NOAA Sanctuary Superintendant Refuses to Reconsider Ban on Jet Skis for Big Wave Surfers

Despite pleas from big wave surfers who have asked to use jet skis to help save lives, the committee that makes recommendations for what should be allowed on Monterey Bay has refused to reconsider its current bans.

"I'm not interested in a working group," said Paul Michel, the federal employee who is in charge of the 6,000-mile Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, which is the ocean's answer to a National Park.

"I have 50 other priorities right now. I don't have the resources or the time."

Other members of the council, surfers and AMBAG, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, have asked Michel to form a committee to take another look another look at the regulations and come up with a compromise that will help save lives.

Surfer n March 2011 and two other surfers have been saved by jet skis used illegally, including actor Gerard Butler movie "."

"I think it's a big mistake," said councilmember Steve Scheiblauer, who has been Harbor Master in Santa Cruz and Monterey. "It's hugely in the interest of the Sanctuary to figure this out. If they don't figure it out they are going to have another drowning. The big waves and surfers are Sanctuary resources too."

Scheiblauer said he isn't talking about opening the whole area to recreational jet skis, which many find annoying, but allowing big wave surfers who have brought a highly-regarded new sport to the area, to use them out in the waves as rescue vehicles.

He said the jet skis are to surfers what lifeguard towers along the beach are to swimmers.

Others, however, said that if the surfers want to risk the dangerous waves, it wasn't NOAA's responsibility to provide safety measures or allow the ones they are asking for.

"Everybody is responsible for their own activity," said Christopher Harold, the director of conservation research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "If somebody is killed in a big wave event, it's because they chose to participate in a big wave event."

He added that surfers need to assess the risks without an exception for jet skis and decide if surfing big waves is worth that risk.

"In my opinion we should be spending our time on resource protection issues."

The body that represents Monterey Bay governments sent a strong plea to Michel to study the need for jet skis for big wave surfers.

"The issue of public safety related to big wave surfing and the use of personal water craft continues to be of significant concern to the AMBAG Board," the body said in a letter to Michel. "The Board encourages the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary leadership to proactively take steps to address the public safety issues within the framework of existing regulations."

It made suggestions such as giving permits to PWC teams to train and use the craft in big surf or drop the requirement of 20 foot waves for jet skis down to 15 feet, which are still dangerous.

Michel said he hadn't had time to consider the letter during the Advisory meeting.

As has been common in the 20 years of debate on jet skis, the council couldn't reach a consensus, although more seemed in favor of reconsidering the issue.

Michel, who earns $142,000 as Superintendant of the Monterey Marine Sanctuary, selects the council members and has final approval of the agenda. That group is made up of 20 volunteers from industries related to the Bay, including divers, educators, conservationists and people in business and recreational fishing.

The council makes recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA for short – the agency that proposes and enforces regulations for the sanctuary.

Jet skis, formally known as Personal Watercraft, or PWCs, have been the subject of debate on the council for two decades. They aren't banned, but are limited. They can be used during the winter, when waves are over 20 feet high, at Mavericks and parts of Moss Landing.

The restrictions don't give them enough time to practice the rest of the year, said big wave surfers who spoke at the Louden Nelson Center last week.

The debate had some members questioning the Council's purpose. It is supposed to consider residents' concerns, said Scheiblauer. However, Michel—the NOAA administrator—was the one deciding what should be heard.

"The Sanctuary advisory body is supposed to represent the community, but it can't even set its own agenda unless it's OK with the Sanctuary Superintendant," said Scheiblauer. "How the heck did that happen?"