Any Expansion Could Also Squeeze San Diego Fishermen
By Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 6, 2024
A proposal to expand one of San Diego’s 11 marine protected areas would make it the largest in the county, and could help wildlife off Point Loma thrive. But miles gained would be miles lost to some local fishermen. Two environmental groups want to expand Cabrillo State Marine Reserve from less than half a square mile to nearly 16, extending it westward and northward to an area of Sunset Cliffs. The reason? Kelp, long a chief concern of scientists, fishermen and other ocean-goers.
Like underwater rainforests, kelp forests support hundreds of species that live within and above them and depend on their oxygen. They’re needed for a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem and are believed to help mitigate climate change, but they have been vanishing along the California coast.
Scientists aren’t sure of the precise reasons they’re disappearing, and the trends vary along the coast. Climate change is believed to be a factor — kelp flourishes in cooler water. The loss of predator species can throw the kelp forests’ ecosystems out of balance, and threaten its survival. And pollution can act as fertilizer and feed algae, which then sucks up oxygen and blocks the light kelp needs to grow.
Marine protected areas were established over 10 years ago as an effort to preserve ocean ecosystems and revive waters exhausted from overfishing. A patchwork of them now protect 16 percent of California’s coastal waters. Today, fish in the protected areas are larger and more plentiful, and kelp is more resilient and healthier, a state review of the marine protected areas’ first decade found early last year, echoing findings by other researchers.
But that review also asked for public input on whether more protections were needed, or if anything needed to be changed. California’s networks of protected areas are young, and there’s still a lot to be determined, said Kara Gonzales, a state environmental scientist. “There’s room for things to change,” she said.
For the balance of this article, please go here.
