• Scale: Recognition of the need to manage an ecosystem, and of the interconnectedness of the land and sea.
• Complexity: Use of science to improve protection, conservation, restoration and management of the ecosystem.
• Adaptive Management: Recognition of a “precautionary principle” in its guiding framework, meaning that where the chance of serious harm exists, the council states that the lack of scientific certainty should not preclude action to prevent the harm.
• Collaboration: Desire to create new and innovative processes across governmental agencies.

Lead Organizations

Key Parties

• California State Senate and Assembly
• Ocean Science Trust
• University of California Sea Grant Research
• University of Southern California Sea Grant Research
• SeaDoc Society
• Members of the public

The California Ocean Protection Council is structured to incorporate government, scientific and stakeholder participation.

Administration

Administrative support is centered in Oakland, Calif. The program is run by about a dozen personnel, including a director, staff environmental scientist, and several project managers.

California Ocean Protection Council

The seven-member California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) provides guidance and develops priorities and includes California’s secretary for natural resources, secretary for environmental protection, the chairman of the state lands commission, two legislative representatives, and two members of the public who are appointed by the governor.

Science Advisory Team

The OPC receives advice from a Science Advisory Team, which includes 25 leading scientists with expertise in all major ocean and coastal scientific disciplines, including social and human sciences. The Science Advisory Team is charged with making sure the best available science informs the OPC’s decisions, including decisions on how to allocate funding. It can constitute technical working groups and convene scientific forums to address critical management issues.

State Agency Steering Committee

A State Agency Steering Committee, led by the OPC’s executive policy officer, is comprised of the senior representatives of state departments, boards and commissions that have responsibilities regarding ocean and coastal protection. It reports to OPC and vets the priorities developed by the Science Advisory Team, assisting in the development of questions that serve as the basis for scientific investigation. It develops priorities for each fiscal year, and identifies strategies and projects within and across state agencies to address the priorities.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder participation is encouraged through open public comment periods during OPC meetings. Webcasting of meetings is provided. Public workshops are held before OPC meetings to encourage informal dialogue about OPC actions.

The California Ocean Protection Council was established by the California Ocean Protection Act of 2004. The Act referred to growing concern for the health of the ocean ecosystem, and pointed to several reports.

One of the reports, released by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, examined federal policy and identified a number of priorities, including a move to an ecosystem-based management approach and the significant investment in scientific data collection to inform policy. Despite efforts to reduce the impacts of human activity, the report found significant problems in ocean ecosystems from threats that included excess nutrients, coastal development, destructive fishing practices, and invasive species.

Calling the report a “wake-up call,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said “the oceans are in trouble and in need of help.” According to the news release posted on the state Web site, Schwarzenegger said actions must be taken at all levels of government.

The California Ocean Protection Act applied some of the report’s recommendations to state waters, including a move toward a broader view on ocean protection. The Act noted that degraded ocean water quality results from a host of sources, including terrestrial sources that are exacerbated by patterns of environmentally harmful coastal development. The Act established that the health of the ocean ecosystem is linked to the actions taken on land. Governance of ocean resources should be guided by principles of sustainability, informed by science, and result from coordination among state agencies.

The first legislative finding contained in the Act acknowledges the importance of the ocean and coastal resources to the state, stating that “California’s coastal and ocean resources are critical to the state’s environmental and economic security, and integral to the state’s high quality of life and culture.”

The Ecosystem

The coastal environment of California contains diverse and productive ecosystems that support abundant wildlife, commercial fishing industries, a broad range of recreational opportunities and vibrant coastal communities.

The ecosystems include wetlands and kelp forests that absorb nutrients or capture sediments from the land, providing some protection for ocean water quality. They also serve as important nurseries and habitat for marine life and protect shoreline communities from floods and storms.

The coastal economy was valued at $43 billion by the National Ocean Economics Program.

Threats

Despite success in reducing point-source pollution, protecting coastal assets and implementing a progressive system to guide coastal development, pressing challenges threaten the health of the coastal ecosystem:

• Beaches are closed because of bacteria pollution.
• More than 90 percent of the state’s wetlands have been lost because of environmentally destructive development practices.
• Fish stocks have declined so sharply the federal government imposed significant restrictions on salmon and other types of fishing. Commercial fishing landings declined from more than 900 million pounds in 1981 to 292 million pounds in 2005.

Major program strategies of the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) include:

Fisheries Management

The OPC has provided $2 million to the California Fisheries Fund to offer loans to fishing communities and groups that attempt to make their fishing practices more environmentally and economically sustainable.

Low-Impact Development

The OPC is promoting low-impact development, a method of controlling storm water that reduces the use of impervious surfaces, treats runoff, and controls water flow to mitigate negative impacts on ocean water quality. OPC is working with other government agencies, such as the Building Standards Commission and Department of Water Resources, to encourage the incorporation of low-impact development principles in project standards. It is also assisting in the development of regulatory actions.

Marine Debris

The OPC passed a resolution in 2007 that included a call to action to reduce marine debris, and adopted an implementation strategy document in 2008. Marine debris, including derelict fishing gear, and plastic bags and containers, foul the coast and ocean, killing thousands of animals. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in 2007 that was based on OPC’s recommendation to require plastic product manufacturers to use best practices to prevent the spillage of nurdles, small, pre-production plastic pellets. In 2010, lawmakers in the California Assembly approved a bill to ban free grocery bags. The ban is pending in the Senate.

Power Plant Impacts

Twenty-one older power plants along the coast draw about 16 billion gallons of seawater a day through so-called once-through cooling systems. The process kills nine million fish and invertebrates a year, as well as dozens of seals, sea lions, sea turtles and other large marine animals. The OPC passed a resolution urging the State Water Resources Board (SWRB) to implement a policy that results in a 90 to 95 percent reduction in impacts from cooling systems, and commissioned various feasibility and impact studies. In 2009, the SWRB issued a draft policy calling for the phased-in reduction of once-through cooling impacts by 2020.

Water Quality Standards

The OPC facilitated a meeting of two California agencies responsible for protecting water quality – the Department of Fish and Game and State Water Board – to identify ways in which the agencies can work together. Staff members from both departments now conduct joint inspections of facilities suspected of violating water quality laws.

One of the key responsibilities of Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is to facilitate the sharing of scientific data, and its five-year strategic plan, “A Vision for Our Ocean and Coast,” contains more specific recommendations regarding new scientific assessments that are currently underway.

The OPC has set a goal of providing the state by 2011 with the sufficient scientific understanding of the biological, physical, and socio-economic processes of the coastal environment to implement ecosystem-based management. Consistent monitoring data should be accessible to resource managers and the public.

OPC is supporting the creation of a state-sponsored ocean observing program, which would be integrated with federal and other monitoring efforts. Work is underway to complete sea floor maps of all state waters to provide additional information on marine habitats and substrates. Another effort is developing a comprehensive monitoring program focused on delivering data that will inform the adaptive management of the network of Marine Protected Areas being established along the coast in accordance with the Marine Life Protection Act, which was passed by the Legislature in 1999.

Legal Framework

The California Ocean Protection Council, operating under the mandate of the California Ocean Protection Act, has a legal framework to act as a high-level coordinator of governmental ocean protection initiatives into an ecosystem-based management approach that could be emulated by other coastal states with similarly fractured ocean governance systems.

Problem Identification

Although the OPC does not have new regulatory authorities, the OPC identifies problems, and outlines strategies, to address ecosystem threats, providing other government agencies with clear road-maps.

Catalyst to Action

The OPC’s resolutions, discussed and passed at public meetings and backed by scientific data, focus public attention on issues, providing support for government policy-makers to act.

California Ocean Protection Council: http://www.opc.ca.gov/

California Ocean Protection Act: http://www.opc.ca.gov/california-ocean-protection-act/