Big Creek State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Big Creek State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining

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 ...

that lie offshore of

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur ha ...

on California's central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is . The SMR protects all marine life within its boundaries. Fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited. Within the SMCA fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited except the commercial and recreational take of salmon, albacore, and the commercial take of spot prawn.California Department of Fish and Game.
Online Guide to California’s Central Coast Marine Protected Areas
. Retrieved on December 18, 2008

History

Big Creek SMR was established in 1994 and Big Creek SMCA was established in September 2007 by the California Fish & Game Commission. 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 s ...

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

These two marine protected areas adjoin each other off the coast of

. In the waters off the Big Sur/Big Creek coast are a series of narrow and steep finger canyons that serrate the continental shelf. The sites are adjacent to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Habitat and wildlife

The underwater canyons of the Big Creek marine protected areas provide habitat to a variety of deepwater rockfishes such as cabezon and bocaccio. The area is also an important forage area for southern sea otters.

Recreation and nearby attractions

Adjacent Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park provides hiking trails, including an overlook trail to

McWay Falls McWay Falls is an waterfall on the coast of Big Sur in central California that flows year-round from McWay Creek in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, about south of Carmel, into the Pacific Ocean. During high tide, it is a tidefall, a waterfal ...

, an waterfall that drops into the cove below. 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 InitiativeCalOceansJulia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Big Sur Chamber of CommerceVirtual tour
{{authority control Marine sanctuaries in California Big Sur California Department of Fish and Wildlife areas California State Reserves Protected areas of Monterey County, California 1994 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1994