About Me

Jon
Jonathan Gonzalez

One day in April of 2007, I was walking my dogs along the beach near my house and I almost stepped on an elephant seal. It was half buried in the sand and it wasn’t the least bit scared of me (or my dogs). The fact that it wasn’t reacting to us worried me so I called the police. They said that if it doesn’t look injured then it’s fine, but that didn’t sit well with me. I decided to stay next to it with the hope that it would eventually go back in the ocean on it’s own. About 10 minutes later guy came out of nowhere and threw a hoop net over it, sinched it up and asked if I would help him take it back to his truck. He politely explained he was with the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center and that the seal was going through a catastrophic molting process that was very normal that time of year. He said he was going to relocate it to a more secluded beach where it could rest without being bothered. I was fascinated and began volunteering at the center the very next week.

About one month later I made my first trip to our Channel Islands to release 8 sea lions that were successfully rehabbed at the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center. We anchored in front of Painted Cave at Santa Cruz Island at about 40ft. deep and I could see right to the bottom. It was absolutely full of life. There was a dive boat nearby and I thought to myself, I want to be down there! Not long after that I was SCUBA certified.

All of a sudden I found myself making frequent trips to the Islands to release rehabbed animals, encountering several species of whales, dolphins and porpoises along the way that I had never seen before in the wild. I had no idea we had so many “neighbors.” I also had no idea that so many ended up on our beaches suffering from a number of problems. Malnutrition, domoic acid poisoning, abscesses, shark bites, fishing entanglements, you name it I’ve seen it. My experiences diving and rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing marine mammals was a life-changer.

I’ve developed a fierce interest to learn more about fisheries, fisheries management, conservation strategies and just about anything that has to do with ocean health. I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the ocean and all life that calls the ocean it’s home. I want to do what I can to ensure that my future children and future generations will be able to enjoy the ocean and all it has to offer as much as I have.

Please visit my personal website www.organiccreativity.com.

You can email me at: eatusseafood at gmail dot com

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Tom Roff

Morro Bay and CA will suffer a large financial loss if this bill passes.

The Nature Conservancy and fishermen in the Drift Gillnet fleet have partnered in reducing mammal interactions. There is a lot going on that needs to be explained. Steve Rieneke and Mellissa Stevens of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) would like an opportunity to speak with Katcho on this issue. The DGN and the TNC have been working on an alternate plan to harvest swordfish and other pelagic fish that frequent our area. The plan also includes a method to reduce latent capacity and an orderly transition to other methods of production without destroying the fishermen and their families.

that will reduce interactions but maintain a supply of sustainable seafood for CA.

My vessel supplies on an average of over 100,000 seafood dinners a year. The average seafood dinner is $17.00 and if you add local SLO County wine, a dinner for two is $50.00 dollars. This equates to 1.25 million dollars and the sales tax is

$90,000 dollars.

We have employees and our product is handled by many other locals that rely on our production for a paycheck.

Morro Bay relies on the tourist trade and polls show one of the highest rated activities is a trip to the waterfront and fresh local seafood dinner.

TNC has an office in Morro Bay and has spent the last several years working with fishermen in the quest for sustainability harvested seafood.

We would like an opportunity to meet at Katcho’s earliest convenience.

TNC’s office number is 805 771-9234. Steve will be happy to supply any information that is helpful.

Since 1990, landings in the HMS complex in Morro Bay topped 8 million pounds

with the majority coming from swordfish and tuna (albacore and bluefin). Since

then, landings have been primarily been made up of swordfish. The HMS complex

recorded landings of 127,522 pounds across all species in 2012. (2012 Morro Bay Commercial Impact Report)

For the complete report go to the front page at SLOFiberfish.org

2012 was a low poundage year because we rely on ocean conditions and it was a cold water year. The fleet fished further South.

Thank you for your past support;

Tom Roff

Morro Bay CA
Jonathan
We’ve shared before and I thank you for the educational way you approach this issue.
I saw the start on your new fact sheet. I pasted a letter I sent to our assemblyman. As you can see we’ve added new pingers. When I have time Ill write more now that I found your new hideout.
If I can help let me know. We became proactive when we saw the problem.
Sincerely
Tom

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