Tell Governor Newsom: California needs more fully protected marine areas

Send a message asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand protections for California's ocean.

Subject: Californians call for highly and fully protected Marine Protected Areas

Your Letter:

In 2020, California became the first state to set the goal of protecting 30% of our land, water, and sea space by 2030. This landmark commitment positions California as a global leader on conservation. While approximately 16% of Callfornia's coastal waters are conserved, only 9% have the level of protection scientists say is needed to defend against biodiversity loss and climate impacts. The ocean is one of our best defenses against climate change. Altogether, it absorbs 30-50% of the carbon dioxide emissions that humans produce, which protects our planet from even greater warming.

In addition to helping fight climate change, our ocean provides crucial habitat for so many different species. California is a biodiversity hotspot. Our ocean and coastline support 34 species of marine mammals like orcas, southern sea otters, and blue whales and more than 180 species of seabirds and shorebirds. Many migratory marine animals find refuge in the nutrient rich waters of the Pacific during their long journeys up and down the North American coast and even around the world. It's no wonder why more than half of all Californians visit the coast at least once a year to take in the sights and reconnect with nature.

California's unique network of 124 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) makes the state a global leader in protecting the critical habitats and life existing in and around our oceans. However, with a warming planet, rising sea level, and historic species extinctions, it is clear that California must strengthen and expand our existing network of protections with highly and fully protected MPAs. Highly protected areas only allow light extractive activities, while fully protected areas do not allow any extractive or environmentally destructive activities. Highly and fully protected areas provide space for marine life to rebound from harmful stressors so that they are more resilient and can better adapt to changing ocean conditions like climate change. Because of this, highly and fully protected MPAs are the most effective protected areas in the ocean. The adoption of more highly and fully protected marine areas is critical to protect our marine life from being harmed by destructive and extractive human activities and must be the standard for protecting 30% of our ocean by 2030.

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