Point Reyes Light - September 7, 2000
Expansion of Farallones sanctuary hits rough water
Fishermen and farmers in San Mateo County are divided over a plan to extend the Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which now includes almost all of West Marin's coastal waters, 50 miles south to Point Año Nuevo.
The US Department of Commerce plans next year to consider switching the borderline between the Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which extends well beyond that bay's natural boundaries and right up to Muir Beach.
Officials with Gulf of Farallones sanctuary have said that drawing the border at Point Año Nuevo would make sense geographically, and Marin supervisors endorsed the reconfiguration in a letter sent to the Commerce Department five months ago.
Farmers want to stay put However, San Mateo County supervisors are having a harder time casting their allegiance with one marine sanctuary over another. During a supervisors' hearing last month, the reconfigured borders were supported by the San Mateo County Harbor District but opposed by the San Mateo County Farm Bureau.
Jack Olsen, the San Mateo County Farm Bureau's executive administrator, said farmers and ranchers there have worked closely with Monterey Bay sanctuary officials to set up a plan to monitor agricultural runoff in the watersheds emptying into the marine sanctuary.
"We don't want to see this program lost in the shuffle," Olsen said. The water quality program is nine months into its first five-year phase, and there are plans to administer it from an office at Half Moon Bay.
Change more efficient However, the San Mateo County Harbor District, like the San Francisco-based Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, considers it more efficient to have marine sanctuary borders that relate to ocean geography, as well as the jurisdictional boundaries used by other federal, state and county agencies.
San Mateo County supervisor Rich Gordon said he plans to form a committee of farmers, fishers, and other interested parties to help him and his colleagues decide whether to support the Gulf of Farallones sanctuary's attempt to annex the northern half of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
"I think what it boils down to is that groups that have worked closely with Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on issues want to stay affiliated with Monterey Bay, and groups that have worked with Gulf of Farallones want to switch," he said.
Compromise possible A possible compromise, he said, would be to let San Mateo farmers continue working with Monterey Bay officials until the agricultural program's first phase expires, then reconsider whether it should be administered from the Gulf of Farallones' offices at Fort Mason in San Francisco.
Complicating matters is the fact that the San Mateo County supervisors lobbied for creating the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992 to eliminate the possibility of oil drilling off the San Mateo County coast.
Although county staff have recommended that San Mateo County remain neutral in the sanctuaries' turf battle, Gordon said the board of supervisors have an obligation to state their preference, however difficult it is to establish one. "This wasn't something we were looking for as an issue," Gordon said.