Update: Defending our Marine Protected Areas

On February 14th, I went to Sacramento for an important meeting to safeguard our oceans. The Fish and Game Commission was at the Natural Resources Agency building to talk about California’s marine protected areas, and it was a make-or-break moment for our campaign.

Commissioners, state officials, environmental advocates, and students convened to discuss 20 proposals to strengthen or weaken California’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) network. Petitioners and other stakeholders had just one minute to make their case for acceptance or rejection.

After everyone had their say, Vice President Zavaleta indicated she was ready to reject our proposals to conserve the ocean, but fortunately, President Murray, Commissioner Sklar, and Commissioner Anderson agreed that thorough vetting of proposals to protect the ocean is important and referred all of the proposals to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for an in-depth review. The commissioners will revisit the proposals at their July meeting.

We have time between now and July to build enough support to create more protected areas for wildlife in the ocean.

Our mission is to build enough public support and make a strong enough case to convince Governor Newsom, as well as his administration and the Fish and Game Commission, that California’s sea otters and other wildlife deserve more safe places in our ocean. The need for action is pressing, and delay is not an option. 

Here is my testimony from the meeting: 

“I am Rachel Lucine, Ocean Conservation Associate at Environment California Research and Policy Center, and we submitted two petitions with Azul for a stronger MPA network- to strengthen enforcement where it isn’t working and expand the network to include beautiful kelp forest, home to sea otters and other that threatened wildlife

In addition to the more than ten thousand comments in support from December, our support has continued to grow with endorsements from more than 30 state and local environmental organizations, 20 local elected officials- including Mayors of Half Moon Bay and Santa Monica, and council members from along coastal cities from Seaside to Encinitas that would see the direct benefits of these protections, Local surf and scuba diving recreation businesses from Redding to San Diego, letters from California state coastal Assembly Members Dawn Addis and Al Muratsuchi, and state Senators John Laird and Scott Wiener. This growing support reflects the public enthusiasm for a strong Marine Protected Area network and meaningful adaptive management to keep it that way!

Urgent action is required to strengthen our marine protected area network to ensure it’s working to address threats along our coastline- from ocean warming and underwater habitat loss to the growing list of threatened and endangered species. Please consider these petitions quickly and with a clear and transparent democratic process to fulfill the goals of the Marine Life Protection Act.”