First Name | Tom |
---|---|
Last Name | Geldner |
Email Address | tom@geldner.com |
Affiliation | Recreational fisherman |
Subject | CHC2021 - Save our boats and recreational fishing |
Comment | Dear CARB, I am both a recreational fisherman and a supporter of sustainability. In fact, I used to be the Director of Marketing for the California Center for Sustainable Energy (aka CSE), a large NGO that promotes and sponsors green energy and renewables. HOWEVER, what is being proposed under the Commercial Harbor Craft regulations goes WAY beyond anything I've ever come across in my 20 years of monitoring rule making. It's like using multiple sledge hammers to kill an ant. Not only is the technology virtually unobtainable and extraordinarily expensive, it has the potential to scrap wooden and fiberglass vessels removing hundreds if not thousands of working boats from service. Off-shore recreational fishing is largely a working class sport. While a few boats may cater to the wealthy, the vast majority of participants are ordinary folks who pay $50 to go on half-day trips or $250 to go on overnight trips with their friends and families. These "party" boats serve up to 50 anglers at a time. Should your new rules go into effect, it would literally triple to quadruple the price of trips or simply cause operators to stop altogether in California while scrapping perfectly good craft. How does this serve the public in any way? Sportfishing is NOT a major source of air pollution -- especially since many trips only leave from a California harbor and travel well beyond the 3 mile state limits and 12 mile US limits. Again, unless you deliberately want to put sportfishing out of business, please reconsider your actions. |
Attachment | |
Original File Name | |
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2021-10-04 14:11:48 |
If you have any questions or comments please contact Clerk of the Board at (916) 322-5594.