Government Affairs
California Marine Life Protection Act
The Issue
ASA’s Board of Directors originally charged ASA staff to move forward with an action plan to get involved with the implementation of the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in October 2006. Beginning in January 2007, ASA staff met with Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California and developed a “California Sportfishing Advocacy Plan,” which was shared with the Board at its meeting in March 2007. ASA and its partners have become “The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO).” The PSO was formed to represent recreational anglers and boaters to ensure they have an organized presence and unified voice in the MLPA process.
Our Goal
At $336 million, California earns more state and local tax revenues from sportfishing than any other state. At $2.7 billion, sportfishing retail sales are equivalent to the value of the state's grape harvest. This is not insignificant.
The goal of the PSO is to maximize the conservation benefit of the MLPA to the marine environment while minimizing unwarranted closures of California coastal waters to sportfishing. The purpose of pursuing this goal is to:
- Maintain and improve the conservation of California’s marine fisheries and associated marine resources so as to improve the overall health of the ocean;
- Assure that the process for future closures or designations under California's Marine Life Protection Act relies on biological and economic information in a balanced fashion; and
- Increase sportfishing opportunities in California from their current economic and participation levels.
Our Position
In 1999, California passed the MLPA. This state legislation is designed to “sustain, conserve and protect” that state's marine resources through a series of designations called Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including no-fishing areas called Marine Reserves, which extend three miles from shore.
There are three types of MPAs that can be established under the MLPA:
- State Marine Reserves, which prohibit recreational fishing and all other forms of recreational and commercial “extraction”. The area is to be maintained as an undisturbed state as much as possible, so access like boating or diving may be prohibited as well.
- State Marine Parks, which places limits on recreational fishing and bans commercial fishing.
- State Marine Conservation Areas, in which only certain activities that compromise the integrity of the area might be limited.
The state began implementation, but the effort stalled due to the lack of financial resources. In 2004, the implementation resumed with an infusion of funds from the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. Implementation of the MLPA poses serious questions about the future of sportfishing in California and presents a serious challenge to sportfishing because:
- The implementation of the MLPA and the various designations made under it is a complex process, making it difficult for anglers and the public to understand;
- Statewide, anglers are not coordinated to oppose large unwarranted closures;
- Environmental groups supporting closures under the MLPA are well-funded and some have invested in a state/private partnership to fund the implementation of the MLPA;
- Environmental groups supporting closures have invested heavily in media campaigns; and
- Angler groups have not presented a message that is coordinated or clear.
Marine Life Protection Act Implementation
The MLPA is being implemented in five phases by the California Department of Fish and Game under the MLPA Initiative.
Phase I - Central Coast
The California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) approved MPA designations for Phase I – which encompasses the central coast region from San Mateo County to Santa Barbara County – in April 2007. These designations become official in September 2007. The result is the designation of 29 MPAs equaling approximately 204 square miles (or 18 percent) of state waters. Eighty five square miles, representing about 50 percent of the best fishing spots in the area, were designated as no-take state marine reserves. These designations went into effect officially on Friday, September 21, 200. The state budget crisis has recently resulted in the suspension of funding for baseline scientific studies in these areas.
Click here for a map of the closures in the central coast region, effective September 21, 2007.
Phase II - North Central Coast
The second phase of MLPA implementation involves California’s North Central coast, an area that extends from Alder Creek in Mendocino County south to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County. The goal was to have a recommendation to the California FGC by May 2008. On April 24, 2008, the North Central Coast Blue Ribbon Task Force voted to recommend four different MPA alternatives to the FGC, including an "Integrated Preferred Alternative" (IPA) created by the Task Force, and three alternatives created by the Regional Stakeholder Group (RSG). The Blue Ribbon Task Force officially presented these recommendations to the FGC in June 2008. However, due to a variety of delays, consideration of the proposals and the accompanying regulations did not begin until May 2009.
On August 5, 2009, the California FGC voted to impose regulations that place 20 percent of the North Central Coast's prime fishing and boating coastal areas in marine protected areas. By a 3-2 vote, the Commission approved the IPA proposal, a more restrictive plan than Proposal 2XA, the conservation-oriented proposal submitted by recreational anglers and boaters. However, the hard work put in to the process by the recreational and boating community did have an impact, as more than two-thirds of the IPA reflected Proposal 2XA. The proposed MPA plan formally adopted by the Commission went into effect on May 1, 2010.
Click here for a map of the closures in the north central coast region, effective May 1, 2010.
Phase III - South Coast
The third phase – the South Coast Study Region – formally began in summer 2008 and was completed in December of 2010 with the adoption of a wide-ranging array of MPA, which indefinitely closed approximately 12 percent of southern California’s ocean to recreational fishing – including many of the state’s best recreational fishing areas. Phase III encompasses southern California from Point Conception (just above Santa Barbara) south to the Mexico border.
The overarching issues affecting the South Coast planning process area lack of science and concrete guidance. Despite numerous concerns, three draft MPA proposals were developed by the RSG. During its December 2009 meeting, the Blue Ribbon Task Force formally submitted four proposals (three RSG proposals, and its IPA to the FGC for selection of the final proposal for adoption. In April 2010 the FGC decided to draft regulations for the IPA only – all but ensuring its passage. During its December 15, 2010 meeting, the FGC voted 3-2 to adopt the IPA, closing approximately 12 percent of Southern California's waters to recreational fishing. The closures, formally adopted by the Commission, go into effect October 1, 2011.
Click here for a map of the closures in the south coast region, effective October 1, 2011.
Phases IV and V - North Coast and San Francisco Bay
The North Coast regional process, from Alder Creek north to the Oregon border, started June 2009 with a series of introductory workshops and open houses. Unlike the other phases of the MLPA in which RSGs created multiple proposals, the North Coast stakeholder group developed a single, unified proposal, which it forwarded to the Blue Ribbon Task Force in September 2010. Similar to other phases, however, the Blue Ribbon Task Force created its own proposal, which it submitted to the FGC for consideration along with the stakeholder proposal in February 2011.
The MLPA Initiative is currently working to develop an options report for how a marine protected area planning process might be approached in the San Francisco Bay Study Region.
For more information on the PSO and its efforts in California, please visit the KeepAmericaFishing™ MLPA issue page.
