MPA Basics
Often called "underwater parks," these are specific areas in the ocean where human activities like fishing are restricted to protect wildlife.
What are Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)?
In this specific type of MPA, no fishing, harvesting, or taking of any living or geologic resource is allowed at all.
What is a State Marine Reserve (SMR)?
These "underwater forests" are protected in many MPAs and provide a home for sea otters and thousands of other species.
What are kelp forests?
These people, who rely on the ocean for their food and culture, helped scientists design the MPA network.
Who are California’s Native American Tribes?
Most MPA boundaries are designed using these easy-to-spot points on land, like a pier or a lighthouse.
What are landmarks?
This 1999 law was the "game-changer" that directed California to redesign its system of marine protected areas to be more effective.
What is the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA)?
This type of area allows some recreational fishing but completely bans commercial fishing.
What is a State Marine Park (SMP)?
MPAs protect these "nurseries of the sea" where freshwater from rivers meets the salty ocean.
What are estuaries?
Scientists use this "M" word to describe the process of checking in on the MPAs to see if the fish populations are growing.
What is monitoring?
These are "Special Closures" often located near MPAs to protect these "R" words—places where seabirds go to lay eggs.
What are rookeries?
Just like Yosemite or Yellowstone protect land, California has this many MPAs along its coastline to protect the sea.
What is 124?
These activities, such as swimming, surfing, and diving, are allowed in almost all MPAs because they don't "take" anything from the ocean.
What are non-extractive (or non-consumptive) activities?
This orange fish is the state marine fish of California and is often found hiding in protected rocky reefs.
What is the Garibaldi?
This effect happens when fish inside an MPA grow so large and numerous that they eventually move outside the boundaries into fishing zones.
What is the spillover effect?
This famous female oceanographer, known as "Her Deepness," believes MPAs are key to the ocean's future.
Who is Sylvia Earle?
This percentage of California’s state waters is currently protected within the MPA network.
What is 16%?
If you are in a State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA), you might be allowed to catch this specific type of fish, but not others.
What is a limited-take species?
Deep underwater "valleys" protected by MPAs that can be deeper than the Grand Canyon.
What are submarine canyons?
Unlike old protected areas, California's MPAs are designed as a "network," meaning rather than being disjointed, they are this to help life move between them.
What is connected?
When scientists change the rules of an MPA based on new data, it is called this type of "management."
What is adaptive management?
MPAs help this "R" word, which describes the ocean's ability to bounce back from changes like climate change or overfishing.
What is resilience?
This "T" word describes the act of sailing a boat through an MPA with fish already on board, which is usually allowed as long as your gear isn't in the water.
What is transiting?
MPAs are designed to protect "biodiversity," which is a fancy word for this.
What is the variety of different living things?
These people—ranging from fishermen to scuba divers—met for years to help decide where the MPA boundaries should go.
Who are stakeholders?
You can use your phone to look at this "M" to make sure you aren't accidentally fishing in a protected zone.
What is an MPA map (or GPS)?