Fishing and Fish Habitat Restoration:
Augment Funds for Implementing Marine Protected Areas in California
Background
The goal of this project was to enhance fish habitat function in Southern
California by augmenting funds needed to evaluate and implement Marine
Protected Areas (MPAs) as part of an ecosystem-based management approach for
fishery resources. The primary focus of this project was to provide needed
funds for implementation of the Channel Islands network of MPAs to ensure that
they provided the best possible basis for further implementations of MPA
networks throughout California. Although this action provided specific benefits
to the fish habitats adjacent to the Northern Channel Islands, the action also
provided the longer-term benefits for fishing and fish habitats throughout
California by helping to generate sound empirical underpinnings for the site
and design of future networks of MPAs. At the time the Phase I Restoration Plan
was prepared, the network of MPAs in the Channel Islands was the most
appropriate area for such an effort because those MPAs were designed to
evaluate the utility of MPAs as a management tool.
Through this action, MSRP funds will contribute to the goals of:
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ensuring that the MPAs function as intended (i.e., through effective public
awareness and enforcement efforts) and
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measuring the impacts (positive and negative) of MPAs on fishing services.
MSRP proposed to contribute approximately $500,000 toward these MPA efforts over
five years to fill funding gaps identified by the implementing agencies.
Depending on the findings of the monitoring efforts, the effective management
of MPAs in the Northern Channel Islands will lead to more effective use of this
fisheries management tool throughout California, including the Palos Verdes
Shelf region. As part of the MSRP Restoration Plan, projects were supported
that included the implementation of MPAs in regions that promote the production
of commonly caught coastal fish species. Funds were awarded to the National
Park Service and the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal
Oceans (PISCO) in 2007 and projects were completed in 2008.
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Project Updates
National Park Service Monitors Kelp Forests
in Northern Channel Islands
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MSRP provided funds to the Channel Islands National Park kelp monitoring
program that has been collecting data since 1982.
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Monitoring data on fish, invertebrates, and algae were collected inside and
outside of MPA borders for comparison to determine the effectiveness of MPAs.
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This project was supported by MSRP during 2007 and 2008 and was leveraged by
funding from the National Park Service, NOAA’s Channel Islands Marine
Sanctuary, and the California Department of Fish and Game.
Standardized Monitoring Units (SMURFs)
Measure Recruitment in Northern Channel Islands
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MSRP provided funding to the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of
Coastal Oceans (PISCO) to expand their efforts on understanding marine life
recruitment inside and outside of MPAs.
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SMURFs are artificial collectors that are placed in the water and used to
attract young invertebrates (crabs, urchins, lobsters) and fish.
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SMURFs were moored near the bottom and surface inside and outside of MPAs to
collect recruits for one year.
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