Post by TominSalinasCA on May 6, 2005 1:49:38 GMT -5
Hey gang, recently, while looking through a tourist book, I read about the "Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary". This is a federally protected section of the coast, that was originally in Monterey Bay (or parts thereof), but has since been extended to include all the coastline, from MARIN to CAMBRIA (276 miles in length). This has been since 1992.
Reading the rules, I was shocked to see these parts. These are a direct cut and pastes:
You are prohibited from:
"Moving, removing or injuring, or attempting to move, remove or injure, a Sanctuary historical resource, except as an incidental result of:
Kelp harvesting,
Aquaculture, or
Traditional fishing operations."
and are prohibited from:
"Possessing within the Sanctuary (regardless of where taken, moved or removed from) any historical resource, or any marine mammal, sea turtle or seabird taken in violation of current regulations for the MMPA, ESA or MBTA except:
As necessary for valid law enforcement purposes. "
Do you see what I see there? "historical resources"! That is B-A-D, because, in other federal interpretations, that has come to mean anything over 50 yrs. old (long story with AARPA and such, that we won't go into here and now).
Here is the website for anyone wanting to check it out. Click on the rules and regulations:
montereybay.noaa.gov/
The sanctuary does cover the beach (perhaps only the up to the high tide line), and not just the off-shore waters. There is some sort of cooperative between the federal level, as it concerns this, and the various local entities that own the particular beaches within that stretch (city, county, state, and fed). I would imagine that federal rules would trump other rules, if they overlapped. Example: If Santa Cruz Main Boardwalk beach (city owned) had no prohibitions or problems with metal detectors, the fed. level could trump that.
Of course this is one of those things that is un-enforced at present. Probably written to stop ship-salvers, mining, etc.... but you can see how this can easily be construed to include us. And I don't know about the rest of the coast, but here in Monterey/Pacific Grove area, there are self-appointed watch dog groups that DO monitor for violations. They get on scuba divers case's for stepping on the ice-plant for instance, when they're changing into their gear. They'll actually form clubs, and walk the bike path (along cannery row/Lover's Point) and make sure the kayakers are staying XX feet away from sea otters, etc....
When the sea lion infestation was going on, Carraig and I caught holy heck, 'cuz some lady said we were interfering with a sea lion, basking on a rock, that wasn't even close to us! I complained to the harbor-master about that, and he said these were naturists, who had formed these club things, where that was their hobby, to do roving patrols. The harbor office agreed they'd gotten complaints about their attitude, they none-the-less appreciated them, because it's a public service that they didnt' have time or budget to be doing themselves, and that, right or wrong, I better just make the lady happy and go detect somewhere else
So what do you think? Will all it take is one clown to come, on a vacation, to CA, and decide he'd "better be safe", and inquire at the the office of the Sanctuary "Can I metal detect there"? Or will it be some naturist having a bad day, to use this other feature to shut us down?
And now that you all know this (can't claim ignorance), what do you do, if you are a fully law-abiding citizen, and "wouldn't want to risk having your detector confiscated (Dont'ya just love that line? ) ? Will you now stop detecting the beach on the central coast? Is there ever a point that we say "this is ridiculous", and conclude that a law, really isn't a "law", until it needs to be applied? Like a noise-ordinance: No one's going around with decibal meters, until you've actually had a police complaint, and they have to go enforce. Is that pitiful justification of law-breaking, or do I have a point?
Who's going to S. Cruz Main beach after the next whopper storm?
Reading the rules, I was shocked to see these parts. These are a direct cut and pastes:
You are prohibited from:
"Moving, removing or injuring, or attempting to move, remove or injure, a Sanctuary historical resource, except as an incidental result of:
Kelp harvesting,
Aquaculture, or
Traditional fishing operations."
and are prohibited from:
"Possessing within the Sanctuary (regardless of where taken, moved or removed from) any historical resource, or any marine mammal, sea turtle or seabird taken in violation of current regulations for the MMPA, ESA or MBTA except:
As necessary for valid law enforcement purposes. "
Do you see what I see there? "historical resources"! That is B-A-D, because, in other federal interpretations, that has come to mean anything over 50 yrs. old (long story with AARPA and such, that we won't go into here and now).
Here is the website for anyone wanting to check it out. Click on the rules and regulations:
montereybay.noaa.gov/
The sanctuary does cover the beach (perhaps only the up to the high tide line), and not just the off-shore waters. There is some sort of cooperative between the federal level, as it concerns this, and the various local entities that own the particular beaches within that stretch (city, county, state, and fed). I would imagine that federal rules would trump other rules, if they overlapped. Example: If Santa Cruz Main Boardwalk beach (city owned) had no prohibitions or problems with metal detectors, the fed. level could trump that.
Of course this is one of those things that is un-enforced at present. Probably written to stop ship-salvers, mining, etc.... but you can see how this can easily be construed to include us. And I don't know about the rest of the coast, but here in Monterey/Pacific Grove area, there are self-appointed watch dog groups that DO monitor for violations. They get on scuba divers case's for stepping on the ice-plant for instance, when they're changing into their gear. They'll actually form clubs, and walk the bike path (along cannery row/Lover's Point) and make sure the kayakers are staying XX feet away from sea otters, etc....
When the sea lion infestation was going on, Carraig and I caught holy heck, 'cuz some lady said we were interfering with a sea lion, basking on a rock, that wasn't even close to us! I complained to the harbor-master about that, and he said these were naturists, who had formed these club things, where that was their hobby, to do roving patrols. The harbor office agreed they'd gotten complaints about their attitude, they none-the-less appreciated them, because it's a public service that they didnt' have time or budget to be doing themselves, and that, right or wrong, I better just make the lady happy and go detect somewhere else
So what do you think? Will all it take is one clown to come, on a vacation, to CA, and decide he'd "better be safe", and inquire at the the office of the Sanctuary "Can I metal detect there"? Or will it be some naturist having a bad day, to use this other feature to shut us down?
And now that you all know this (can't claim ignorance), what do you do, if you are a fully law-abiding citizen, and "wouldn't want to risk having your detector confiscated (Dont'ya just love that line? ) ? Will you now stop detecting the beach on the central coast? Is there ever a point that we say "this is ridiculous", and conclude that a law, really isn't a "law", until it needs to be applied? Like a noise-ordinance: No one's going around with decibal meters, until you've actually had a police complaint, and they have to go enforce. Is that pitiful justification of law-breaking, or do I have a point?
Who's going to S. Cruz Main beach after the next whopper storm?