California's Blue Legacy

When our grandfather first began exploring the seas, we were just starting to understand the human impacts on our ocean. For most people, the images from Jacques Cousteau’s early dives were their first view of the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface. Now, the ocean is a much different place than when he first set out on his lifelong journey into our oceans.

Our understanding of the marine world has grown by leaps and bounds, but unfortunately, so have the impacts of our activities. We are now fishing for more species, with faster boats and bigger nets than ever before. It is imperative that we pay attention to the declining state of our oceans.

What doesn’t seem to make it into the news often enough is the fact that we now have proven tools to help our oceans recover. We can create safe havens – underwater parks -- where marine wildlife and plants can thrive, and ecosystems can return to a healthier, more vibrant and resilient state.

By creating marine protected areas and reserves, areas where fishing, trawling, dumping and energy extraction is restricted, we can shelter the nurseries and spawning habitat that will allow ecosystems and all types of marine populations to rebuild. When strategically located, marine protected areas can not only provide real ecological benefits, they can minimize economic impacts, which turn into positive long-term results that can make a real difference in our oceans and the coastal economies that depend on the resource. We know marine protected areas work because we have dived in protected areas around the world and seen their benefits for ourselves.

Right now in California, policy makers are on the brink of adopting just such a marine protected area plan for north central California. Community leaders and scientists have done an excellent job creating a compromise plan that satisfies the interests of both conservationists and fishing groups. It is proven that these interests can co-exist. The Commission should not delay in putting these essential protections in place.

The urgent need is clear when you take a look underwater and see the wildlife caught in abandoned nets and gear, the piles of trash that choke our birds and marine mammals, and the lack of large older fish that once replenished the ocean with their abundant egg production. We need to restore our ocean to health, and we can start by simply giving it places to breathe and rest.

Right now, less than one percent of the world’s oceans are protected. If that were true of our landscapes, our world would look very different. Can you imagine a California without any parks and green spaces where industry and habitat destruction are not allowed? Why, then, should we draw a line at the seashore and settle for any less in our oceans?

With such a small percentage of the world’s seas protected, California has a chance to be a real leader. The process is complicated, because so many people value the ocean for so many different reasons, but that’s precisely why it is so important to sustain it. In order for California’s marine habitat to be safeguarded, an adaptive plan needs to be based on science and should balance the needs of all.

That means ensuring divers have access to rocky reefs and shadowy canyons teeming with life, families can explore healthy tide pools, and anglers can fish sustainably. It means considering traditional uses by tribes and key industries like tourism and crabbing. It means protecting the humblest halibut and the most majestic Minke whale, as they pass through our waters.

The plan currently before the Fish and Game Commission does just that - it is the result of long study, and careful compromise between myriad user groups: from fishing interests, to residents, businesses, and conservationists. The Integrated Preferred Alternative plan is a win for the oceans and a win for the community. We urge the Commission to adopt this common-sense plan and start the restoration of the ocean and the possibility of our combined futures. With the state of the oceans today, there is precious little time for us to ensure that future generations may enjoy a semblance of what we have thus far taken for granted.