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Fish and Game Commission announces plans to establish regional safe havens for marine life and habitats in 2008.
Taking a major step forward to protect coastal marine life and habitats, the California Fish and Game Commission announced plans on December 6, 2007, to create Marine Protected Areas in Southern California.
MPAs are areas of the ocean that have restrictions on the harvest of marine life. Designed to guard marine ecosystems against stresses associated with overfishing, they have become a valuable tool for both ecosystem protection and fisheries management. MPAs have shown to be effective in the Florida Keys, New Zealand, and other areas of the world.
Under the California’s Marine Life Protection Act, the state is required to establish of a network of MPAs to protect habitats and marine life populations throughout California by 2011. Regional environmental groups, including Heal the Bay and Santa Monica Baykeeper, have spent the past year working with local governments and others to build stakeholder support for implementation of MPAs in Southern California.
The Next Steps
The announcement begins the third of five phases of the state’s effort to protect California’s ecologically important coastal habitats and marine life. It has already successfully established MPAs in central California and is currently working to implement havens in north central California.
The newly announced phase would afford state protection of marine life from Point Conception to the Mexican border beginning next year. State MPAs extend from the shoreline to a maximum of three miles offshore. As a next step, state officials will conduct a series of public discussions next year to decide where to establish MPAs in Southern California.
The initiative will seek the advice of public policy advisors, marine scientists, economists, fishermen, conservationists and community members through an inclusive process that will ensure that all views are heard. The network of MPAs that will be designed and implemented along California's coast will use sound science, avoid economic impacts, and protect the richness of California's marine heritage.
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