Marine Protected Areas

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What is the Marine Life Protection Act?

The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was signed in 1999 and directs the state to reexamine and redesign California’s system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The MLPA is a visionary state law that brings together scientists, fishermen, conservationists, business owners, residents, and Fish & Game officials to create a long-term plan to restore and protect California’s most unique and threatened marine environments.

What are MPAs? MPAs are discrete geographic marine or estuarine areas designed to protect or conserve marine life and habitat (Defined in Public Resources Code, Sections 36602 and 36710). Just as parks on land protect special lands and wildlife from overdevelopment, MPAs preserve California’s stunning marine ecosystems for future generations to observe and enjoy.

Why is this necessary? The MLPA process addresses the need to create a more cohesive MPA system to ensure more effective protection of California’s marine life, habitats, and ecosystems.  Scientific studies have shown that marine protected areas help restore depleted fish and wildlife populations.  In fully protected reserves, scientists have observed many benefits including higher abundance, larger and more fertile individuals, and more resilient marine populations.

A Sheltered Sea – Southern Passage is a great short film that further explains the pressing issues our oceans face and how marine protected areas work to tackle some of those problems.

Here’s a list of MPA designations:

  • State Marine Reserve (SMR): fully protects fish, wildlife, and habitat from all extractive activities.
  • State Marine Park (SMP): allows for some recreational fishing.
  • State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA): allows for some consumptive recreational and commercial activities.

History of Development and Support

A regional approach was used in the MLPA Initiative process, in which California’s 1,100-mile coastline was divided into five study regions.  In September of 2007, regulations for the first study region were implemented along the Central Coast (Pigeon Point in San Mateo County to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County).  On August 5, 2009, the Fish and Game Commission voted to adopt its preferred alternative proposal, also known as the Integrated Preferred Alternative (IPA), for the MLPA North Central Coast study region (Alder Creek to Pigeon Point).

The MLPA proposal for the South Coast study region (Pt. Conception to the CA/Mexico border, including offshore islands) was approved by the Fish & Game Commisison in Decemeber 2010, and went into effect Summer 2011.   The North Coast (Alder Creek north to the California border with Oregon) began its planning process, followed by the San Francisco Bay process (from the Golden Gate Bridge northeast to the Carquinez Bridge).

MPAs Approval for South Coast Region

On December 15, 2010, after hours of public comment and 2 years of meetings, the Fish and Game Commission voted to approve a system of Marine Protected Areas for the South Coast Region.  The final array of MPAs is a compromise solution that Coastkeeper is proud to have participated in reaching.

Learn more:

Additional Resources

MLPA in the News