Central Coast Marine Protected Areas Have Been Established
California’s first Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), 29 offshore reserves between Point Conception and Half Moon Bay, became official as of September 21. They are the first set in a planned network, required by the Marine Protection Act of 1999, that will eventually protect sensitive areas along the state’s entire 1,100-mile coastline. The purpose of the reserves is to help declining fish populations to recover and to protect ocean health, especially in the biologically rich three-mile zone off the coast. California is the first state to enact such a comprehensive plan to protect its marine resources.

A total of 204 square miles (18 percent) of state waters off the Central Coast has now been placed under some level of protection. The Central Coast MPAs, approved unanimously by the California Fish and Game Commission last April, were developed over several years by a coalition of fishermen, divers, local businesses, and conservationists guided by a team of scientists. They constitute a network of 15 State Marine Conservation Areas, where recreational and commercial fishing are limited; 13 State Marine Reserves, totaling 85 square miles, where no fishing or harvesting of other marine resources is permitted; and one State Marine Recreational Managed Area, at Morro Bay, where commercial fishing is only allowed under special permit, and recreational fishing is limited. (See www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/ccmpas_list.asp and www.caloceans.org for details.)

Planning is now under way for a second network of MPAs between Half Moon Bay and Point Arena. The California Fish and Game Commission is currently gathering public views and information on this proposed North Central Coast MPA network. To take part, go to www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa.

Away with Lead and Nurdles
California condors and marine organisms will benefit from two bills signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October. A.B. 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, bans hunters from using lead rifle and pistol ammunition to shoot big game and coyotes in areas of southern and central California that have been identified as being within the condors’ range. This legislation takes effect July 1, 2008.

Since 1987, when the last seven wild California condors were captured for captive breeding, their numbers have grown, birds have been gradually released into the wild, and about 70 now survive free in California (Arizona and Baja California also have small populations of wild condors). Lead poisoning is a major cause of death, however, because condors often eat carrion left behind by hunters.

The second bill signed by the governor, A.B. 258, is meant to mitigate the problem of plastics in the ocean. It requires that state water boards develop a program by January 2009 to significantly reduce the load of pellets (“nurdles”), powders, and other miniscule plastic production materials that are lost during transport, packaging, and processing. Plastic manufacturers will be required to adopt best management practices for handling and cleaning up these materials, which are too small to be caught in standard stormwater catchbasins and escape into waterways and the ocean, where animals often mistake them for food. (See Coast & Ocean, Vol. 21, no. 4.)