MPA Enforcement Is Live in California

The California Department of Fish and Game is actively enforcing the new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), citing a Southern California person early Jan. 15 for poaching dozens of lobsters inside an MPA.

According to a media release from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), this is the first major violation that DFG wardens have cited in any of the Southern California MPAs since they went into effect in Southern California on Jan. 1, 2012.

The MPAs were created through the Marine Life Protection Act in order to simplify and strengthen existing marine reserves and fishing regulations to allow recovery of fish populations that have been in severe decline.

“The vast majority of our fishing and diving constituents are responsible and law-abiding,” said DFG Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorff. “It is always our goal to catch those who choose to intentionally abuse the resources of this state for their own benefit.”

Read the Los Angeles Times article.

Learn about how you can help protect our underwater parks, by joining Heal the Bay’s citizen scientist program, MPA Watch.