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California's 1100 miles of shoreline
contain some of Earth's most remarkable ecosystems
and wild creatures.
Most, however, are rarely seen by those who live here,
even though the Pacific Ocean
is an essential part of their life.
From the air we breathe
to the food we eat,
the ocean is a source of energy,
transportation,
climate,
recreation,
and the latest scientific discoveries
of the deep.
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Its waters connect California to the world.
And while some of these shores are pristine and wild,
others are seriously threatened by increasing human impacts.
These are real problems requiring real solutions.
What is one tool being used to create a more resilient ocean
in the face of many threats?
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The Marine Protected Area Network in California
is the largest continuous network
of Marine Protected Areas in the world.
The network as a whole is 124 MPAs from border to border,
from California-Oregon border
down to the California-Mexico border.
So a Marine Protected Area
are defined areas that have some kind of regulation
that limits human activities of some kind.
The way that we basically explain it
is MPAs are like, you know, national or state parks,
but underwater.
It's to protect the wildlife,
the archaeological features,
the geological features in that area.
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In the case of California's MPAs,
those protections include prohibiting
or restricting fishing,
collecting,
and, in some cases,
even getting too close to offshore rocks.
There are four focal points
for managing these Marine Protected Areas.
Enforcement,
monitoring and research,
permitting and policy,
and outreach and education.
So together with our state and federal partners
and our community partners,
we are working together to manage this network
to the best of our ability as we go forward.
The reason that we have 124 of these Marine Protected Areas
instead of, let's say, two or three,
is that it was the vision of all the stakeholders
and all the people who care about the ocean
to improve the resources from the Oregon border
down to Mexico.
And this is huge because typically
for fisheries management,
we target single species.
MPAs are unique
in that you can actually protect the whole ecosystem,
all the species that inhabit that ecosystem,
how they interact with one another.
And because of that,
the larvae produced
in each of those smaller protected areas
are going to replenish populations along the coast
from one protected area to the next.
Now you're bathing the populations
up and down the coast
with larvae that are being produced
in those protected areas.
And the whole idea of these Marine Protected Areas
is when you get that productivity, it doesn't--
the fish don't sit there along that line,
they go out outside the line.
Guess what?
Fishermen have the opportunity
to catch those fish,
and that's absolutely in the plans
for this whole process.
The MPA is like a savings account.
If I want to be sure that I have something in the future,
I need to put a little bit aside today.
And that's a really small price to pay
to be assured that my grandkids
are gonna be able to fish like I fished.
The design of the MPAs,
they really were taking into consideration
not only the science of habitat preservation
and the environmental concerns,
but also how do we make these things work
for the other stakeholders that are also involved?
So I think that Marine Protected Areas
can increase our opportunity rather than decrease it.
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There, again, are different flavors
of protection.
We have those no-take marine reserves
that exclude any kind of take of any species.
But then there's conservation areas
that will, in fact,
allow some take of some species.
There are also state marine parks,
state marine recreational management areas,
and special closures.
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One of the major partners
that the state of California is working with
is the MPA Collaborative Network,
and that is a group of 14 different
individual community groups coming together
to help with the localized MPAs
within their geographical region
that they're interested in.
The MPA Collaborative Network is the grassroots effort
to empower coastal communities
to take on the stewardship
of their local Marine Protected Areas.
We bring together the enforcement aspect,
allied agencies, officers,
people trying to gain compliance,
bringing them together with the research side of things
and the monitoring.
So scientists, citizen scientists,
people doing research out in the field
together with all the groups doing education and outreach.
That's what makes this network so unique
is that it really, truly was a public-private partnership
with the state of California and the citizenry
to put this in place.
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As the State Park Interpreter
here at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve,
I'm tasked primarily with the long distance learning program.
We call it the PORTS Program.
Parks Online Resource for Teachers and Students.
And I get beamed into classrooms
throughout California and beyond
to teach students about the kelp forest
as well as our Marine Protected Areas,
our MPAs.
What do you think that this kelp bug eats?
Is it kelp?
That's right.
I think Marine Protected Areas
are essential for the community
to really get engaged in these protected areas
and to learn about them.
We take students from underserved communities
that have never been to the ocean sometimes.
It's incredible, but even if they live in San Diego,
they've never been to the ocean
and they come in and they see a sea lion
for the first time while kayaking.
And they get that love and appreciation
for these areas.
We'll know that we're building the next generation
of ocean stewards.
After years of protection in California,
some Channel Islands MPAs
indicate we're on the right track
and have shown measurable increases in populations.
Rick Rosenthal is an Emmy Award winning
cinematographer and marine biologist
who has filmed in ocean waters around the globe,
including some of the world's most pristine MPAs.
So my professional background
as a wildlife cameraman filmmaker,
as well as a biologist,
has taken me a lot of places in the world.
I get the opportunity to film,
to dive, to interact with people,
to be with fishermen, to be with kayakers,
so in the last 50 years I've seen a lot.
So when I came back to the Channel Islands,
places I dove as a boy or as a young biologist,
and you know what?
A few of those areas
actually look better on the bottom.
We were seeing lobsters come back,
abalones, big fish.
We're seeing the big sea bass
we hadn't seen in decades.
And to be right off the beach here
and be out in the Channel Islands
and to see all this wildlife,
you can't do that in other places in the world.
Not with this much diversity,
not with that many surprises around the corners.
And a swim through a kelp forest
is still magical.
Well, to grow up in California,
but to come back, I feel proud
that I'm on the California coast again.
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We've got these national treasures
that are off our coast,
we've got incredible productivity
for years and years,
but the fact is these areas
have been in trouble.
So now we're saying, "Let's be prudent,
let's have some areas that we're gonna put aside."
It's for current generations
but really it's for future generations.
I want my grandson to see a fish
off the coast of California.
California's Marine Protected Areas
are very much like national or state parks,
special places set aside to protect precious resources.
And to protect the incredible diversity and abundance
of our marine heritage,
for this and future generations.
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