The Ocean Protection Council Approves A Bold Plan to Protect California’s Coast and Oceans

On February 26, the Ocean Protection Council approved its Strategic Plan to Protect California’s Coast and Ocean for 2020-2025. The plan establishes an ambitious collective vision for protecting the intrinsic, cultural, ecological and economic benefits provided by California’s coast and ocean and identifies objectives, targets and actions in four key areas: climate, equity, biodiversity and the blue economy. Actions address issues ranging from sea-level rise and ocean acidification to universal coastal access, offshore wind energy, aquaculture, whale entanglement, plastic pollution, wetlands, beaches and fisheries.

Invitation to Bid: Communications Strategy for the 2022 decadal review of California’s Marine Protected Area network

The Ocean Protection Council is seeking bids for contract to develop a communication strategy for the 2022 decadal review of California’s Marine Protected Area network. This communications strategy will be used over the next two years leading up to the management review in December 2022 and through early 2023 to communicate the results of the review, along with the recommendations and next steps for ongoing adaptive management of California’s Marine Protected Areas. This strategy will help establish a communications protocol and framework by which information regarding subsequent decadal reviews will be shared with decision makers, stakeholders and the public. The Contractor will be required to work in close collaboration with OPC, DFW and FGC staff in the development and deployment of this communication strategy through the duration of the contract.

For more information follow this link: https://caleprocure.ca.gov/event/0540/0000015525

Ocean Protection Council Meeting — February 26, 2020, Sacramento

Agenda for February 26 OPC Meeting is Now Available.

The Ocean Protection Council will host a public meeting from 1:30 to 4:30pm on February 26, 2020 at the California Energy Commission’s Art Rosenfeld Hearing Room in Sacramento. The agenda and information on how to provide public comment can be found here. … read more

OPC is Hiring a Senior Environmental Scientist to lead its Marine Protected Area Program

The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is hiring a Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) to lead its Marine Protected Area (MPA) Program.  OPC is a Cabinet-level state policy body that works to ensure healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems by advancing innovative, science-based policy and management, making strategic investments, and catalyzing action through partnerships and collaboration.

The Senior Environmental Scientist will serve as the team lead for OPC’s MPA program and will be responsible for: coordinating the efforts of OPC’s MPA program manager and Sea Grant Fellow; leading implementation of the state’s MPA Management Program in collaboration with OPC’s other MPA program staff and external partners, which includes investments and actions related to outreach and education, research and monitoring, compliance and enforcement, and policy and permitting; grant and contract management including developing work scopes, tracking deliverables, processing invoices, and grantee coordination; and additional organizational support and capacity, as needed.

Applicants should have a minimum of four years of relevant post-graduate work experience, a strong scientific background, working knowledge of coastal and ocean issues and stakeholders in California, experience working on projects and/or research related to MPAs in California or elsewhere, and excellent written and verbal communication skills. Completion of the Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) State Civil Service Examination is required and exam scores must rank in the top three tiers within the applicant pool to be further considered in the application process; information on the examination can be found here.  The ability to work in a fast-paced environment and prioritize tasks is a must. A PhD, ecological modeling experience, and two years of field work are preferred but not required.  The position is located in Sacramento, California. 

This job announcement is a repost of the position that was released in November 2019.  If you applied at that time and are still interested in the position, please resubmit your application materials through the link below.

The application deadline is January 29, 2020.  For more details and to apply, please visit: https://jobs.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/Jobs/JobPosting.aspx?JobControlId=187238

Funding Opportunity

The Ocean Protection Council is pleased to announce a funding opportunity for projects focused on outreach and education to improve compliance with marine protected area (MPA) regulations in California:

2020 Marine Protected Area Outreach and Education Small Grants Program

The MPA Outreach and Education Small Grants Program, funded by the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) through the Once-Through Cooling (OTC) Interim Mitigation Program and administered by Coastal Quest, is a competitive grant program providing support for projects focused on outreach and education to improve compliance with MPA regulations statewide. Applicants may submit proposals for $25,000 – $100,000. A minimum total of $750,000 will be distributed under the MPA Outreach and Education Small Grants Program’s request for proposals (RFP).

Please see the full RFP for additional details

Ocean Litter Strategy Webinar Recording Available!

The Ocean Protection Council and the NOAA Marine Debris Program co-hosted a webinar for the California Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy (Strategy) implementation process on December 9, 2019. We are pleased to announce that the webinar recording is now available! The webinar featured guest presentations from:

• Samantha Sommer of Clean Water Fund on the Unpackaging Alameda Project
• Diana Lin of the San Francisco Estuary Institute on the San Francisco Bay Microplastics Project
• Laura Ingulsrud of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary on Sanctuary Shoreline Cleanups with commercial lobster fishermen.

Angela Howe of California Surfrider provided an update on legislative activity both in and outside of California.

Overall, 22 progress reports were provided for action items in the Strategy during this reporting period, out of 32 actions with a lead organization that committed to progress reporting.

Finally, the first in-person implementation workshop for the Strategy is being planned for June 24-25, 2020 in Los Angeles. Please watch the webinar recording for the details, and additional resources are available on the OPC website.