Marine Protected Areas - Our Underwater State Parks!

Watch these great videos to learn more about  MPAs:

  MPAs part 1         MPAs part 2

A “marine protected area”, or MPA, is an area of the ocean that has been set aside to protect or conserve marine life and habitat.  These MPAs receive greater protection than the surrounding waters by limiting or restricting the take of marine animals and plants in order to protect the ecosystem as a whole.

California Central Coast MPAs

Click here to view specific regulations for each Central Coast MPA

29 MPAs (18% of the region)

•  13 State Marine Reserves
•  13 State Marine Conservation Areas
•  1 State Marine Recreational Management Area
•  2 State Marine Parks

Went into effect in September of 2007

North Central Coast MPAs

22 MPAs total

• 11 Marine Reserves
• 9 Marine Conservation Areas
• 2 Marine Parks

Click here to view specific regulations for each North Central Coast MPA

Will take effect in June of 2010

How are the MPAs chosen?

Similar to parks on land, marine protected areas are an essential part of the big picture to renew the health of the ocean.  These reserves can result in more abundant ecosystems that can be preserved for the future and restore our fisheries. The Central Coast Marine Protected Areas were created by the stakeholders of the Central Coast fisheries - these are the people who would be most affected by marine protected areas.  The stakeholders included fishermen, marine businesses, scientists and policy makers of the Central Coast.  They all came together and evaluated the health and future of popular fishing areas, fish nurseries and high recreation areas and measured the impact of human activities.  Many marine species live in small, specific habitats while others require protection across their migration routes that cover vast areas and include breeding and feeding grounds. This is why they made a network of similar ecosystems along the coast in order to study the habitat as a whole instead of each marine species. 

Interesting Facts

• Approximately 2.58 million km²of the marine environment are currently protected, representing only 0.65% of the world’s oceans. By contrast, around 12% of the world's land area is protected.

• All MPAs currently occur within areas under national jurisdiction (typically from the coast out to 200 miles). The ocean area beyond this, the high seas, are essentially unprotected.

• There are currently around 5000 MPAs worldwide

• Fishermen are now catching less than half of what they caught in 1990 and the fish they catch are 45% smaller ¹

Special Places Protected

Año Nuevo

• Largest mainland breeding colony in the world of the northern elephant seal
• Tidepools along the shoreline house more than 300 species of invertebrates
• Large concentration of great white sharks
• Attracts sea lions, harbor seals and other marine mammals who come ashore to rest, mate and give birth

Piedras Blancas

• Extensive tidepools, kelp forests, and beaches
• Habitats that provide shelter and breeding grounds for seabirds
  
• Plentiful environment for California sea lions, elephant seals, harbor seals, northern fur seals and sea otters
• Offshore, a deep water reef attracts large fish populations and provides shelter for rockfish

Monterey Peninsula

• The unique design of the underwater Monterey Submarine Canyon attract a wide variety of marine wildlife 
• The nutrient rich waters supply food in the form of phytoplankton
• One of the only places in the world where you can see the endangered southern sea otter
• Researchers are able to study the unknown in the deep sea canyon only a few miles from the coast

Big Sur Coast

• Its submarine canyons and rocky pinnacles host rare coldwater corals and large rockfish
• The vast kelp forests provide a nursery to juvenile fish and an ideal environment for sea otters
• Its remote location has kept most of the fish populations healthy and the coast habitat pristine

For more information on MPAs visit:

MPA.gov
CalOceans.org
DFG.ca.gov