Coastal Management Fall 2017
2017 Coastal Opinions
Specific Locations-
Protected Areas
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By Casey Cain, Camila Guzman, and Walker Santos
Coral reefs can be used as shelter to protect organisms. Bigeye fish in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii. (Source: NOAA).
INTRODUCTION
On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, which created the first national park. During that time, the Industrial Revolution introduced new technologies and systems that increased production, as well as pollution. About fifty years later, the National Park Service enacted the Organic Act of 1916 to set aside federal lands on behalf of the public citizens as a way to conserve natural areas for future generations. The United States Department of Interior is the federal agency that manages the protected areas and national monuments. Today, our national parks and protected areas are under threat of large-scale reduction.
Most people today reside in urban settings and will visit a national protected area to escape the routine of urban life. Natural settings provide an opportunity to broaden perspectives for those who encounter them. As human population increases, space is a limiting factor for populations to settle, and resources are needed to sustain the growing population. Protected areas are meant to prevent future generations from the negative environmental impacts that threaten the natural landscapes, such as resource extraction and habitat degradation.
Overview of Current Situation
According to CA.gov, California currently has 124 recognized MPA’s that cover approximately 852 sq. miles. of our coastal waters although that number does exclude the San Francisco area. These numbers may seem great, but in regards to our ocean as a whole, only 3.4 percent of our ocean is protected compared to the 16 percent of land that is protected on Earth (WWF 2017). In addition, just because these areas are protected, it does not mean that they are being managed properly. Efforts are being made to gain public awareness through poll data, where we can see that many people are informed and support protected areas.
In correlation with our opinion poll and our topic of coastal protected areas, the state wide opinion poll conducted by Public Policy Institute of California shows the majority of California residents seem to be aware of the need for an increase in regulations related to our coastal region, stronger enforcement of policies in correlation with current fishing methods, and the need for MPA’s.
77 percent of Californians that participated in the PPIC poll stated that the decline in our marine life is a problem. The same percentage of participants also stated that MPA’s are very important. The respondents of these survey questions covered a large demographic range including age, race, gender, and wealth, where the largest generalized demographic that stood against these concepts were republicans. One statistic that stood out amongst the rest was that out of all the participants that said the marine life decline wasn’t seen as an issue, 52 percent of them still agreed that MPA’s are important. (Baldassare 2017)
In comparing the PPIC polls to the 2017 Coastal and Marine Management polls, it is predicted that the general public is typically aware of current environmental issues, and that they will have overall negative feelings with regards to reducing protected areas and to threats against protected areas in general.
Relevant Survey Questions
An analysis of three questions from the most recent coastal survey was completed to determine our findings for this summary. First, we assessed the public’s opinion of President Trump’s plan to reduce National Monuments, then, we measured the public knowledge on protection agencies as well as their protection efforts such as MPA’s.
- Which of the following institutions have you heard of? (mark all that apply)
Options for this question include:
- California Coastal Commission,
- Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority,
- California Coastal Conservancy,
- Calif. Ocean Protection Council,
- California Dept. of Boating & Waterways,
- California State Lands Commission,
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
- Coast Guard,
- Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission Bureau of Ocean Restitution,
- Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy,
- Pacific Fishery Management Council,
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
- Western Occidental Ocean Authority,
- Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement,
- Clean Seas,
- Rotation Commission for Ocean Protection (aka Solkov Commission).
2) Which approaches to protect fish and shellfish populations are you familiar with?
Options for this question include:
- seasonal closures,
- size limits,
- gear limitations
- marine reserves (or MPAs)
3) What is your impression of these actions/policies? (Scale: very negative to very positive)
- Trump’s proposed reductions to National Monuments
RESULTS
The data gathered from our coastal public opinion poll questions can be summarized into two categories, one relating to the opinions the public has to President Trump’s proposal for national monuments reduction, and the second category relating to the public’s knowledge of various coastal and marine management efforts.
National Monuments
Overall, more than half of the people who answered this question have an overall negative opinion about President Trump’s proposal to reduce national monuments.
Public Awareness of Protection Agencies and Efforts
We can see form our data that 9 out of 10 people knew of the Coast Guard, and over half of the general public knew of the Coastal Commision. The data shows that less than 50% of the people given the poll are familiar with the other coastal and marine entities listed in the survey. An error in the poll was used to help normalize the results, which was by including three institutions that do not exist: The Rotation, Restitution, and WOOA. This gave our data a 6% error value.
Seasonal closures and size restrictions are known about by more than half of the population of people surveyed, less was known on gear restrictions and MPA’s.
INTERPRETATION
The residents of Southern California seem to be aware and generally care about the protected areas of the United States. We see from our analysis of the data collected from the question regarding President Trump’s reduction to national monuments that most of the general public feels negatively toward the proposed action. We can also see that the general public has significant awareness of public agencies, some more than others, as well as some mitigation measures being taken for protected areas.
We may see that this trend is more prominent in areas such as Southern California counties such as Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties. Areas such as these are in close proximity to protected places, such as the Santa Monica Mountains and the Channel Islands. This may have a stronger influence on the sample size for the public opinion poll, since individuals are exposed and better informed than other areas of California.
This recent 2017 Coastal & Marine Management Public Opinion Poll was able to provide data that suggests that the general public of Southern California is ill-informed about the agencies and organizations that manage protected areas, however carry an overall negative opinion towards President Trump’s proposal to reduce national monuments..
REFERENCES
Anderson, Sean. 2012. Public perceptions of coastal resources in southern California. Urban Coast 3(1): 36-47.
Baldassare, Mark, et al. “Californians and the Coast.” Public Policy Institute of California, July 2017, www.ppic.org/publication/californians-and-the-coast/.
Bickerstaff, Susan, Maggie Fay, and Madeline Trimble. 2016. Modularization in Developmental Mathematics in Two States: Implementation and Early Outcomes. Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center. Working Paper No. 87.
“Birth of a National Park.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 9 May 2017, www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/yellowstoneestablishment.htm.
Lumina Foundation. 2015. A stronger nation through climate policy: Ten-year time horizon brings Goal 2025 into sharp focus. Retrieved October 25, 2017 from http://www.luminafoundation.org/ les/publications/A_stronger_nation_ through_climate_policy-2015.pdf
McFall, Greg. “Bigeye at Rapture Reef, French Frigate Shoals.” Found, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 6 November 2017, https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/.
“Organic Act of 1916.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 5 Feb. 2017, www.nps.gov/grba/learn/management/organic-act-of-1916.htm.
“Regional MPA Statistics.” California Department of Fish and Wildlife, State of California, 2016, www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/MPAs/Statistics.
WWF. “Regional MPA Statistics.” California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2017, www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/MPAs/Statistics.
