The California Fish and Game Commission voted, 3-0, on Oct. 16 to reject a proposal to expand Laguna Beach’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) south toward Dana Point, leaving the last stretch of the city’s coastline open to fishing.
The Laguna Bluebelt Coalition had sought to extend the existing protected area to cover the remaining 1.32 miles of Laguna Beach coastline, between Table Rock and Three Arch Bay, where recreational and commercial fishing is still allowed.
The vote ends a nearly three-year effort to close the area to fishing, much to the relief of Dana Point’s fishing community, which had opposed the proposal over concerns about losing access to nearby waters.
Donna Kalez, co-owner and chief operating officer of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, said she attended the commission’s meetings in person before returning home and testifying virtually on the final day.
“We’re just very relieved and very thankful to all of the people that wrote letters,” Kalez said, thanking the cities of Dana Point and Laguna Beach, Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, Assemblymember Laurie Davies and state Sen. Tony Strickland for opposing the proposal.
If approved, the expansion would have closed all of Laguna Beach’s coastline to fishing, forcing local boats to travel farther south toward San Clemente. Kalez said Dana Wharf’s shorter trips depend on being able to fish in the nearby waters, including half-day excursions and its three-hour after-school fishing camp.
“For our short trips, it just would have really affected them, and in some cases, we wouldn’t be able to run them,” Kalez said. “It would be very devastating.”
In January 2024, when the Dana Point Times first reported on the proposed expansion, Kalez spoke out. “We can’t lose this option,” she said then, adding, “We are affordable access to the ocean.”
The proposed closure also raised concerns for Fish for Life, a nonprofit that takes children with special needs fishing aboard Dana Wharf’s 95-foot Dana Pride. Kalez recalled a time during an oil spill when Fish for Life trips had to travel farther south to San Clemente because they couldn’t fish in their usual waters.
“The ride was way too long for them,” she said. The program was nearly forced to cancel its remaining trips.
In the 2024 Dana Point Times report, commercial lobster fishermen also opposed the proposal, as many depend on the waters off South Laguna for their livelihoods. Among them was Ryan Troli, owner of Dana Point-based Harbor Fish Company, who raised concerns about further restricting an already heavily regulated industry.
“You start closing down more areas, we lose more areas to fish that have already kind of been taken away from us,” Troli said at the time.
The Laguna Bluebelt Coalition contended that increased fishing pressure had contributed to the decline of kelp forests and large predatory fish in the area. The group sought to protect the remaining stretch of coastline to help restore marine life, drawing support from environmental organizations including Orange County Coastkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Ocean Protection Council had both recommended denying the petition.
California completed its statewide network of Marine Protected Areas in 2012 to protect marine habitats and help restore fish populations. There are currently 124 designated MPAs along the state’s coastline.
Dana Wharf has operated alongside the existing protected areas for more than a decade and supports keeping the current boundaries in place while the state continues to study how well they are working.
Kalez said the issue is settled for now, with this being “on the heels of a 10-year review of the marine protected areas,” and the next major review several years down the road.
“I really want people to know that it’s settled, and that it’s a really good day for the fishing public that just wants access to the healthy oceans right off our coast,” she said.
Although she acknowledged that future attempts to expand the protected area could emerge, Kalez believes Laguna Beach residents generally oppose the closure and hopes the fishing community won’t have to revisit the issue until the next review.
“I think we’re safe, but we are always just advocates for fishing access, and that closure would have taken fishing access away from special-needs kids, senior citizens and a whole slew of people that use that coastline right there — that last mile of Laguna Beach,” she said.
“We lost nine miles 12 years ago, when this whole thing started,” she added. “And so that one mile is very, very important to us and to everybody involved.”