The first two years of funding for long-term monitoring, which began mid-2016, maintains or expands the geographic scope of data collection in select ecosystems, maintains capacity of California Department of Fish and Wildlife to collect data through equipment upgrades, expands science-management collaborations, and supports Ocean Science Trust to help the state develop monitoring that serves across agencies and mandates.

The Statewide MPA Monitoring Action Plan (planned for release in 2018) is under development, which will guide long-term monitoring and future spending of Phase 2 activities.

Statewide MPA Monitoring Action Plan

Since the initiation of baseline monitoring to characterize conditions at the time or near the implementation of the MPA Network (2007-2017) there has been ongoing work to develop quantitative and expert informed approaches to long term monitoring. The MPA Monitoring Program is designed to evaluate the performance of the MPA Network at meeting the goals of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) including ecosystem-based and specific ecological goals that include:

• protecting the natural diversity and abundance of marine life;
• protecting structure, function and integrity of marine ecosystems;
• sustaining, conserving, protecting and rebuilding depleted marine life populations;
• and protecting representative and unique habitats for their intrinsic value.

California’s MPA Network specifically removes or reduces fishing and, where possible, was also co-located with Areas of Special Biological Significance (link is external) (ASBSs) which are areas within California state marine waters that have higher water quality standards. The State is mandated by the MLPA to evaluate how the protection affects fished species, as well as the ecosystem as a whole. This requires a holistic approach to monitoring across geography, disciplines and habitats. As a first step to addressing this mandate, the State invested $16 million dollars to develop a baseline characterization of conditions at or near the time of regional MPA implementation. Concurrently, Regional Monitoring Plans were developed through a public process resulting in a framework that identified a comprehensive list of questions and indicators that can inform the evaluation of the MPA Network at meeting the goals of the MLPA. At the end of the baseline characterization, researchers also evaluated the indicators within the Monitoring Plans and suggested indicators that would be valuable for long-term monitoring.

With this critical foundational work completed, the State is currently developing quantitative and expert informed approaches to long-term monitoring that will be synthesized into the Statewide MPA Monitoring Program Action Plan (Action Plan). The Action Plan will identify a priority list of indicators and sites for long-term monitoring to evaluate the performance of the Network at meeting the goals of the MLPA. The Action Plan will aggregate and synthesize work to date as well as contain more recent work that has developed quantitative approaches to siting and indicator selection.

TIMELINE

After the Action Plan is endorsed by the Ocean Protection Council and adopted by the Fish and Game Commission, a competitive process at the end of 2018 will be rolled out to select long-term monitoring projects scheduled. The proposal review committee will include scientific experts both from within and outside of state government. The call for proposals will be seeking to fund monitoring in a habitat type or types statewide for 2-5 years depending on funding available. This approach will require scientists or scientific organizations to create collaborations across the state to leverage resources and expertise.

MPA MONITORING ACTION PLAN DRAFT OUTLINE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 California’s MPA Network

1.2 Management of the MPA Network

MPA Management Program Focal Areas

MPA Governance

Partnership with California Tribes and Tribal Governments

SECTION 2. MPA MONITORING PROGRAM

2.1 Phase 1: Regional Baseline Monitoring

2.2 Phase 2: Statewide long-term monitoring

Priority MPA Performance Metrics

Priority Ecosystem Features

Process for Long-Term Monitoring

Timeline

Research Consortiums

Open Call Competitive Process

Incorporating existing approaches

Examples of key existing programs

Incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge

2.3 Selection of Index Sites and Indicator Species

Tiered approach

Regions for long-term monitoring

Index site selection

Method 1: MPA Design Features

Method 2: MPA Historical Monitoring

Method 3: Habitat Based Connectivity Contribution Modeling

Method 4: Local Historical Fishing Effort

Integrating Quantitative Methods into Tiered Approach for Index Site Selection

Reference site criteria

Indicator Species Selection

Species list scoring system

Species of Special Interest

SECTION 3. PLANNING THE 2022 MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Analysis 1: Predicting long-term changes following MPA implementation

Analysis 2: Statistical Detectability of Population Responses to MPAs

Analysis 3: Incorporating Spatial Differences in Fishing Mortality to Project Population Responses to MP

Analysis 4: Informing long-term monitoring sampling design

SECTION 5. LITERATURE CITED

SECTION 6. APPENDICES

APPENDIX A. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION QUESTIONS

APPENDIX B. CALIFORNIA ESTUARY AND WETLAND MONITORING  SURVEY

APPENDIX C: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HUMAN USES MONITORING

APPENDIX D. FUNDING DISBURSEMENT MECHANISMS

APPENDIX E. DEEP WATER WORKSHOP REPORT

APPENDIX F. INDEX SITE SELECTION – DETAILED METHODS

Method 1: MPA design features

Method 2: MPA historical monitoring

Method 3: Habitat-based connectivity contribution modeling

Method 4: Local historical fishing effort

MPA index sites scores, rankings, and final tiered list

APPENDIX G. TIERED INDICATOR SPECIES LISTS BY HABITAT TYPE