The Politics of Marine Conservation

During the past 10-plus years, the California planning process to designate marine protected areas (MPAs) has included the use of professional facilitators, stakeholder-based activities, social and physical scientists with expertise in diverse disciplines, consultants and other advisors, and resources agency personnel. The state process of planning marine reserves has cost tens of millions of dollars and it has been difficult, with the economic interests of fishers often running up against the value of protecting marine life from the impacts of human activities.

There are many here among us who will not soon forget the process of designating reserves within the national sanctuary offshore Santa Barbara. In 1999, three advisory groups were established by the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS), and the California Department of Fish and Game, to consider the designation of MPAs for the marine area six nautical miles offshore five northern Channel Islands: Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel Islands. The MPA planning effort for the CINMS included a Marine Reserve Work Group (MRWG), a Science Advisory Panel, and Socioeconomic Panel.

The Marine Reserve Working Group comprised 17 members who were purported to represent a wide diversity of interests and values within the region. The MRWG included representatives from state and federal resource agencies, user groups (e.g., commercial and recreational fishers), local and national environmental organizations, and an academic. I was part of the MRWG process. We met from July 1999 to May 2001.