California’s MPA Network spans the state’s entire 1,100-mile coastline and encompasses approximately 740 square nautical miles (16% of California’s jurisdictional waters). It is the largest network of MPAs in North America and one of the largest in the world. California’s MPAs were implemented regionally through science-based and stakeholder-driven processes, resulting in the creation of an ecologically connected network of 124 MPAs. The MPAs that make-up the Network are under several designations that reflect various management objectives. 9% of state waters are no-take state marine reserves and approximately 6% of state waters are state marine conservation areas in which limited take is permitted.
Conservation
1. Evidence from the 2022 Decadal Management Review that the MPA Network is producing more and bigger fish at certain locations, especially in areas with high fishing pressure.
2. Coupled oceanographic modelling and species distribution mapping show that the California MPAs are functioning as a network with ecological connectivity facilitating stable fish populations.
3. The MPA Network has effectively and durably enhanced marine biodiversity in more than 16 percent of California coastal state waters, contributing significantly to statewide goals to conserve 30 percent of state waters by 2030.
Good governance
1. The 2022 Decadal Management Review indicated 28 priority recommendations to strengthen the adaptive management of the MPA Network that are guiding funding priorities and facilitating collaboration into the next phase of MPA governance.
2. MPA evaluation has led to an increase in monitoring capacity in regions that, prior to the implementation of MPAs, had incomplete baseline ecological data and are now better positioned to support science-based management.
3. Research and monitoring investments for the 2022 Decadal Management Review forged new partnerships between state agencies, academic research programs, non-governmental organizations, fishing communities, Native American Tribes, and other ocean users groups that are being leveraged to assess potential pathways to strengthen the MPA Network into the future.
Community benefits
1. Limited engagement with California Native American Tribes in the earlier phases of the MPA Network has led to more robust partnerships and support for tribal stewardship and tribal harvest of important food sources in specific MPAs (see: Tribal Marine Stewards Network).
2. MPA monitoring investments have provided support to community science programs throughout the state, increasing the opportunity for Californians to engage with the coast and ocean.
3. Ecological benefits from the MPA network are helping to sustain healthy fisheries and support California’s blue economy both through the seafood industry and other sectors including tourism.
California’s MPA Network spans the state’s entire 1,100-mile coastline and encompasses approximately 740 square nautical miles (16% of California’s jurisdictional waters). It is the largest network of MPAs in North America and one of the largest in the world. California’s MPAs were implemented regionally through science-based and stakeholder-driven processes, resulting in the creation of an ecologically connected network of 124 MPAs.
The MPAs that make-up the Network are under several designations that reflect various management objectives. 9% of state waters are no-take state marine reserves and approximately 6% of state waters are state marine conservation areas in which limited take is permitted.
The State of California nominated the California Marine Protected Area Network, the first science based, stakeholder driven, MPA network in the United States, for IUCN Green List consideration in 2018. The California MPA Network as an entity is considered to be the nominated site. The Network, completed in 2012, consists of 124 MPAs that are unique in size, scale, biogeographic and cultural setting, and span California’s 1,770 km coastline.
The California EAGL’s task was unprecedented because this was the first MPA network considered for the IUCN Green List. Hence, the California EAGL worked with IUCN to develop an evaluation procedure that focused on the MPA Network as an entity and not on individual MPAs. Because visiting all 124 Network MPAs was not practical and unlikely to be of additional value, visited MPAS were subsampled based on a strategy developed and approved by the California EAGL. Selected Network MPAs included MPAs located in the three biogeographic regions and protecting different habitat types, plus MPAs with different types of regulations, on-site educational facilities, and degrees of access and intensity of human use, and tier (priority) placement in the State’s MPA Monitoring Action Plan.
Nineteen in-person Network MPA visits were performed. MPA visits included meetings with local stakeholders and members of regional MPA Collaboratives and on-the ground visits by California EAGL members. The findings of the California EAGL Site Visits and interviews corresponded with issues and action items identified in the comprehensive Decadal MPA Network Management Review performed by the State. Therefore, these findings amplify certain existing State recommendations and priorities for advancing governance, management, and partnerships and improving Network performance.
Specific key findings of the California EAGL include:
1) there doesn’t appear to be a viable substitute for the MPA Collaboratives consisting of engaged stakeholders most proximal to and affected by the MPAs,
2) financial support for the MPA Collaborative Network is not firmly in place,
3) the protected area governing body needs to continue to earnestly seek co-governance and co-management relationships with Tribes most proximal to and affected by Network MPAs,
4) financial support for the Tribal Marine Stewards Network is not firmly in place,
5) MPA boundaries are not universally definable throughout the MPA Network, and
6) there is a need for statewide consistency in MPA information available to the public including; signage, compliance, and enforcement.
