State Commission Approves Fishing Restrictions

The state Fish and Game Commission on Wednesday voted to establish a network of Marine Protected Areas along the Southern California coast aimed at protecting marine life and habitats.

The changes, part of the state Marine Life Protection Act, will limit or prohibit fishing in  Upper Newport Bay State Marine Park, the Robert E. Badham State Marine Conservation Area, the Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area and the Irvine Coast State Marine Conservation Area. 

''Today is an historic day for ocean protection,'' said Sarah Sikich, who was involved in drawing the map of protected areas and is the coast resources director for the environmental group Heal the Bay.

''The establishment of Marine Protected Areas in Southern California'swaters will help safeguard our marine life and coastal heritage for future generations. In the long term, we all are going to benefit from larger and more plentiful fish.''

, Newport Beach-based sport fishing businesses expressed concern over the restrictions, saying they would hurt business and cause unrestricted areas to be overfished.

"Everybody along the waterfront is going to be impacted by this thing in some way because they're basically closing areas," Mike Thompson, co-owner of Newport Landing, said in October.

The Marine Life Protection Act,  passed in 1999,  requires California to re-evaluate  protected marine areas and potentially design new ones. It divides the state into five regions: the Central Coast, North Central Coast, South Coast, North Coast and San Francisco Bay. Regulations for the Central Coast were implemented in 2007, with those for the North Central Coast implemented in January. Newport Beach is part of the South Coast area.

City News Service contributed to this report.