the internet, where the data could potentially be monkey-wrenched or manipulated by pro-closure interests. We may even get to recruit focus groups for each area for those small group sessions.

When it comes to the crown jewels, we have our own data collection going at http://www.kfaca.org/launchsites.htm. The info - what you call a list of kayak fishing areas - will go to yet another MLPA data collection effort. Please check it out. It is very close to what you are asking for. The real precision - where exactly to draw a line - will come later in the game.

Both of these products - the Ecotrust survey and the GIS launch sites map - will be furnished to the Regional Stakeholders Group for use in the network planning process. Again, it is a list it or lose it situation.