Master Plan for Marine Protected Areas

The Master Plan for Marine Protected Areas is an sub-national cross-sectoral master plan of California. It provides that the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) required the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to develop, and the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) to adopt, a master plan that guides the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Program (MLPP) to redesign the state’s MPA network. The MLPP includes all state marine protected areas (MPA) governance and management mechanisms and institutions as well as California’s MPA network itself. A master plan framework was developed in 2005, and the Commission formally adopted the draft California Marine Life Protection Act Master Plan for Marine Protected Areas in 2008 following the implementation of the Central Coast MPAs. this 2016 Master Plan is a programmatic guidance document that describes how the MLPP will undertake tasks and activities to manage California’s MPAs to the best of its ability to meet the goals of the MLPA and Marine Managed Areas Improvement Act (MMAIA). The 2016 Master Plan is intended to provide guidance to the MLPP and other natural resource management agencies, California Tribes and Tribal governments, the California Legislature, and the general public. The 2016 Master Plan includes background information on California’s heritage and a high-level description of California’s MPA design and siting process; readers can refer to Appendix A and the 2008 Master Plan for more detailed information on these topics. The 2016 Master Plan primarily shares the operational and contextual information for management of the MPA network to meet the MLPA goals and objectives. This includes statewide guidance relative to the management and adaptive management – including monitoring, research, and development – as well as operations and funding of the MPA network and next steps to take for MPA management. In this document, management and adaptive management are discussed separately because, while the MLPP has defined its general approach to management of California’s MPA network, the MLPA emphasizes the importance of an adaptive and evolving approach to management. This adaptive management process, while closely tied to existing MPA management, is a distinct process meant to build upon and feed back into MPA management. For a more detailed historical description of MPA planning through the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (MLPA Initiative) that led to the designation of California’s MPAs pursuant to the MLPA, see Appendix A. Also appended to the 2016 Master Plan are four Regional MPA Background and Priorities documents that capture region-specific MPA planning considerations and priorities moving forward; which together provide important context to base future informed statewide MPA management decisions upon. To enhance the effectiveness of California’s MPAs, the MLPA has six primarily ecosystem-based goals that guided the design and siting, and continue to guide the management, of MPAs: protect the natural diversity and abundance of marine life, and the structure, function and integrity of marine ecosystems; help sustain, conserve, and protect marine life populations, including those of economic value, and rebuild those that are depleted; improve recreational, educational, and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems that are subject to minimal human disturbance, and manage these uses in a manner consistent with protecting biodiversity; protect marine natural heritage, including protection of representative and unique marine life habitats in California waters for their intrinsic values; ensure California's MPAs have clearly defined objectives, effective management measures, and adequate enforcement and are based on sound scientific guidelines; and ensure the state's MPAs are designed and managed, to the extent possible, as a network.