Beginning May 1, new protections went into place in the waters surrounding the Farallon Islands, as well as other key habitat areas from Point Arena in Mendocino County to Half Moon Bay. Special places such as the Point Reyes Headlands, Bodega Head and Montara will also be part of this network of sea sanctuaries. These are all places of great importance to fish and seabirds, as well as to people who rely on their beauty and bounty for economic and recreational reasons. Coming to a consensus on these protected areas was a tough negotiation, but on May 1 the real work began. Now, as the state moves to complete the statewide marine protected area network, finalizing plans for other sections of California’s coast, we have a responsibility to show that this process can benefit the environment.

This North Central Coast marine protected area network is the second created under California’s Marine Life Protection Act, which is designed to ensure the future health and productivity of our ocean. The Act requires the state to build consensus from a variety of interests before taking action, and everyone from biologists to fishing interests to recreational advocates to environmentalists had a say in where to draw the boundaries for protected areas.

Not everyone is happy with the final list of protected areas – no one got everything they wanted. But this is a great step forward for everyone.

Making these protected areas a success will take an all-hands-on-deck approach that begins with education. We all stand to gain when ocean health improves, and many groups are already mobilizing to help with outreach, interpretation, education, monitoring and enforcement.

The rocks and islands off northern California’s coast are home to an astonishing variety of marine life, but no site is more impressive than the Farallon Islands. Perhaps best known for the whales and sharks swimming in its waters, the Farallones are also home to the country’s largest seabird breeding colony outside of Alaska.

It’s like our own version of the Galapagos, teeming with natural diversity. Special environmental conditions make the Farallones one of the Northeast Pacific ocean’s richest feeding grounds for birds, marine mammals and turtles.

Yet, until now, the future of this globally important habitat was uncertain. While the Farallon Islands are a National Wildlife Refuge, and have been off limits to people since the 1970s, the resource-rich waters surrounding the islands were vulnerable to a number of impacts such as overfishing and habitat destruction.

With ocean temperatures rising, water growing more acidic, and other shifts that we don’t yet understand underway, marine protected areas are a vital safeguard for our ocean. One of the few ways we can contribute with certainty is to protect the food base at known hot spots like the Farallon Islands. As habitats and fish populations recover and thrive, there will be positive ripple effects felt all the way up the food chain.

In this way, the Marine Life Protection Act provides seabirds and other marine wildlife a small but critical insurance policy to help them prevail in the face of these new challenges.

California has shown foresight in setting aside special places that are much more than a shape on the horizon or a stunning place to watch whales. And now we just have to work together--birders, beach combers, divers, anglers, researchers, and wardens alike--to ensure they succeed.

-- Anna Weinstein, seabird  conservation program coordinator