Why the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative?

Concern about California’s marine heritage

• A variety of human activities, such as coastal development, water pollution, and fishing, have been shown to impact marine ecosystems.
• In California, the State Legislature found that these activities have the potential to stress marine ecosystems, impact habitat, and threaten biological diversity.

California launched the MLPA to protect its marine heritage

• In 1999, the California State Legislature adopted the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which required the state to evaluate and/or re-design all existing state marine protected areas (MPAs) and to potentially create new MPAs that to the extent possible will act as a network. MPA designations include: state marine reserve (SMR), state marine park (SMP) and state marine conservation area (SMCA).
• While MPAs may not mitigate all of the issues threatening California’s oceans, they have been shown to help restore marine ecosystems on a local scale and act as buffers to larger scale impacts.
• When designed and managed effectively, MPAs can help to preserve biological diversity, protect habitats (both healthy and degraded), aid in the recovery of depleted fisheries, and promote recreational, scientific, and educational opportunities.

California launched the MLPA Initiative to achieve the goals and objectives of the act

• From 1999 to 2004, there were two different attempts by the Department of Fish and Game to implement the MLPA. However, both attempts suffered from a lack of adequate resources, and insufficient public involvement.
• On August 27, 2004, the Resources Agency and the Department of Fish and Game partnered with the Resource Legacy Foundation to launch a new public-private initiative to implement the MLPA, commonly referred to as the Marine Life Protection Act-Initiative (MLPA-Initiative). This new initiative was designed to assist the Department of Fish and Game in implementing the MLPA and uses lessons learned and public feedback from the two previous attempts to help guide implementation efforts.
• The MLPA-Initiative works to ensure that through the use of the best readily available science MLPA goals and objectives are being met, and a network of MPAs is being designed and implemented along California's coast.
• The MLPA-Initiative is founded on solid public leadership and seeks the advice of public policy advisors, scientists, stakeholders, and the interested public through a fair and inclusive process. The MLPA-Initiative is an open and transparent process that helps to ensure that all views are heard.