LESSONS FROM THE CALIFORNIA MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT INITIATIVE AUGUST 2019 Photo: Anna Talken scientific design guidelines and evaluate proposed Background MPA networks. Over an eight-year planning effort, In 1999, the California legislature passed the Marine meetings, public workshops, and hearings were Life Protection Act (MLPA), a historic law calling for held throughout the state to collect public input and the establishment of a statewide, science-based expert opinion on a range of MPA alternatives. network of marine protected areas (MPAs), the first In June 2012, the State of California formally such effort in the United States. Early attempts to adopted the final set of MPAs, completing a implement the law stalled as California struggled statewide MPA network covering almost 17 percent with budget limitations and vocal opposition from of state waters, 9.5 percent in no-take protection. some fishing interests. In 2004, with significant California’s MPA network includes all marine and financial support from philanthropic donors, the estuarine habitat types in the state, from sandy nonprofit organization Resources Legacy Fund beaches and intertidal areas to deep water canyons (RLF) signed a formal agreement with the State of and islands. California to advance a phased strategy for carrying California has since committed to and funded a out the law called the “Marine Life Protection Act rigorous, partnership-based MPA management Initiative” (MLPA Initiative). program focused on community stewardship and From 2004-2012, the MLPA Initiative implemented education, scientific monitoring, and enforcement. an extensive, phased public MPA planning process, California’s experience implementing the Marine Life creating stakeholder groups in four coastal regions; Protection Act provides useful lessons that can help a “blue ribbon” task force of political, business, legal, guide MPA network planning efforts in other regions and academic leaders to provide policy guidance; worldwide. This document summarizes some of the and regional science advisory teams to provide critical factors that contributed to California’s success. 1 Establishing and STATUTORY GOALS OF Maintaining a Strong CALIFORNIA’S MARINE Legal or Political LIFE PROTECTION ACT: Mandate 1. Protect the natural diversity and abundance of marine life, and the While there is international scientific consensus that MPAs provide important conservation benefits, in structure, function, and integrity of marine practice, designing and establishing protected areas is ecosystems. typically challenging. Planning MPAs or MPA networks 2. Help sustain, conserve, and protect often results in vocal opposition from fishing interests marine life populations, including those concerned about potential displacement and short- term economic impacts. Committed political leadership of economic value, and rebuild those that is needed to overcome initial opposition and recognize are depleted. and elevate the long-term benefits of MPAs to 3. Improve recreational, educational, ecosystems, the economy, and coastal communities. and study opportunities provided by CALIFORNIA’S APPROACH marine ecosystems that are subject to State legislators passed the MLPA, creating a strong minimal human disturbance, and manage legal mandate. Key state resources management these uses in a manner consistent with agencies worked with RLF and others to create a clear, time bounded process under the MLPA Initiative protecting biodiversity. to conduct MPA planning based on science and 4. Protect marine natural heritage, including community input. A legal mandate and defined process protection of representative and unique helped to shift initial opposition into constructive engagement that was incorporated into MPA network marine life habitats in California waters for design such as by avoiding siting of MPAs near their intrinsic values. harbors or important fishing access. 5. Ensure that California’s MPAs have clearly LESSONS LEARNED defined objectives, effective management The mandate represented by the law itself, and measures, and adequate enforcement, consistent, high-level political support from top state and that they are based on sound officials including the Governor and Secretary of scientific guidelines. Natural Resources were critical to ensuring that MPA planning remained a state priority over the course 6. Ensure the state’s MPAs are designed of the eight-year planning process and stayed on and managed as a network, to the extent track during periods when opposition was highest, possible. legal challenges were filed, and state funding was constrained. 2 Photo: Dana Roeber Murray Established in 2000, Resources Legacy Fund is The Role of Public- a nonprofit organization that works closely with Private Partnerships philanthropists to achieve significant conservation of land, ocean, and water resources, climate change A legal or political mandate to create an MPA network resilience, and conservation funding and policies. RLF is an important first step. However, in many cases, has experience working with federal, state, and local the agencies responsible for implementing MPAs may governments on conservation focused public-private not have sufficient staffing, expertise, and funding to partnerships. RLF staff has extensive legal, scientific, support a science-based process of designing MPAs and financial expertise in managing complex and the meaningful engagement of stakeholders, projects involving multiple grants and contracts. This whose support and buy-in is critical for effective MPA experience made RLF well suited to managing the implementation. Partnering with philanthropic and MLPA Initiative. nonprofit organizations can help to support more The MLPA Initiative relied on three specialized robust MPA planning than could be achieved by the volunteer advisory groups with clear and distinct roles government alone. relative to MPA planning as well as a support staff CALIFORNIA’S APPROACH team made up of state employees, contractors, and California leaders recognized that the traditional other external experts. state rule-making process was inadequate to the • Regional stakeholder groups—Responsible multi-faceted task of designing and evaluating for crafting MPA proposals and alternatives and a statewide MPA network. A robust preparatory served as link to broader public. These groups process, supported in part by philanthropic funds, included fishermen, conservationists, business helped to develop MPA alternatives for consideration interests, educators, and others. as a precursor to the state’s formal decision-making • Science advisory teams—Ensured that process. stakeholder designs were informed by scientific Under the MLPA Initiative, a series of formal guidelines and evaluated for ecological benefit. memoranda of understanding (MOU) were executed These groups were made up of scientists from academic institutions and agencies. between the state and RLF clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the public and private • Blue Ribbon Task Force—Provided oversight, partners and establishing milestones and end dates addressed difficult policy issues, and for specific stages of the MPA planning process. recommended a preferred MPA network alternative In the end, the public planning effort took eight for each region to the state of California. This years and generated significant financial investment group included high level former elected officials (approximately $19.5 million in private charitable and other leaders from the business, education, tribal, and non-profit sectors. foundation funds and $18.5 million in public funds). This level of philanthropic investment could not The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is have been secured without a formal commitment by responsible for managing MPAs through enforcement; the state to completing the MPA designation effort monitoring, research, and evaluation; and outreach (contained in the MOUs). The philanthropic funds and education. The Department also played a central were used to support external expertise in scientific role in the MPA planning process, providing biological and policy analysis, facilitation, public information data and expertise to inform MPA decision-making. and education, technical and mapping support, The California Fish and Game Commission, a five stakeholder engagement via travel grants and member body appointed by the Governor, is the stipends, and many other needs. entity responsible for adopting all fish and wildlife regulations in the state. The Commission formally approved the final MPA network design. 3 LESSONS LEARNED conducting all key MPA business in public meetings, most of which were webcast live on the internet; Private philanthropy helped support a much higher hosting regular public outreach workshops; and level of stakeholder input and scientific engagement in posting meeting materials on the web. A sophisticated California’s MPA planning process than the government online mapping visualization tool was developed to itself could have ensured. While philanthropic support help scientists and stakeholders design and evaluate helped support a robust planning process, the state MPAs. In addition, the MLPA Initiative collected agencies charged with marine resource management extensive ecological and socio-economic data and retained their regulatory, statutory, and constitutional made it available to the those engaged in the planning authority under the MLPA Initiative. The California Fish process. Information related