Ten years ago, California passed the Marine Life Protection Act, which calls for the creation of a statewide “network” of marine protected areas (MPAs) – underwater refuges that allow sea life and habitats to recover and thrive. The state has already created MPAs along the Central and North-Central coasts.  The Marine Life Protection Act is designed to improve the overall health of the ocean for the benefit of all Californians.  By setting aside key areas, we can protect sensitive sea life and habitats while leaving the majority of coastal waters open for fishing and other uses.  Marine reserves and protected areas are a proven tool for restoring ocean health.  Like underwater parks, they allow marine plants and animals to thrive while giving people a chance to experience a truly healthy ocean environment.

Environment California has been working to help implement the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), a visionary law that will do for our oceans what state and national parks have done for our most beloved landscapes for decades.  By creating a network of marine protected areas, we can help ensure the long-term health and sustainability of California’s ocean.

The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is being implemented one region at a time, through a community-driven, science-based process that puts ocean users front and center.  The south coast effort is nearly complete, but there’s still time to weigh in to ensure your favorite surf, swim, or dive spot is protected. 

Right now, science and policy experts are reviewing plans to create a series of underwater state parks off Southern California’s coast.  Local divers, surfers, anglers, conservationists and business owners worked for over a year to map out a marine protected area network that will keep sea life and habitats healthy while leaving around 90 percent of the coast open for fishing. 

There are currently three different plans for how to protect coastal waters between Santa Barbara and Mexico.  Environment California supports Proposal 3 – The Conservation Plan.  Environment California thinks this is the best plan for California because:

• Its efficient design is focused on quality over quantity.
• Will deliver quick and substantial benefits with fewer protected areas
• All three proposals would place about 16% of south coast waters under some form of protection, and 12% in fully-protected marine reserves, but the conservation plan would produce the best results by protecting the best habitat.
• Protects ecological hot spots like Naples Reef, Point Dume, the western half of Rocky Point and the southern half of La Jolla’s reef
• Leaves nearly 90% of coastal waters open for fishing.
• Was designed to enhance recreation, study, and learning opportunities by creating underwater parks near public lands.
• Does the best job meeting the Science Advisory Team’s guidelines
• Will minimize short-term socio-economic impacts while maximizing long-term ocean health benefits.

To see the three plans, click on the link below

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/scrsg-dprops-r3.asp

To send a letter of support for Proposal 3, click here.

You can learn more about the MLPA by watching this great documentary by the Baum Foundation.  A Sheltered Sea: the Southern Passage charts the yearlong public process that has led to the creation of three stakeholder plans to protect coastal waters between Santa Barbara and Mexico.  http://www.thebaumfoundation.org/ashelteredsea2_lg.html

Ocean ecosystems are vital, awe-inspiring and vulnerable places. When fish stocks fall, it has profound negative effects on the rest of the ocean’s animals like whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other fish. And when we deplete stocks past the point of recovery, we risk losing important fish species and the jobs that go with them. That’s why Environment California opposes powerful fishing interests that resist catch limits that would protect our ocean ecosystem.

Overfishing is one of the largest and yet least publicly recognized problems facing the oceans right now. Overfishing literally means taking fish out of the ocean faster than they are able to naturally replenish. One quarter to one third of our fish species are already depleted or headed in that direction. Many fish like cod, red snapper, grouper, and pacific rockfishes are at historical lows. Some are at one tenth their former abundance or less.

On the west coast, there is adequate information for only about 30% of federally managed fish stocks – for 70% of fish species, we are therefore fishing blind, with little or no information about the status of these fish stocks.

On the west coast, about one in ten (9% or 5 out of 53) of all federally managed fish stocks for which there is adequate information are overfished.

Environment California is working to save our oceans from overfishing by setting strong rules to determine how commercial and recreational fishing in the ocean is conducted.