$4M grant awarded for northern California MPA monitoring
The Ocean Protection Council awarded $4 million, almost half going to a UC Santa Cruz based consortium, to monitor North Central Coast marine protected areas.
The projects, which will continue for up to three years, will study the organisms inside and outside the protected areas to establish an integrated picture of marine ecosystems and human activities. The region being studied ranges from Alder Creek in Mendocino County to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County.
"I'm very excited about what the baseline project will deliver, it will be right on target with determining how these areas are performing," said Cheri Recchia of the Ocean Protection Council.
The baseline program is a collaboration between California Sea Grant, Ocean Protection Council, Department of Fish and Game, Ocean Science Trust and Marine Protection Area Monitoring Enterprise.
The marine protection areas were set up by the 1999 Marine Life Protection Act. The goal of the act is to set up protected areas, by limiting fishing and other activities, and monitor them over time, determining their effect and guiding further changes.