CalOceans News

Underwater parks heralded in press

The New Year brought new protections for some of southern California’s most iconic coastal areas, including La Jolla, Laguna, Santa Monica Bay, and Catalina Island. On January 1, the state celebrated the grand opening of a string of underwater parks that stretches from Point Conception to the border with Mexico.

These “marine protected areas” form the southern section of the statewide network called for under California’s landmark Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). The network will be complete once planning is finished for the far north coast region, later this year.

Stanford biologist Larry Crowder explained the importance of this network approach on KPCC public radio: “California made a really innovative step here, to link marine protected areas in a network... this helps fish and other marine life feed and breed…a single protected area doesn’t achieve what a network of linked protected areas would do.”

Dozens of scientific studies have shown that marine protected areas boost fisheries health and resilience, which is good news for California fishermen, since 2011 saw the collapse of kelp and barred sand bass and depleted halibut populations that led Marina del Rey anglers to open their famous halibut derby to other species.

The news about California’s new underwater parks was heralded in press all over the state, including Capital Public Radio, Coastline Pilot, Laguna Beach Independent, Malibu Daily Breeze, and Ventura County Star, which quoted Ocean Conservancy’s Greg Helms:

"By protecting hot spots like South La Jolla, Point Dume and Laguna, we are charting a course towards greater sustainability, and that means better fishing, diving, kayaking, tidepooling and birding for our children.”

Southern California residents were overwhelmingly supportive of the protections during the two-year public planning process. According to the Los Angeles Times many are already involved in citizen science and monitoring programs to help ensure their success.  As the San
Diego Tribune notes, fishermen and university scientists are working with volunteer groups like Reef Check on a baseline study that will help inform future management discussions.

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• south coast mlpa
• southern california underwater parks
• south coast marine protected areas