The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) was created in 2004 to help protect, conserve, and maintain healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and the economies they support. The OPC works with diverse interests and provides the leadership needed to meet the accelerating and complex challenges of our time as set forth in the California Ocean Protection Act
The Ocean Protection Council and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are seeking to add California’s MPA Network to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Protected Areas. The Green List is a recent IUCN initiative that aims to promote effective and equitable protected areas worldwide. More than 20 protected areas have been added to the Green List since the launch of the program in 2014; California’s MPAs would be the first U.S. site and the first MPA network to be added to the list. You can help with this effort by volunteering to join the Green List Expert Assessment Group! Click here for more details.
The Ocean Protection Council adopted the 2018 California Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy at their April 24, 2018 meeting. The Proposed Final Draft Strategy is going through final copy-editing and design work, and the final document will be posted shortly. For more information on the Strategy Update Process, please click here.
On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, the Ocean Protection Council held a public meeting at 1 PM, at the Natural Resource Building Auditorium, 1416 Ninth Street in Sacramento.
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The Dungeness Crab Task Force Executive Committee held a public conference call on Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 12:00 pm to provide updates on topics directly impacting the Dungeness crab fishery, identify priority topics for the DCTF’s discussion in 2018, and continue discussing whale entanglements in the California Dungeness crab fishery.
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On February 7, 2018 Ocean Protection Council Chairman John Laird sent a comprehensive letter to the Secretary of the Department of Interior outlining the Council’s objections to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 2019–2024 Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The letter can be found here. The letter is in response to a resolution adopted by the Council on January 31, 2018 which state’s the Council’s opposition to the 2019-2024 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program and directs the Council Chairman to submit a letter to the Department of Interior on behalf of the Council. The resolution can be found here.
Additionally on February 7th, the Sacramento Bee published an op-ed written by Secretary Laird. The op-ed can be found here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article198829809.html
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