June 11, 2012
Last week, marked a pivotal moment in the effort to establish a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in California’s open coast waters.
After eight years, numerous public meetings, workshops, and input from the scientific community, the California Fish and Game Commission of California has approved the redesign and establishment of MPAs in five key regions along California’s coast: The Central Coast region, the San Francisco Bay region, the North Central region, the South Coast region and the North Coast region.
“These MPAs will be the biggest network of protection in the United States” said Stephan Wertz, Senior Environmental Scientist at the California Department of Fish and Game.
The MPAs were developed to be consistent with California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The MLPA was created in response to declines in the health of California’s marine environments and marked the first statutory mandate of its kind in the US. The Act required that California’s MPAs be redesigned based on the best available science, with identified goals and objectives, and with the advice and input of stakeholders.
“Initially, they (MPA’s in California) were randomly created without a specific purpose, or with a very specific goal. There was no conductivity on a larger level,” said Wertz. “We wanted to use the latest science available to revise independent marine protected areas to create a network of protection that would be more effective.”
California decided to take a regional approach to complete the MLPA demanded redesign of the MPAs. The North Coast region was the last area approved for protection. It covers approximately 1,027 square miles of state waters stretching south from the Oregon state line. The plan adopted for the north coast region includes 19 MPAs, a recreational management area, and seven closures covering approximately 137 square miles of state waters.
With the addition of the North Coast region, the new network of protection includes 119 MPS, 5 recreational management areas, and 15 special closures covering about 16 percent of all open coast state waters including waters surrounding offshore islands and rocks.
While the regulatory process is still underway for the north coast region, the decision on June 6th marked a major milestone for marine protection. The Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird said, “As promised, we have completed the nation’s first statewide open coast system of marine protected areas, strengthening California’s ongoing commitment to conserve marine life for future generations.” Everyone involved says that compliance and enforcement mechanisms as well as adaptive management will be critical going forward.
Top image: imageZebra – Shutterstock.