To protect the coast

Lauren Vane

Standing on a bluff overlooking the West Street beach, Marine

Protection Officer Matt Brown surveyed the shoreline below and took

in the Saturday afternoon beach crowd. Inviting as the warm sand

looked, Brown wasn’t scoping out the perfect spot to lay his beach

towel.

He was working.

Brown scanned the beach with a careful eye and a pair of

binoculars, searching for anyone who might be fishing illegally or

collecting marine life from the nearby tide pools. Satisfied that

there was no evidence of foul play, Brown left the cliff’s edge and

trod through the tall grass back to his lifeguard truck. On to patrol

the next beach: Montage.

In shorts and flip-flops, armed with sunglasses and sunscreen,

Brown is not a sworn police officer but he protects and serves a

valued population just the same; Brown stands guard over the marine

life of Laguna Beach.

“It’s by far the best job I’ve had in my adult life,” Brown said.

“I don’t have to wear a tie.”

Brown is the city’s first marine protection officer and began work

this December at the urging of local environmental groups. The

position was designed to be a combination of public education and

enforcement, with the ultimate goal of protecting Laguna’s natural

resources, Brown said.

“We’re certainly happy that he’s on board and we just want to try

and work with him as best we can to try and do his job,” said Rick

Wilson, Chairman of the Laguna Beach Chapter of the Surfrider

Foundation.

One of Brown’s tasks as Marine Protection Officer is to educate

the public on the local marine ecology and how to observe and

experience it without causing damage, Brown said.

As part of the education plan, Brown is initiating a program to

bring school children to Laguna’s beaches to learn about the local

marine ecology. He recently sent out letters to schools throughout

Orange County to alert them about the new program.

When he sees someone violating Laguna’s protected coastline, Brown

makes it a priority to first educate them on what they’re doing

wrong, he said. But sometimes, a little education isn’t enough and

Brown lays down a lasting impression of Laguna’s seriousness toward

marine protection: He writes a hefty citation that makes a speeding

ticket look affordable.

As of January 2005, all of Laguna was designated a California

State Marine Park and Heisler Park was named a Marine State Reserve;

fishing with a license is legal in a marine park, but nothing can be

taken off the beach, and fishing of any kind is illegal in Heisler

Park.

“It’s a big public education effort and the need for it will never

go away because you’re always going to have all these visitors,”

Wilson said.

Since December, Brown said he has written about 12 citations. A

ticket for fishing without a license can run up to $700 and taking

anything from the beach could result in an even greater expense,

Brown said.

So far, most everyone Brown has cited has been cooperative, he

said.

“On the 12 tickets I’ve written, I’ve gotten high-fives and shook

hands on all but one,” Brown said.

After leaving West Street beach, Brown continued his weekend

patrol at the beach in front of the Montage Resort, a popular tide

pooling hotspot. Brown spotted several people fishing and went out to

investigate. Flip-flops flailing, he hurriedly leapt from one

mussel-covered rock to next. When he reached the fishermen, he

discovered that one of the men had a license and the other did not.

Brown did not issue a citation; he advised them of the rules and the

men were receptive.

“It’s how you present it to them,” Brown said.

Brown’s background and work experience make it seem as if the job

were tailor made for him. He has a degree in science and worked as an

elementary and junior high teacher. Most recently, Brown had a career

in sales.

Besides having the necessary background on paper, Brown knows the

beaches of Laguna; he grew up here and that’s why he has a vested

interest in protecting the ecosystem, Brown said.

“I think Matt is really an ideal person for the job for several

reasons,” Wilson said, citing Brown’s experience as a lifeguard and

also his height. “I think that if he wanted to he could be pretty

intimidating.”

“It [life guarding] got me more of an inside knowledge of the

marine ecosystem,” Brown said.

Mark Klosterman, Laguna Beach Marine Safety Chief, said that the

lifeguards have always enforced marine protection violations and will

continue to do so, aiding in Brown’s efforts.

“He’s still going to get a lot of support from the lifeguard staff

in regards to marine ecology enforcement,” Klosterman said.

Klosterman said the lifeguards have received several anonymous

calls from people who call and ask if the city has a fish and game

officer, then hang up. Klosterman and Brown said they suspect these

callers are poachers who don’t want to get caught.

“The key to marine protection unfortunately is enforcement, and

the word is getting out that the city has, in a sense, their own fish

and game officer,” Klosterman said.

In his time at this job, Brown has a list of accomplishments he’d

like to see happen. He hopes that the marine protection program will

grow and allow for more officers and increased coverage, Brown said.

The creation of marine life interpretive centers is also high on

Brown’s to-do list. He would like to see educational centers at

Heisler Park and at Montage, where the beaches receive lots of

visitors, Brown said.

At the conclusion of his Saturday patrol, the sun had begun its

descent, and Brown ended the day at Crescent Bay Beach. Once again,

Brown spotted several people fishing and noticed they had bags and

possibly buckets that could be holding mussels taken from the rocks.

By the time Brown reached the beach, the fishermen were gone and all

they left behind was a plastic grocery bag in the spot where they had

been sitting. Brown went over, scooped up the bag and with an angry

grimace, opened it up to show a pile of mussels that had likely been

used as bait.

“If I saw this from somebody, I would have cited them, and it

would have been a very expensive ticket -- and a misdemeanor,” Brown

said.