0.05% Is Not Enough!
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary covers 5322 square miles of the most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems on earth. Yet less than three square miles, 0.05% of the Sanctuary is fully protected.

In all the rest, human activities including fishing, kelp cutting, and pollution disrupt ecosystems, threaten marine fish and wildlife and interfere with the balance of life.

Fully protected areas, where people may observe marine life but not remove it, are called Marine Reserves. In the last decade, marine scientists have reached overwhelming consensus that Marine Reserves are necessary to preserve the health and diversity of marine ecosystems. Existing methods of ocean resource management have failed: Rockfish populations off California are so severely depleted that federal regulators were forced to issue emergency closures in 2002; recovery of many fisheries to "sustainable" levels is expected to take decades. White abalone are an Endangered Species on the verge of extinction; more species of abalone are in serious decline. Historically, animals ranging from sardines to whales, sea otters to sea bass have been targeted, and all suffered dramatic declines in population. Some are recovering, but to protect the balance of life, some areas must be safeguarded from all extraction of marine life.

Over 130 years ago, we recognized that some areas on land deserved special protection and created our first National Park. Thirty years ago we took the first step in recognizing special places in our oceans, by passing the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Now it's time to give marine life real protection.
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Public Opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of marine reserves.
Polls have demonstrated this consistently. SeaWeb commissioned a poll in January of 2002, which demonstrated that 71% of Californians favored "establishing fully-protected areas [reserves] within the ocean in which all extractive activities are prohibited, including oil drilling, mining and all commercial and recreational fishing." Only 15% were opposed. You can download the complete poll (304K PDF file) here.

In November of 2003 the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California released a Special Survey on Californians and the Environment. They found 75% of Californians in favor of more reserves, and 67% in favor of limiting the sale of fish and seafood to only those caught or farmed in an environmentally safe manner, even if it means paying higher prices. The complete survey (1.6MB PDF file) is available for download.

Average people think 22% of the Ocean is fully protected already.
The surveys mentioned above returned results that Americans believe that 22% of US waters are completely protected from all extractive activities. Reality is less than 0.01% (one one hundredth of one percent) of US waters, from shore to 200 miles out, are fully protected. The average Californian similarly believes that 22% of our state's waters are fully protected. In fact, far less than 1% of state waters, which end just three miles offshore, are fully protected. Looking within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, an area given special designation for its uniquely valuable marine ecosystems, just 0.05% (five one hundredths of one percent) is fully protected. We've prepared a series of maps that illustrates this final point.

There is a strong scientific consensus in favor of marine reserves.
In 2001, 161 marine scientists at numerous US universities signed a consensus calling for “immediate application of fully protected marine reserves as a central management tool.” Many of those scientists hold positions at institutions in California. You can download the complete document in PDF format (500k). That page contains a link to COMPASS, which offers a wealth of related information on the science of marine reserves. The link is incorrect, here is the link to COMPASS. The consensus document was released by NCEAS, which offers additional scientific information.

This information is presented by The Coalition of Organizations for Ocean Life (COOL), a gathering of marine conservation organizations and non-consumptive ocean lovers concerned with the health of California's oceans. The Mission of the COOL is to foster the creation of a network of marine reserves that will help restore, enhance and protect the diversity and abundance of California's marine life and underwater habitats, and to educate the public on the value of marine reserves and healthy oceans.