Environmental statutes like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) form the backbone of and justification for key efforts to support conservation. Recent proposals threaten to weaken these protections when marine life needs them most. 

This brand-new, first-of-its-kind online map portal showcases digitized whale conservation zones relevant to maritime shipping activities. It houses information on a zone’s designation and parameters, including which species it protects, the seasonality of the protections, as well as the specifics of the measures.

Whenever I arrive at a new spot, my instinct is to look around for signs. I’m curious to know the local rules, the species I might see, and any unique features of the area. I assumed this was common—that most people also stopped to read signs before heading out. But that assumption got flipped on its head when I started digging into how effective marine protected area (MPA) signage really is. 

A recently returned Cali girl, I am becoming acquainted with the abundant natural trails and beaches in the Monterey Bay region. One such traipse, through the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, led me along the Old Growth Loop Trail where towering redwoods scrape the sky and soft ferns and leaves shush human sounds below. The park website extols it as “a forest in a perpetual state of becoming.”

A Federal Nissan Titan, a quadrat, and four rolls of soil-biodegradable mulch in the trunk.  First stop: a strawberry field in Oxnard, CA. S

Since 2014, CMSF has conducted aerial whale surveys over the Santa Barbara Channel.