Features

An ominous yet familiar access battle – February 12, 2007

For more than a month, industry watchers have been closely monitoring a potential restriction on personal watercraft use in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. At the heart of the issue is the thought that sanctuary officials are ignoring scientific studies that the federal government has spent millions on.
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency that governs the national marine sanctuaries, has reportedly spent nearly $72 million on environmental impact studies within the past several years, but not a dime on studying the effect of personal watercraft. Nevertheless, marine sanctuary officials in Monterey appear ready to recommend severely restricting PWC use when the plan is presented to Congress.
Powersports Business recently sat down with Maureen Healey, executive director of the Personal Watercraft Industry Association (PWIA), to get some perspective on the issue. What she had to say should raise concern among PWC enthusiasts far beyond the California coast.
Apples To Oranges
What makes the situation in California difficult to understand is this — the PWC community has already waged this battle with the federal government, albeit in the national parks. If those parks have completed extensive studies, and come out in favor of continued PWC access, what makes the situation in Monterey Bay any different?
“We’ve been asking ourselves that same question,” said Healey. “The National Park Service had to go through a very rigid process to conduct an environmental assessment at each park. And as you know, 15 out of 15 of these studies concluded that personal watercraft should be allowed back in.
“If one federal agency has to go through the rigid process of conducting an environmental assessment based on good sound data, we think another federal agency, such as NOAA’s national marine sanctuary in Monterey, should have to do the same thing. And boy, we are finding out something completely and totally different.”
What Healey, the PWIA and others have discovered is that it appears sanctuary administrators are not listening to the affected parties. She recently visited Dan Basta, the director of NOAA’s Marine Sanctuaries Program in Washington, D.C., to make the case why his managers in Monterey need to scrap their proposed PWC restriction.
“While he thought we made a strong case, we’re not sure we can win the battle with NOAA using sound science,” said Healey. “Needless to say we were disappointed about that.”
Sanctuary officials view the restriction as the closure of an existing loophole in the law. Currently, one-to-two passenger PWC are allowed in four designated, low-surf areas within sanctuary waters. Three-passenger operators, however, specifically tow surfers, have been operating within popular high-surf areas, like Mavericks, because the rule was put in place before such craft existed. “Our definition is obsolete,” said Monterey sanctuary spokesperson Rachel Saunders. “We are proposing to change it.
“We’re not doing what a lot of people have asked us to do, which is to ban them completely,” said Saunders. “We’re trying to find a way to both accommodate their use within the sanctuary, but to do it in such a way that it doesn’t undercut our mandate to protect the resources.”
What the proposal does not take into account, however, is that modern personal watercraft are nothing like the 1992-era vehicles the current rules are based upon. Current technology has resulted in craft that are up to 90 percent cleaner than their pre-1998 counterparts, as well as 70 percent quieter.
“Nothing could be more ludicrous,” said Healey. “We’re talking about an entirely different breed of vessel.”
Saunders acknowledges the sanctuary has not done any specific studies on PWC usage. “But, there have been studies that have looked at this issue, and have concluded that there is disturbance,” she says. “We have a lot of sensitive species that are within the sanctuary, and we do not want to put them at that kind of risk.”
Those who oppose the restriction point out that many of those studies are dated, and don’t reflect the modern PWC likely to be used in the waters off the sanctuary. “There is no sound science or site-specific data to back up” the proposal, says Healey. “Upon looking into what they call documented evidence sufficient to propose a ban, we found a study from 1975 and a bunch of opinion pieces from the 1980s and ’90s. That to me is not any way to conduct good regulatory policy.”
Closing that “loophole” also has resulted in a definition that includes any powerboat shorter than 20 feet. Now personal watercraft are not the only target, but also a vast number of motor boats as well.
What Conflict?
Another much-publicized aspect of the proposed PWC restriction is the contention that there have been conflicts between the traditional paddle-in surfers in the area and those who use PWC to tow into the waves. According to Healey, however, the sentiment does not hold water. “There hasn’t been one citation issued by the Harbor Master in Monterey to a PWC,” she said. “In fact, kayakers have caused more problems in the area.”
As to future situations in the water, access supporters point a finger toward Hawaii, which has successfully navigated a compromise between the island’s surfers, allowing tow-in surfing in established zones to avoid any potential conflict, and approving the activity only during high-surf periods. Participants also are required to take a boater’s education course and are prohibited within a certain proximity to shore.
The PWIA points to the state’s plan as a model example of what could be done in Monterey Bay, as well as elsewhere. “When we met with the NOAA director, we offered our help,” says Healey. “The PWC industry is known for working with federal agencies. We asked them to let us help come up with a better compromise. We’re still waiting to see how that goes.”
The contention that PWC also have been in conflict with area wildlife has not been backed up by any documented proof. Local officials acknowledge there has never been a seal injury due to PWC. “At a city council hearing I attended recently in Monterey, a council member asked the city’s Harbor Master how many documented cases involved a PWC harming a seal,” said Brian Berry, a public relations consultant for the PWIA. “He said never once. Never once.
“What you have here is a bunch of anecdotal arguments, where someone says, ‘You know, I saw someone on a Jet Ski get too close to a harbor seal.’ So what does that mean, you should ban everybody in the state who owns a PWC? No, it means you should enforce the law, and issue that one particular operator a ticket.”
Ripple Effect
The bitter pill for the industry, however, remains the idea that extensive studies have already been done on the subject by another federal agency, and are essentially being ignored. That and the fact that never during the process of creating the plan did Monterey sanctuary officials consult with or seek any guidance from those who arguably know the waters best — the California Department of Boating and Waterways or the California Harbormasters Association.
Despite public hearings and an overwhelming amount of opposition — from groups including the California Harbormasters Association and the city of Monterey — it appears sanctuary officials intend to press on with a call for the restriction. “They all oppose this for the same reason,” said Healey. “It is an ill-guided plan, and it doesn’t represent the current industry, current science, current anything.”
What can be done?
Healey urges anyone with an interest in the situation to get the word out, contact their congressional representative and express their opinion that the PWC plan, in its current form, just simply does not stand up to scrutiny.
Healey also warns this isn’t an issue that will just affect a part of central California.
“You think, big deal, how many PWC are out in Monterey Bay?” Healey asked. “But let me tell you something, if this passes in Monterey Bay, you could realistically expect that other sanctuaries around the country could just pick this up and template it right into their management plan. And there it goes.
“Is this just going to be one episode in Monterey Bay? More likely it will become pandemic throughout the entire marine sanctuary system. You’ve got one flawed rulemaking that could unfortunately rule the day. We cannot stress how ominous that can be.” psb

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button