Boaters Hear Results of Channel Islands MPA Study
Jury still out on effectiveness of Marine Protected Area designations.
Catherine French
The Log
03/05/2008
OXNARD — Boaters, anglers, divers, scientists and other members of the public packed a conference room to learn the results of a five-year study on the effectiveness of Marine Protected Area designations in the Channel Islands. The symposium was held Feb. 8 at the Embassy Suites Hotel.
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In 2002, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) adopted a network of 10 marine reserves and two conservation areas within state waters that surround Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary. Since the implementation of Marine Protected Areas around the five northern Channel Islands in April 2003, scientists from a variety of fields have monitored (and continue to monitor) changes in marine life and habitats, as well as human activities in and around the MPAs. They presented their findings at this public forum.
“This data will help to inform future management of the region, aid in the implementation of the California Marine Life Protection Act in Southern California, and contribute to our understanding of MPAs worldwide,” stated John Ugoretz, manager of the Marine Habitat Conservation Program for the DFG.
According to Ugoretz, findings of the first five years of monitoring the MPAs show consistent differences in abundance and size of species found inside the MPAs, compared to the surrounding waters.
Though he cautioned that the results are only early trends, Ugoretz said, “The results to date show that marine habitats outside the MPAs are sometimes better than in the MPAs, that fish do cross boundaries, and that species counts and varieties are greater within MPA boundaries.”
The MPAs were designed to protect key ocean habitats, such as kelp forests. But according to researcher Brian Kinlan, increases in the giant kelp forests (Macrocystis pyrifera) have occurred across the board, with “a major expansion of forests at the islands due mostly to a massive shift in ocean climate during this period and not specifically as a result of the MPAs.”
Jerome Bettz, a 30-year commercial urchin diver from Santa Barbara in attendance at the symposium, pointed out that at middle island at Anacapa, the urchin population and kelp forests have grown since the area was returned to urchin divers as a legal area to fish. “This means that we have had no negative effect on the kelp or the urchin population,” he said.
Bettz believes that not enough hard science and research has been conducted yet to support the continuance of MPAs, stating, “It’s too soon to say if they work. I don’t think the MPAs will work in the long run. They have just made a bigger park (referring to Channel Islands National Park) but with less area for people to use.”
Reporting on changes in densities and size of fish in the MPAs compared to those in surrounding waters, Jenn Caselle, research scientist with the University of California, Santa Barbara, stated that the scuba survey work conducted by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans and Channel Islands National Park observed higher densities and bigger fish in marine reserves than in surrounding waters, including species that are targeted for fishing, such as kelp bass and California sheephead.
“This increase in the average size can have important ecological effects, because larger fish produce exponentially more young than smaller fish,” Caselle said.
Preliminary research also indicates that the California spiny lobsters found within the MPAs are larger in size and in greater abundance than outside these protected areas.
Other species found off the California coast are expected to take longer to show change such as slow-growing rockfishes, which researchers say will need another 10 to 15 years of study to see major change.
Recreational angler Greg Mendonca, who has fished in the area since age 3, stated, “When I first heard about the MPAs I was concerned about being able to fish and what would happen next. They have closed some really good spots like Gull Island on the south side of Santa Cruz, and Skunk Point at Santa Rosa Island.”
Mendonca said he understands the idea behind MPAs, but stated, “My concern is that I have never seen a closed area reopened. And, if they keep adding more closures, where will we be able to fish?”
For information regarding the MPAs, visit www.channelislands.noaa.gov and click on marine reserves.
