Environment |

Local environmental groups petition wildlife commission for changes in protected coastal areas

With the recovery of sea life seen in the last decade, environmental groups are petitioning the California Fish and Game Commission to now access Marine Protected Areas along Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar and Bolsa Chica for more research opportunities.

The state’s program of Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs as they are commonly called, was created to help restore heavily fished and impacted sections of the California coastline that are now teaming again with marine life – they have become a model for addressing the degradation of  sensitive areas globally.

There are 124 MPAs scattered along the state’s coast, including 50 in Southern California. All rocky intertidal and reef habitats that provide sanctuaries for marine life are protected, and removing anything or altering them is prohibited in many of the MPAs.

A recent review of the MPAs’ first decade also solicited feedback from interested stakeholders and the California Fish and Game Commission has received petitions from 20 groups asking for various changes and new access opportunities. There is also a petition to extend the areas where no sea creatures or habitats can be taken to include South Laguna, which is a popular fishing area.

Any changes might be considered by early summer after review by a Marine Resources Committee.

The protection the MPAs created has limited areas available for scientific study, hindering researchers’ ability to gather essential data.

“The MPAs along Orange County’s coast are not just beautiful landscapes; they are living laboratories that could hold the key to combatting climate change and protecting our way of life,” said Ray Hiemstra, associate director of policy and projects at the nonprofit Orange County Coastkeeper, which petitioned for access to the three local MPA sections.

“We believe that through vetted research, monitoring, education and restoration projects,” he said, “scientists could better understand and preserve these vital habitats.”

The state’s MPA program has two categories, conservation areas and reserves, and there are tighter restrictions in some that don’t allow any removal of sea life or similar interaction with the environment. The stricter reserve areas were focused in areas that had no human impact already, such as docks or infrastructure, and would be the most pristine environment for recovery.

In the Upper Newport Bay, an upland lagoon habitat with flat and coastal marshland, Hiemstra’s group has been able to conduct several research projects because it had been label a conservation area that allows more access, he said.

“We did a whole oyster and eelgrass restoration program there and got a lot of important information,” he said. “We did that with state funds, and so many graduate students have done studies on fish and water quality there.”

OC Coastkeeper began its restoration projects 10 years ago when the bay had much more pollution. Researchers wanted to see if oysters and eelgrass could survive there together and become a protection against environmental impacts. Researchers studied the interaction over time by creating plots of eelgrass and oyster beds. The oyster beds became a natural armory to help with erosion, and the eelgrass filtered water.

“It turned out they worked really well together,” Hiemstra said.

Now, scientists are hopeful to launch projects in some of Orange County’s other MPAs that are presently off limits. Those include areas in Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Bolsa Chica and Corona del Mar.

“We want to make sure these areas are open to a variety of opportunities for education, research and restoration,” Hiemstra said.

Among those researchers waiting for the green light – and who also signed on to the petition – is Nancy Caruso, a marine biologist who, for years, has been pushing for more access to Laguna Beach and Crystal Cove State Park and for better language that governs how the MPAs can be used for research.

In 2019, she hoped to remove sargassum – a type of large brown seaweed – in a 400-square-meter plot off Crystal Cove, but her project was declined. She’s also wanted to set abalone along reefs off Orange County, but was turned down. Abalone were over-fished along the coast for decades, so with help from local middle and high school students, Caruso grows them in tanks to introduce back into the ocean.

“I’ll still have to fight, but with requests from this petition, it will make it easier,” she said, referencing the detailed application process researches would still have to go through the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

As part of her research, she also recently discovered algae growing off Dana Point that she hasn’t seen elsewhere and would like to have access to work there.

And there are the Pismo clams, she said. “I want to restore those too.”

Jayson Smith, a marine conservationist at Cal Poly Pomona, has been studying intertidal areas since the 1990s. Most of them lie within the MPAs in Orange County. He, too, is hopeful the Coastkeeper petition will succeed and signed on to support the cause.

“If research was not allowed in MPAs, it would be extremely difficult to understand the status and the functioning of Orange County’s coastal resources,” he said. “Orange County’s coastline is very unique; thus studying sites in Los Angeles or San Diego can’t give the same insight to what is happening (here).”

Having access to these additional areas of the county, he said, would make it easier for himself and other scientists to identify trends, patterns and the ecology of these habitats. Understanding those makes it easier for researchers to determine if “adaptive management” is needed.

“There are many scientists along the coast that have equally compelling reasons to be able to have moderately easy access to conduct research in other MPAs along the coast,” he said, adding that the ensuing research and its results are of “high interest to the public.”

In addition to the research access, OC Coastkeeper’s petition also asks that the no-take zones in Laguna Beach be extended to areas off South Laguna and off Dana Point near the Ocean Institute. That would mean no taking home critters from the tidepools.

“We also want to add ‘no-take’ to include non-living things like rocks and cultural artifacts,” Hiemstra said.

As part of that, their third ask redefines the description of tidepools as “rocky zones.”

“When the tide is up, a rocky area may be covered, but it’s still tidepool,” Hiemstra said. “Regardless of the tide, the area between the highest and lowest tide will still be protected. This clarification will make it easier for the public to understand.”

The Laguna Bluebelt Coalition has petitioned the commission to further restrict the city’s MPA areas from Aliso Beach south to the city’s limits to encompass the coves off South Laguna, including the community of Three Arch Bay. If this were to happen, no commercial or recreational fishing would be near the shore.

The request for the extension follows an agreement between the city and the county, which transferred oversight of the southern beaches to the city earlier this year.

The Laguna Ocean Foundation, the South Laguna Civic Association and the Three Arch Bay Community Services District are supporting the petition. Laguna Beach city officials have also recently sent a letter to the commission stating their “willingness to engage in future discussions regarding potential changes to the MPA boundaries in South Laguna.”