For Immediate Release from San Diego Coastkeeper:

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

San Diego – Dec. 15, 2010 – San Diego’s new MPAs will include locations at Swamis in Encinitas, south La Jolla, Point Loma and Imperial Beach, areas that San Diego Coastkeeper has worked to protect over the past four years. These protected areas will join the existing network of MPAs in the statewide system of underwater parks called for in California’s ocean conservation law, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) adopted with bipartisan support in 1999.

The FGC voted in favor of the Integrated Preferred Alternative (IPA), a compromise plan that combines MPA proposals from fishermen, divers, conservationists and scientists. The governor convened a Blue Ribbon Task Force of policy experts to review a selection of MPA proposals created by a group of 64 representatives from Southern California, including a San Diego Coastkeeper representative. In December 2009, the Task Force unanimously recommended the IPA to the Commission for adoption into law.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6123030/san_diego_ocean_protection_takes_historic.html?cat=58

See also here from DFG map of MPAs:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/scmpas121510.pdf

News from the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation:

A new publication – “Monitoring MPAs by SCUBA in waters off Central California: 2007/8 results of PISCO baseline monitoring surveys” is NOW available.

The booklet describes the patterns in state marine reserves based on two years of baseline data collected by PISCO at 8 sites. The project represents the most extensive ecological surveys to date of central coast kelp forests, and the results will provide a basis for long-term evaluations of MPA and reference sites.

This publication was made possible through funding and in-kind contributions from Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation, California Grant Sea, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Lead authors are Dr Mark Carr, Hugo Selbie, Dan Malone with PISCO, and Dr. Steve Lonhart with MBNMS.

Hard copies are available via an email request and an electronic version can be downloaded from the SIMoN website:

http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/monterey/sections/simon/simon_downloads.php

http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/regional_docs/monitoring_projects/100329_MPAsBooklet.pdf

We will also be posting this publication to the MBSF website. As always check the website for updates, as new products are being uploaded for your use.

Thank you – The MBSF Team

Courtesy: Marine Map.org

[Sorry,  above map cannot be enlarged--for more details, see: http://southcoast.marinemap.org/marinemap/]

Research unveiled at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference confirms that California is on the right track with the Marine Life Protection Act… Here is a selection if you all want to read more about it.

Several new studies released Monday  at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego have found that well-designed networks of marine reserves can provide both economic and environmental benefits.  Scientists from UC Santa Barbara, Scripps Institute and Stanford University were quoted over the weekend:

Steven Gaines, Dean of the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara said in Science Daily: “There is plenty of new evidence to show that if reserves are designed well, they can benefit both fish and fishermen,” UC Santa Barbara’s Andrew Rassweiler said in Science News that a new southern California marine reserve network could boost fishing industry profits: “People fishing can make more money with smaller impacts on the species being fished.”

Science Magazine cited the Channel Islands and Great Barrier Reef marine reserve networks to show that protecting small areas can produce big returns.  A five-year study in the Channel Island found rockfish numbers up by 50%, and their size up by 80%. The Great Barrier Reef network has improved overall ecosystem health, and fears of a collapse of the recreational fishing industry have proven completely unfounded—the number of fishing licenses has grown since the reserves were established.

Several of the studies emphasized the importance of community engagement in creating an effective marine reserve network.  California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is being implemented through a participatory public process.  Stanford scientist Stephen Palumbi said in the San Diego Union Tribune that the MLPA is also rooted in sound science: “There are probably 120 to 150 studies of how reserves function within their borders, and even small reserves tend to give positive results.”

Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Ed Parnell, who has proposed protect for the reef and kelp beds at south La Jolla, said: “We know what the benefit will be for the species in the reserves. They will increase in density, and they will increase in size.”

Meagan Wylie

Marine Conservation Coordinator

San Diego Coastkeeper

A new Scripps Institute of Oceanography Paper on the Implications of the  Marine Life Protection Act:

Paul K. Dayton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

The full research completion report on this California Sea Grant project may be found by going to: http://repositories.cdlib.org/csgc/rcr/Coastal04_02/