Marine coastlines have held great importance for humans for thousands of years. We enjoy the beauty of the landscape, nourish ourselves with fish, crustaceans, and bivalves from the shore, and are highly dependent on marine algae which provide a major percentage of the oxygen found in the air we breathe (Walker, 1980). As economies have grown exponentially over the past century, so has the demand on our marine resources. Over the years we have seen a great reduction in the populations of fisheries we depend on. Not only does over harvesting affect our way of life, it has an even greater impact on the ecosystem and various habitats , and the biodiversity found along our coast (Worm et. al, 2006).
Marine protected areas (MPA’s) are designated stretches of coastline that have become important in terms of fisheries and ecosystem restoration (Palumbi, 2001). These reserves allow marine flora and fauna to have a chance to return to healthy populations to allow for sustainable harvest and rehabilitation of species that have been affected by overharvesting (Gleason et. al, 2010).
MPA’s in California have been implemented by legislature for the purpose of preserving and rehabilitating our coasts. In 1999, the Marine Life Protection Act was passed, requiring an overhaul to the design of the MPA system to increase its success and efficiency (www.dfg.ca.gov, 2013; Gleason et. al, 2010)1. In California there are now a total of 124 protected areas, of which 119 are MPA’s and the remainder are recreational management areas. Approximately 9.4% of our coastal waters are now “no –take” zones, and 16 % of the state’s coastal waters are under some protection from the 1999 MLPA (www.dfg.ca.gov, 2013)2.
Despite human dependence on marine resources, the preservation of the functionality and integrity of these environments are often perceived as conflicting with fishery demand (Klein, 2008). With marine ecosystems in a rapid decline MPA’s have become important in terms of fisheries and ecosystem restoration (Palumbi, 2001). MPA's work by protecting ocean ecosystems instead of the traditional approach of targeting individual species. These reserves allow marine flora and fauna to have a chance to return to healthy populations to allow for sustainable harvest. It also provides accurate information on current fishery populations and the health of these populations. Apart from the commercial aspect, MPA’s provide scientists with the means to conduct ecological research that can look at community structure in a kelp forest or of a rocky intertidal community. It also gives scientists an opportunity to understand trophic webs and look for ways that allow people to sustainably harvest without offsetting the food web. Monitoring of invasive species populations has also become increasingly important, and thus MPA sites would allow for the detection, monitoring, and identification of these invaders (Meyers et. al, 2000).
Most reserves are small and highly isolated (Roberts, 2001). In order for MPA’s to be effective, protection of biodiversity depends upon spatial planning and adaptive management (Ban, 2012). In the implementation of the California MPA system, the input of all parties with interest in the entire California coastline was considered and used to create a system representative of the biodiversity and socioeconomic goals of each area within legal parameters (Klein, 2008). This helped bridged the gap in communication between opposing parties as well as increase the likelihood of regulations being followed.
Established in 1999, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) is a collaborated long term effort to monitor and and study coastal ecosystems. The research and policies created by PISCO are designed to better inform and monitor the whole MPA network (Carr, 2001). One result of their years of experience in large scale monitoring programs is the PISCO protocol, a set of sampling and research methods meant to unify data collection standards for the whole coastline (Shuman, 2006).