Marine Life Protection Act Initiative

In March 2006 I took on an immensely challenging new project: serving as an outside evaluator of California’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (“Initiative”) policy development process. The Initiative is a unique public-private partnership among the California Resources Agency, Department of Fish and Game, and Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The goal of the Initiative is to finally implement the MLPA by establishing a network of marine protected areas along California’s 1,100 miles of coast. The Initiative focused its initial efforts on a pilot project along the Central Coast, including Monterey Bay.

Mike Harty discussing lessons learned from the MLPA Initiative at the California and the World Ocean Conference, Long Beach, CA, September 18, 2006 (photo by Quinn Harty, age 7)

Working with a co-author, DeWitt John, Director of Environmental Programs at Bowdoin College, I prepared a detailed “lessons learned” evaluation of the Initiative based on over 60 interviews with senior policy makers, stakeholders, scientists, Task Force members, and Initiative staff. Our report includes recommendations for MLPA implementation in future study areas. I presented the report to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on September 6th. On September 18th I had the pleasure of appearing on a panel to discuss the Initiative at the California and the World’s Ocean Conference in Long Beach, CA (see photo taken by my 7-year old son, Quinn).

You can learn more about the Initiative at Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. You can view our evaluation report by clicking the following link:
Report on Lessons Learned From the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, August 17, 2006 (PDF).

A separate “lessons learned” evaluation of the Initiative’s Central Coast Stakeholder Group was prepared by Dr. Jonathan Raab, and may be of interest in part for its use of an online survey tool. Dr. Raab’s report is available at California MLPA Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force Draft Meeting Agenda.

As a follow up to the Lessons Learned project, I was asked to prepare a separate report for California ’s Fish and Game Commission on the use of socioeconomic information in designing MPAs. This report presents critiques of the way socioeconomic information was used in the Central Coast project, and then identifies a set of key choices and options for the Commission as it considers future MLPA study areas. I presented my report to the Commission in December 2006. The report is available from the Initiative web site: Using Socioeconomic Information in the Design of Marine Protected Areas Under the Marine Life Protection Act: Critiques, Decision, and Options.

I was invited to serve a second time as external evaluator for the MLPA, this time for the Initiative's North Central Coast study region during 2007-8. My evaluation report for the North Central Coast is available from the Initiative's web site: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/agenda_110408a.pdf. This report includes results of an online survey of Regional Stakeholder Group members designed and conducted by Raab Associates, along with Dr. Raab's summary report.

For the South Coast study region (2009) I recently filled a different role by preparing a policy memorandum for the Blue Ribbon Task Force analyzing options for responding to a U.S. Navy proposal for pending military closures at San Clemente and San Nicolas Islands. The memorandum is available on the South Coast project web page: Military Use Areas Memorandum.

The Initiative has no plans for a detailed lessons learned evaluation of the South Coast study region process. However, I expect to conduct a narrowly focused evaluation of the Regional Stakeholder Group process using an online survey and in-person interviews following a BRTF final recommendation to the Commission, scheduled for December 2009.