Coastside Fishing Club v. California Fish & Game Commission

Plaintiff Coastside Fishing Club (Coastside) appeals an order denying its petition for a writ of mandate directing the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) to vacate its regulations that create marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine managed areas (MMAs) in state waters of an area of the Pacific Ocean known as the North Central Coast Study Region. Coastside contends the trial court erred in denying its petition on the ground it failed to exhaust its administrative remedies and in ruling, on the merits, that the Commission acted within its statutory authority in adopting the regulations for the North Central Coast Study Region (NCC regulations). We conclude the court erred in applying the doctrine of exhahstion of administrative remedies, but correctly ruled that the Commission acted within its statutory authority in adopting the NCC regulations. Accordingly, we affirm.

STATUTORY BACKGROUND

Marine Life Protection Act

In 1999 the Legislature enacted the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA; Fish & G. Code, § 2850 et seq.). The Legislature declared that “California’s marine protected areas (MPAs) were established on a piecemeal basis rather than according to…