Editor, Daily Nexus:

This past Sunday afternoon, the first annual Concert for the Coast went off in Anisq’ Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista. The I.V. chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, along with EAB and CalPIRG, organized this event that included five awesome local bands. Thanks to Natty Dawgs, El Jefe, The Messengers, c24c and Blue Room for playing; the music was great and the crowd enjoyed the performers. For the hundreds of you who came and the unfortunate rest of you that missed out, I want to reinforce the primary message of the concert. Yes, this was basically a fun event, but every set break had educational announcements on coastal and other important issues (check out the Students for a Free Tibet). As we learned last week from Nicole Calmels’ educational article (Daily Nexus, “No Sanctity in the Sanctuary: Public Involvement Is Key to Creating a Marine Reserve,” May 17), the last chance for public comment in our community regarding the establishment of marine reserves is this Wednesday evening. A group of people (the Sanctuary Advisory Council or SAC) must take a position on the issue of the creation of marine reserves in the Channel Islands. Since the advisory body that was created to make a recommendation on this issue (the Marine Reserves Working Group) failed to reach a recommendation based on consensus, public input is even more important. If we do not show up in force calling for big reserves, then the vested representatives may just listen to the loud organized voice against any reserves. If you do not feel like speaking on the issue, we need as many people as we can to donate their time to someone else. Consensus in the scientific community is that marine reserves lead to more fish and bigger fish, and that 30-50 percent of an area should be put into reserves to protect biodiversity. Simple solution: bigger reserves leads to more sex, which leads to more fish in reserves, which equals more fish around the marine reserves, which means more catching and sustaining of fishing industries for the future. MARINE RESERVES: GO BIG OR LOSE BIG. The public period begins at 6 p.m. at Victoria Hall downtown. Carpools leave from the Bagel Café at 5 p.m., so call Nicole at 685-6285 to arrange driving or getting a ride.

CRAIG REVELL