Results from the first 5 years of baseline monitoring of marine protected areas 2003-2008. Learn about the biological, ecological and socioeconomic conditions around the time of marine protected area (MPA) implementation at the Channel Islands. This report establishes a benchmark of conditions against which future changes can be compared. During the baseline monitoring period from 2003-2008 projects worked across the Channel Islands to collect a comprehensive understanding of the area. Multiple organizations, including scientist, fishermen, citizen groups, and others contributed to this summary.

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The North Coast has 16 major estuaries that support a wide diversity of plant and animal life, including salmon and other commercially important species. The focus of this project is to describe and evaluate the ecological status of representative and under-studied estuaries in the region by surveying plants, invertebrates and fishes in tidal mudflats and eelgrass beds of four estuaries – three within MPAs (Humboldt Bay, Big River and Ten Mile River) and the Mad River Estuary. Field surveys will be conducted multiple times a year for two years to better document seasonal and interannual variability in species abundances and diversity, as well as changes in the sizes of focal species, such as bivalves, eelgrass, and black rockfish, among others. Estuarine ecosystems are largely driven by a complex set of interacting physical variables, including freshwater flows, seasonal closures of lagoon mouths and ocean water properties related to winds and upwelling. Information about these “abiotic” variables will be distilled to describe the “contextual conditions” in each estuary. During the analysis phase of their project, scientists will identify baseline and contextual metrics that might allow for future evaluation of MPA performance. This project is a collaboration among academic scientists, North Coast tribes, and ecological consultants.

Proceedings of the January 12, 2018 workshop to inform the development of MPA site selection for statewide long-term MPA monitoring Action Plan.

California’s MPAs are adaptively managed as a network through the MPA Management Program which consists of four focal areas: 1) outreach and education, 2) enforcement and compliance, 3) research and monitoring, and 4) policy and permitting. Within the research and monitoring focal area, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) collaboratively direct California’s MPA Monitoring Program which includes a two-phased, ecosystem-based approach. Regional baseline monitoring (Phase 1, 2007 – 2018) characterized ecological and socioeconomic conditions near the time of regional MPA implementation and improved our understanding of a variety of representative marine habitats and the associated biodiversity. CDFW and OPC are now designing and implementing statewide long-term monitoring (Phase 2, 2016 – present) to reflect current priorities and management needs. The MPA Monitoring Action Plan (Action Plan) informs next steps for long-term MPA monitoring in California by aggregating and synthesizing work to date, as well as by incorporating novel, quantitative, and expert-informed approaches. The Action Plan prioritizes key measures, metrics, habitats, sites, species, human uses, and management questions to target for long-term monitoring to inform the evaluation of California’s MPA Network. For example, the Action Plan includes select species-level, community-level, physical, chemical, and human use measures and metrics identified to advance understanding of conditions and trends across the MPA Network.