August 2009
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events
News & Events
Marine Life Protection Act Update
Stormwater News
"Where's Your Bag?" Event
Stream Team - August 1st & 2nd
Become a Channelkeeper
Member!
Did You Know?
Hundreds of thousands
of marine mammals,
sea turtles, and birds
die every year from
ingesting plastic
bags?!
It only takes a short walk
on the beach to see this
plastic debris and to
understand how sea
Marine Life Protection Act Update
This month, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA)
Initiative moves into the third and final round of
negotiations to design alternatives for a network
of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the
Southern California coast. Unfortunately, many
stakeholders including conservationists, scientists,
Native Americans and government officials contest
that none of the six MPA network proposals
emerging out of the second round of stakeholder
deliberations represent their interests. This is
primarily due to the fact that voting was
erroneously used to make decisions on MPA
placement and to eliminate the science-based
conservation-oriented proposal co-authored by
Channelkeeper, and representatives of
consumptive interests (including fishermen, tackle
shops, and desalination and power plants, among
others) constitute a broad majority on the state-
appointed stakeholder group that voted.
Regretfully, a small but vocal group of individuals is also disseminating
misinformation about MPAs in our community, suggesting that non-consumptive
recreational activities like surfing and diving will be restricted in the MPAs being
created through the MLPA Initiative. Channelkeeper has been tracking the
public MLPA process extremely closely, and no Southern California MPA
recommendation nor individual stakeholder group member has proposed such
restrictions on non-consumptive activities. One of the six overarching goals of
the MLPA specifically states that MPAs should enhance and encourage public
recreational use of the marine resources in MPAs. Therefore, restriction of
public access in MPAs is inconsistent with the spirit of the law and is not being
recommended by the policy guidance panel (the Blue Ribbon Task Force, or
BRTF). Channelkeeper supports the intent of MPAs to provide opportunities to
promote responsible, non-consumptive public enjoyment of our marine life and
habitats, and we will be critically attentive to any interest group that seeks to
place blanket restrictions on non-consumptive activities in MPAs.
The BRTF meets on July 28-29 in Santa Monica to finalize their guidance for the
stakeholder group's development of the final MPA network proposals, and the
stakeholder group begins their final round of negotiations in Carlsbad on August
3-4. Please join Channelkeeper in countering misinformation about MPAs and
advocating for a Southern California MPA network that will be effective in
restoring and protecting our precious marine life. Please attend the upcoming
meetings, submit written comments by visiting www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa or contact
us at michael@sbck.org or 805.637.8730.
animals can mistake it for Stormwater News
food.
The City of Carpinteria is at long last finalizing its Storm Water Management
Californians throw away Program (SWMP) as required by California's municipal storm water discharge
permit. The cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, Santa Barbara County and UCSB
600 plastic bags per
are already working to implement their own SWMPs, which were approved by
second and use 19 billion the Central Coast Regional Water Board over the past two years with extensive
plastic bags per year. input from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper. Last week we provided our
Protect marine life by recommendations to Carpinteria for how we believe their SWMP should be
strengthened to better protect its creeks and beaches from urban runoff
using reusable bags every
pollution, and you too can review and comment on the SWMP. The Regional
time you shop and Water Board will post the draft document on its website on August 1st and will
recycling the plastic and be accepting public comments for 60 days thereafter. You can also sign up to
paper bags you use. receive emails about Central Coast municipalities' SWMPs by clicking here and
subscribing to the Water Board's municipal storm water listserv.

Santa Barbara County's third annual SWMP implementation report will also be
available for public comment for two weeks beginning on August 17th (to
receive and comment on the annual report and other SWMP updates, email
Project Clean Water). One of the milestones that will be highlighted in the report
is Project Clean Water's recent installation of creek signs at 42 County road
bridge crossings. The signs, which include the name of the creek and the
message "Keep our Creeks Clean - Flows to the Ocean," aim to increase public
awareness about illegal dumping and the connection of our creeks to the ocean.
The installation of these creek signs was included as a required activity in the
County's SWMP as a direct result of Channelkeeper's advocacy.

Please email or call us at 805.563.3377 ext. 1 if you would like to receive a

copy of Channelkeeper's comments on Carpinteria's (or another Central Coast
municipality's) SWMP or have any questions or concerns that you would like us
to relay to City or Water Board officials on your behalf.

"Where's Your Bag?" Event!

Friday, August 28th from 2-5pm
Please join Channelkeeper, the City of
Santa Barbara's Environmental Services
Division, Choose to Reuse, and other
community partners at the official
kickoff event for the "Where's Your Bag"
campaign on August 28th from 2-5
pm at State and De La Guerra
Streets. Festivities will include live
music, a "Trashy Fashion Show" (with
prizes!), reusable bag giveaways,
activities for kids and more.

The "Where's Your Bag" campaign

aims to reduce the use of
disposable shopping bags - both plastic and paper - at grocery stores
throughout Santa Barbara by educating the public about the problems
associated with single-use bags and encouraging the use of reusable
bags.

Plastic bags have significant harmful environmental impacts. Not only are they
produced from non-renewable resources, but they are a major component of
litter on our beaches and in our oceans. They never biodegrade and are
hazardous to marine animals and birds that mistake the bags for food or
become entangled in them. Paper bags are not the answer either, as they are
extremely energy intensive to produce and contribute to global warming. Sadly,
only a very small percentage of either paper or plastic bags are recycled.
 In addition to your attendance at the event, Channelkeeper is also seeking
volunteers to assist with both the kickoff event and reusable bag
distribution. We need volunteers to help staff tables at several stores to give
away free reusable bags on Saturday, August 29th from 10 AM to noon. Please
email or call Penny Owens at 805.563.3377 ext. 0 to volunteer. We look
forward to seeing you at the kickoff event on August 28th!

Stream Team - August 1st & 2nd

Stream Team is Channelkeeper's
volunteer-based water quality monitoring
program. Every month, volunteers join
Channelkeeper staff to test for common
water quality parameters at numerous
sites in the Ventura River and Goleta
Slough watersheds. Come join us to help
protect our local waterways; we will be
testing in Ventura on Saturday, August
1st and in Goleta on Sunday, August 2nd.
For more information, visit our website, or
contact Penny Owens at penny@sbck.org
or 805.563.3377 ext.0.

Become a Channelkeeper
Member!
Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needed
now more than ever. Become a member of the
Channelkeeper crew today with your tax-deductible
donation. You'll be investing in clean water and
healthy communities along the Santa Barbara
Channel today and for future generations. With
your membership, you will receive our regular
newsletters, news updates and action alerts, and
invitations to special Channelkeeper events and fun volunteer opportunities. All
new members also receive a free Channelkeeper sticker, identifying you as a
steward of the Santa Barbara Channel. And now, all new donors contributing
$50 or more can receive a Channelkeeper t-shirt, and for donations of $250 or
more, quarterly issues of the Waterkeeper magazine.

Sign up today by calling 805.563.3377 x4 or emailing us at lisa@sbck.org

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