After five decades of tackling more visible conservation challenges on land, The Nature Conservancy is getting its feet wet off the coast of Santa Barbara. Together with its partners, the Conservancy is participating in a project to establish a baseline map of the sea floor habitats and marine life that currently exist in the new Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas Network.

As one of the largest collections of marine reserves in U.S. waters and the first of its kind on the West Coast, the Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas Network was designated by the state of California to reverse the decline of marine species once plentiful off California’s coast. Encompassing 175 square miles, the network contains 10 reserves that prohibit fishing, and two conservation areas allowing limited access.

Growing evidence indicates that abundance, size and diversity of marine life increase within reserves, and even spill over into nearby accessible areas. But a lack of baseline information collection during initial designation has raised questions about the effectiveness of marine reserves. These oversights — often due to limited resources and technology — have hindered accurate assessment of the reserves’ ultimate value.

The Seafloor Mapping and Assessment Project

To ensure good science is used in determining how reserves affect marine life both within and just outside their boundaries, the Conservancy and its partners are taking careful steps to establish and evaluate control areas — comparable, yet accessible areas adjacent to reserves.

"While the Conservancy wasn’t involved in the network’s establishment, we’ve helped to coordinate people, technology and funding in order to learn what degree of protection — whether a no-take reserve or multiple-use marine park — will most benefit both living marine resources and those who depend upon and enjoy them," says Chuck Cook, director of the Conservancy’s new California Coastal and Marine Program.

‣	Phase One: In June 2003 a team guided by Rikk Kvitek from California State University Monterey Bay’s Seafloor Mapping Lab used multibeam sonar technology to map the seafloor of three Channel Island reserves and adjacent control areas.
‣	Phase Two: In November and again in March 2004, an expedition led by California’s Department of Fish and Game with assistance from Deep Ocean Engineering will deploy remote operated vehicles to photograph and inventory marine life within each of the mapped areas.

The results will inform scientists and decision makers in California — and around the world — about what degree of protection is needed to adequately protect ecosystems, improve fisheries and expand understanding of marine environments.