Fisheries committee  Given the guidelines, that's right.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  They were meant to be representatives of as many groups as possible that had a vested interest in ocean activities, so there were various recreational and commercial fisheries.

Fisheries committee  Sorry?

Fisheries committee  Oh, yes. There were first nation representatives, some of the state and federal agencies that had responsibility for managing marine ecosystems, conservation groups, NGOs, and non-governmental conservation organizations. They crafted it by making groups, with each of those differ

Fisheries committee  It sounds tight. Eighteen months sounds like a short period of time, but it just depends on the capacity of the planning process to bring those people together—how quickly and how frequently you can come to some level of consensus in what you generate.

Fisheries committee  I would argue to accommodate the necessary time frame required to bring people together to make that inclusive planning process. Moving forward on that at a reasonable rate is necessary because it takes a while to do, and you learn as you do it. Sorry, but you are breaking new gr

Fisheries committee  It was the State of California and the group that implemented it was the state resources agency responsible for natural resources. There were three components of that process, or I should say, four. The group that has the authority to create a protected area is the Fish and Game

Fisheries committee  I think you have to be careful there. Recognize that the target for a sustainable fishery is to reduce the stock size down to a level such that you're maintaining sustainable take through time. You can do that by removing over 50% of that stock and still achieve a sustainable tak

Fisheries committee  That's an excellent question, and there are two parts to it. In some cases, certainly, there is the possibility that invasive species that are changing their distribution in response to changing ocean conditions will invade and potentially alter what we're trying to protect with

Fisheries committee  That's a brilliant question. I'm glad you asked it. I am not a fan of the target of a percentage of protected areas. That has largely been based out of political reasons for countries to move forward in this process, in this development of protected areas. In the State of Cali

Fisheries committee  Thanks. That was considered in two ways in the California process. There was an effort to get fishermen to identify the importance of areas to their fisheries. That spatial map of the importance of the different kinds of fisheries was made available to the stakeholders, so when

Fisheries committee  I think one of the key issues is how persistent you think the impact will be. For example, some activities, including waste-water discharge, are regulated. In some cases, when the licences for either waste-water discharge or an oil platform expire, the idea is that those will be

Fisheries committee  No kidding. Yes, that's going to be there for a while.

Fisheries committee  Frankly, the removal of the oil platforms is being thought about constantly.