LOS ANGELES, CA—A judicial panel has rejected a request from several fishing groups to reopen waters around California’s Channel Islands to fishing. Last year, the area was designated as one of the largest no-fishing zones in the country.
A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to continue the fishing ban, citing studies they say indicate that marine reserves quickly increase fish populations and eventually prove an economic boon to commercial fishing.
The fishermen claimed an “absolute right to fish” in public waters under the state constitution, however, the judges disagreed, saying the groups “have no constitutional right to deplete or destroy a fish preserve, in this instance, a marine sanctuary.”