Mailbag: Grateful for Frank’s years of city service

I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to Ken Frank for his many years of hard work and talented leadership on behalf of the city and its residents.

I came to know Frank through my open space conservation work with Laguna Canyon Foundation. Always accessible irrespective of his hectic schedule, refreshingly candid and exacting, and literally an encyclopedia of insight about city issues and history, it was a great pleasure for me to work with him.

The experience also showed me just how much of an impact Frank has had on so many aspects of this city and, it being a place myself and so many millions of others cherish, Frank certainly deserves a huge debt of gratitude from all of us.

DEREK OSTENSEN

Laguna Beach

Kelp Fest 2010 a giant success

Nancy Caruso and Mike Beanan, co-sponsored by the Laguna Beach Boys & Girls Club, and many, many others, put on a fabulous Kelp Fest 2010 at Main Beach Saturday. The T-shirt is exceptional. For all you T-shirt aficionados, if you didn’t buy one there, you can buy them at Hobie’s or check it out at www.kelpfest.org.

The giant kelp forest on the rock ledge off Main Beach shone briney bright in the ocean and complemented the great all-day event.

Half of Laguna, it seemed, was there, not only the local enviros but many tourists and lovers of Laguna Beach who came out to celebrate the beauty of the natural world, especially the magnificent giant kelp that grows up to 24 inches per day! My husband and I had a wonderful time.

I loved Birdsong and her talented kids’ kelp chorus, who led us to sing and dance to the rhythm of the nearby surf. Southern California Edison Company showcased their 175-acre kelp forest recently installed off of San Clemente pier to create a projected 600 tons of algae, plant and fish biomass each year. Dozens of other groups joined in the festivities sharing fish cookies and a special tangy seaweed salad blended together by a young, aspiring chef.

A sophisticated and gracious underwater camera crew sent real time live images of Laguna’s kelp forest to an instant beachside studio. Erik Wong, a young talented kelp artist trained at Cal Arts, executed a large, beautiful garibaldi painting while free “Gaby Garibaldi” coloring books circulated among young and old alike.

The coloring books, designed by Erik and Orange Coast College students at www.coastcartoonstudio.com highlight the importance of kelp to our coastal ecology and were distributed by joint funding from the Laguna Ocean Foundation, Laguna Beach County Water District and South Coast Water District.

Don Flaws of Huntington Beach drew wonderful caricatures donating all proceeds to the Kelp Fest while a throng of jubilant “kelpers” formed a spontaneous drum circle to wrap up the event. And the drum beats on.

Thank you all for your generous time and hard work to make our coastal waters more vibrant, healthier and richer with the planting, return and expansion of our giant kelp beds.

Let’s have another Kelp Fest!

CHARLOTTE MASARIK

Laguna Beach

Kelp is good “” and so is fishing

The long letter by Mike Beanan celebrating kelp’s return (“Kelp has many benefits to sea life,” April 23) was pretty much accurate and I am happy about it, too.

But kelp has come and gone and varied in amounts every year, being almost wiped out with the massive red tide several years ago.

However, it recovered without any human intervention when water conditions returned to normal. That is not to say that human assistance is not a good thing, because it probably is a good thing as it accelerates what nature would accomplish eventually.

But this letter is to point out that hook and line fisherman do not damage kelp and there is absolutely no legitimate reason to close off the coast to such fishing. Sport fishing does not pollute the water nor decimate the fish populations.

The Department Fish and Game regulates the type and size of fish that can be caught. They regulate how many can be caught and the season they can be fished for. Beanan mentioned sheepshead fish as being important to the kelp by eating sea urchins. Fish and Game regulates fishing for sheepshead and would be quick to increase the rules if really needed, just as they do for most other types of fish and other marine life.

The Marine Life Protection Act and closing off huge portions of the California coast to fishing is not needed and are just more politically driven excesses created and driven by a certain segment of society for their personal pleasures and desires. These useless closures help nobody but unnecessarily injure and inconvenience many people and businesses.

DAVE CONNELL

Laguna Beach