Pacific Grove Marine Gardens State Marine Conservation Area is one of four small

marine protected areas Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

located near the cities of

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

and Pacific Grove, at the southern end of

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

on California’s central coast. The four MPAs together encompass . Within the SMCA fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited except the recreational take of finfish and the commercial take of giant and bull kelp by hand under certain conditions. According to the

Frommer's Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company ...

guide, the Marine Gardens area is "renowned for ocean views, flowers, and tide-pool seaweed beds."

History

Pacific Grove Marine Gardens State Marine Conservation Area was established in September 2007 by the California Department of Fish & Game. It was one of 29 marine protected areas adopted during the first phase of the

Marine Life Protection Act The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was passed in 1999 and is part of the California Fish and Game Code. The MLPA requires California to reevaluate all existing marine protected areas (MPAs) and potentially design new MPAs that together form a ...

Initiative. The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (or MLPAI) is a collaborative public process to create a statewide network of marine protected areas along the California coastline.

Geography and natural features

Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA is located off the coast of the

Monterey Peninsula The Monterey Peninsula anchors the northern portion on the Central Coast of California and comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, and the resort and community of Pebble Beach. History Monterey Monterey was founded in 17 ...

, at the southern end of

. It covers an area of .93 sq. miles. The reserve is directly offshore from Point Pinos Lighthouse Reservation. Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA is one of four marine protected areas bordering the Monterey Peninsula. It is between

Asilomar State Marine Reserve Asilomar State Marine Reserve (SMR) is one of four small marine protected areas (MPAs) located near the cities of Monterey and Pacific Grove, California, Pacific Grove, at the southern end of Monterey Bay on California’s central coast. The four ...

and

Lovers Point State Marine Reserve Lovers Point State Marine Reserve (SMR) is one of four small marine protected areas located near the cities of Monterey and Pacific Grove, at the southern end of Monterey Bay on California’s central coast. The four MPAs together encompass . ...

. Farther east is the Edward F. Ricketts State Marine Conservation Area. All four areas are included within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This marine protected area is bounded by the mean high tide line, and straight lines connecting the following points in the order listed: 36° 37.60’ N. lat. 121° 54.91’ W. long.; 36° 37.60’ N. lat. 121° 54.75’ W. long.; 36° 38.70’ N. lat. 121° 55.40’ W. long.; 36° 38.90’ N. lat. 121° 56.60’ W. long.; and 36° 38.22’ N. lat. 121° 56.15’ W. long.

Habitat and wildlife

The

includes extensive tidepools brimming with life. Its sandy beaches are used by pupping harbor seals, and dense kelp beds offshore provide shelter for sea otters. The Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA provides habitat for a variety of

marine life Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. M ...

, and includes

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

, rocky intertidal, soft and hard bottom.

Recreation and tourism

The natural environment and ocean resources of the

draw millions of visitors from around the world each year, including more than 65,000 scuba divers drawn by the area’s easy access, variety of wildlife, and kelp forests. The

Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey Bay Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in October 1984. Its biologists ...

is a tourist attraction featuring a living kelp forest. The exhibit includes many of the species native to the nearby marine protected areas. The aquarium also houses sea otters, intertidal wildlife, and occasionally sea turtles. In addition to diving and visiting the aquarium, people visit

for kayaking, whale watching, charter fishing, surfing, bird watching, tidepooling and walking on the beach. The adjacent

Point Pinos Lighthouse Point Pinos Lighthouse was lit on February 1, 1855, to guide ships on the Pacific Coast of California. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States and even the lens is original. Alcatraz Island Light ...

Reservation is home to the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast. California’s marine protected areas encourage recreational and educational uses of the ocean. Activities such as kayaking, diving, snorkeling, and swimming are allowed unless otherwise restricted.

Scientific monitoring

As specified by the Marine Life Protection Act, select marine protected areas along California’s central coast are being monitored by scientists to track their effectiveness and learn more about ocean health. Similar studies in marine protected areas located off of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands have already detected gradual improvements in fish size and number.Castell, Jenn, et al.
How do patterns of abundance and size structure differ between fished and unfished waters in the Channel Islands? Results from SCUBA surveys
. Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) at University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California, Santa Cruz; Channel Islands National Park. Retrieved December 18, 2008. Local scientific and educational institutions involved in the monitoring include Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, University of California Santa Cruz, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Research methods include hook-and-line sampling, intertidal and scuba diver surveys, and the use of Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) submarines.

References

External links

California MPAsMarine Life Protection Act InitiativeCalOceansMonterey Bay Aquarium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific Grove Marine Gardens State Marine Conservation Area (Smca) Marine sanctuaries in California Monterey Bay California Department of Fish and Wildlife areas Protected areas of Monterey County, California Pacific Grove, California 2007 establishments in California Protected areas established in 2007