California's Coastal and Marine Waters

Fishing boats in Monterey Harbor Photo © Richard Herrmann   Join Great Places! Join the Great Places Network today and receive exclusive member benefits, including monthly e-updates on our conservation work in California. Fast Facts Location: Nearshore and offshore waters along California's 1,200-mile coast. Size: 38 million acres. At Stake: The health of California's coastal waters, beaches and fisheries. Rocky reefs, offshore banks, underwater canyons, seamounts, coral gardens and kelp forests that harbor an extraordinarily diverse number of marine species — species that contribute to advances in medicine and support the economic well-being of commercial fishing and tourism. Threats: Coastal development, pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, global climate change.

Garibaldi fish in kelp bed
Photo © Richard Herrmann

Diverse human communities and more than a thousand miles of coast make California an ideal living laboratory for the development of innovative approaches to marine conservation.

The more we learn about life on Earth, the more we appreciate oceans as essential to the health of our planet. Protecting these vast and diverse resources — the mandate for The Nature Conservancy’s Global Marine Initiative — calls for a broad array of innovative conservation strategies, many being pioneered by the California Coastal and Marine Program.

Conservancy scientists have already conducted in-depth assessments of both the southern and northern regions of the California Current, a globally temperate upwelling that supports a rich diversity of marine life from Baja California to Oregon. Their findings form the basis for comprehensive ecoregional plans that prioritize conservation needs and strategies in the waters off California’s 1,200-mile-long coast.

Preserving California's Fishing Heritage

On land the Conservancy often partners with ranchers and farmers to balance conservation with community needs. In central California, the Conservancy is taking a similar approach to protect the rich waters between Point Conception and Point Sur.

For generations this ecologically important area has supported a strong fishing economy. But when the Conservancy and partners shared data showing the damage that bottom trawling was causing to groundfish populations and seafloor communities, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to ban trawling in 3.8 million acres of ocean, starting in May 2006.

Cooperation was key to this important decision. Local fishermen, harbormasters and fish processors worked with the Conservancy to map the no-trawl zone, and their collaboration continues through a newly formed Fishing Heritage Group. To ease the transition to more sustainable forms of fishing, the Conservancy is working with fishermen to buy back federal trawling permits and vessels.

Leasing Undersea Property

Long considered "unbuyable," oceans are now being protected by lease and acquisition strategies that have proven so successful on land. Recently, the Conservancy secured leases on two coastal kelp beds, becoming the first organization in the state to lease submerged lands for conservation purposes. The three-year lease will create an undersea laboratory in which scientists can study the ecology of kelp forest canopies, examine the role they play as fish nurseries, and learn how natural factors, harvesting and land-uses affect their health and function.

Mapping the Ocean Floor

Off the coast of Santa Barbara, the Conservancy and partners are conducting research and annual monitoring in the new Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas Network, which, at 175 square miles, represents one of the largest collections of no-take marine reserves in U.S. waters. Using multibeam sonar technology and remotely operated vehicles, scientists are mapping and photo-documenting the seafloor and collecting baseline information on the marine communities within and outside the reserves. These findings will allow the Conservancy and partners to track changes in the environment and determine the effectiveness of marine protected areas as a conservation tool.

Creating an Ocean Park

In the waters around Santa Catalina Island in southern California, the Conservancy is working with public agencies and local organizations to create an ocean park with conservation, recreation and research as its top priorities. The Conservancy and partners will establish a baseline of current conditions and activities around Santa Catalina, map the waters to identify key habitats and define areas open to compatible human uses, and encourage public-private partnerships to promote limited and responsible fishing. Partners will also seek to enhance or restore marine habitat and establish a "dive park" where underwater visitors can experience healthy ocean ecosystems.

Help us protect California's Marine Areas

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