In 2012, California finalized a plan for its system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) — setting aside a network of sites where consumptive activities like fishing are limited or prohibited altogether to protect oceanic resources for future generations. To understand whether these MPAs are effectively protecting the ocean, they must be monitored.
This project continues field sampling research funded by the Ocean Protection Council and California Sea Grant in two previous grants, focused on rocky intertidal habitats. The sites include several dozen MPAs from all three MPA regions in California, each paired with a comparable reference site. This project will also assess the long-term effects of the 2014-2016 marine heat wave, which, through cascading effects, has allowed mussel recruits to survive at lower depths than previously observed — which is crowded out sea palm and black abalone, species that have been harvested recreationally and commercially and play a role in local tribal culture. This project will consider possible restoration opportunities. Another new component of this project is the creation of digital maps that track species’ preferred elevation in the water, which will help anticipate what ecosystems will look like in the future, as tidal heights rise in response to rising seas.
Peter Raimondi