Cities, activists opine about ocean

Alicia Robinson

A state plan describing how to make California’s oceans cleaner and

protect marine life is a good start, but more specific actions are

needed, environmental activists told state Environmental Protection

Agency Secretary Terry Tamminen on Friday.

Activists asked for tools that identify the sources of bacteria

and other water pollution, the establishment of marine protected

areas, and more water conservation and reclamation instead of

controversial desalination plants.

The suggestions flowed freely from a who’s-who list of about 50

Southern California environmentalists and local officials who came to

Newport Beach on Friday for a meeting with Tamminen in the city

council chambers. Representatives from the cities of Malibu and

Encinitas and organizations such as the Sierra Club and Heal the Bay

wanted to voice their opinions on a draft plan created by Tamminen

and state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman.

Officials plan to incorporate the comment from Friday’s meeting

and one held Thursday in San Francisco into the report and submit it

to the governor by Sept. 2.

The plan advocates creating a cabinet-level state ocean council,

coordinating coastal water-quality programs, developing a statewide

research strategy and other recommendations. But environmentalists

said it needs to include more specific courses of action in some

areas.

“It’s got to be fleshed out with more specifics of how it’s going

to be done, but it’s a good start,” Newport Beach environmentalist

Jan Vandersloot said.

They stressed that officials should move forward with programs,

rather than continue to study water-quality problems. The action plan

was prompted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a response to two

national studies that predicted a crisis in ocean resources.

“These reports didn’t expose much we didn’t already know,” said

Joe Geever, Southern California regional manager of the Surfrider

Foundation, a conservation group. “This country recognized these

problems over three decades ago and devised similar action plans, and

yet the trends continue.”

While more work needs to be done, state officials said positive

changes are already taking place.

The city of Newport Beach is working on a variety of programs to

keep its water clean, said Jim Sinasek, the city’s code and

water-quality enforcement manager. City officials are seeking grants

to monitor canyon water quality, they’re testing new equipment to

destroy bacteria in storm water, and they’re sending out brochures to

educate residents about water-quality issues, he said.

While Newport Beach residents are more likely to be aware of

water-quality issues, communication around the state will be a key

element to putting more ocean protections in place, environmentalists

said.

Filmmaker Randy Olson, who helped create public-service

announcements on ocean conservation, pointed out that millions have

been spent on studying water-quality problems and very little on

sharing the results.

“There’s a lot of work being done on solutions to these problems,

but I’m not sure that the general audience has an idea what the

problems are,” he said.