CalOceans News

April 15 Event: Meet Your New Underwater Parks

Join WiLDCOAST and other ocean lovers at a free event and learn more about San Diego County's new marine protected areas. The event also features Dr. Octavio Aburto, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher, who will share success stories from Mexico's Cabo Pulmo marine reserve. This event is FREE so tell your friends and family to come along!

When: Sunday April 15, 2012 from 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM

Where: Encinitas Community and Senior Center, 1140 Oakcrest Parks Drive Encinitas, CA 92024

For more information please contact Diane Castaneda at diane@wildcoast.net or call (619) 423-8665 ext. 207. 

• Tags:
• underwater parks
• marine protected area
• ocean
• San Diego
• coast

A Happy New Year for the Ocean!

Tomorrow, Southern California will celebrate the grand opening of a series of underwater parks, or “marine protected areas,” that includes wildlife hot spots such as the La Jolla kelp forest, Laguna tidepools, and Catalina Island's coral gardens. These parks will join a growing system that currently dots the shore from Santa Barbara to Mendocino, and will soon stretch the length of California’s coast.

California will be the first state in the nation to develop a science-based statewide network of marine protected areas, protecting productive reefs, kelp forests and tide pools. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), enacted in 1999 with bipartisan support, called for this network of protections to improve the health of California’s ocean wildlife and habitats.

“Our nation has been protecting treasured areas on land for 150 years, and now California is doing the same for our ocean, through the Marine Life Protection Act,” said Karen Garrison, Oceans Program Co-Director at  the Natural Resources Defense Council. “From Point Reyes to Big Sur to La Jolla, the state is creating Yosemites of the sea so future generations can experience their grandeur.” 

“After decades of treating the ocean as inexhaustible, California has turned the tide towards restoring its legacy of abundant sea life,” said Kaitilin Gaffney, Pacific Program Director of Ocean Conservancy. “California’s new protected areas are a smart investment in a healthier ocean and a more sustainable coastal economy.”

The marine protected areas going into effect January 1 were designed by local citizens, including fishermen, surfers, conservationists and business leaders, to protect productive ocean areas while leaving about 90% of the coast open for fishing (see a map of fishing areas left open).  Many of the are located alongside public beaches and state parks, creating great opportunities for  education, research, and recreation.

California’s coast and ocean generate $22 billion in revenue and drive over 350,000 jobs each year, and more than 90 percent of visitors comes to walk the beach, dive, surf, swim, or kayak, making the new ocean parks a smart investment in the region's environmental and economic health.

• Tags:
• mlpa
• marine protected area
• south coast MPAs
• south coast region
• marine reserves
• underwater parks

California's outdoor economy thriving

In Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, reporter Hugo Martin wrote on the critical role California’s beaches, mountains and deserts play in the state’s economy. California's vast outdoor assets are at the center of its $95-billion tourism industry, the state's fifth-largest job creator.

At a time when the state budget crisis has necessitated widespread cuts, we’re reminded that California’s iconic natural resources – from Yosemite National Park to Santa Monica Bay – are a significant revenue source worthy of careful management. A full 25 percent of California’s coastline is protected in state parks, and the Marine Life Protection Act is working to create a network of “underwater parks” offshore to extend that stewardship from land to sea.

The LA Times article, as well as several economic studies, remind us that protecting natural areas is a smart investment for the state, and one that can pay both economic and environmental dividends:
      
A National Ocean Economics Program study found that tourism and recreation account for 75 percent of the jobs in California’s ocean economy, and estimates that the intrinsic value of U.S. ocean and coastal resources is more than $100 billion.
      
In Southern California, where a new system of marine protected areas will soon go into effect, more than 80 cents out of every dollar spent by coastal visitors is driven by tourism and recreation (and other “non-consumptive” uses).  Total spending for these activities is more than $115 million each year in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles areas, according to a study by economists Linwood Pendleton and Chris LaFranchi.

From realtors to art galleries, many businesses will benefit from a healthier ocean, and that is why more than 130 business leaders signed a letter to the Fish and Game Commission last October urging timely implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act.  And that is why so many Californians are urging state decisionmakers to keep our State Parks open. We hope you will join CalOceans and countless other concerned citizens in advocating to keep our treasured parks in business, by taking action here.

• Tags:
• ocean economy
• economic benefits of marine protected areas
• underwater parks

Spreading the word about new ocean parks

Ocean Conservancy's Samantha Murray and Bolinas fisherman Josh Churchman have been busy spreading the word about the North Central Coast's new ocean parks.

After driving the length of the north central coast study region and distributing maps and fliers illustrating the new regulations, they penned this opinion piece for Santa Rosa's Press Democrat. 

You don't have to stop by your local bait shop to read about the latest regulations - download a full color flier with detailed coordinates and regulations established by the new north central coast MPAs, and check out detailed maps of San Mateo and Marin county's new MPAs.

• Tags:
• Marine Life Protection Act
• underwater parks
• Marine Protected Areas
• North Central Coast