Figuring How to Protect Marine Areas

The state-sanctioned Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)—the offshore regions being identified for the purpose of fishing restrictions as mandated in the Marine Life Protection Act—meeting held this week at the DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara fleshed out how exactly the protected areas will be evaluated once restrictions are implemented. Folks from MPA Monitoring Enterprise, a subsidiary of the nonprofit group California Ocean Science Trust, hosted the 7/17 meeting and invited stakeholders to state their priorities for the monitoring process. A second round of public workshops will be held later this fall with a draft version of the program expected at the end of 2010.