The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a federally protected marine area offshore of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

's Big Sur and central coast in the United States. It is the largest US national marine sanctuary and has a shoreline length of stretching from just north of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity). It emerged later, in the medieval period, ...

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Miss ...

. Supporting one of the world’s most diverse marine

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s, it is home to numerous

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

es,

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s in a remarkably productive

coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

environment. The MBNMS was established in 1992 for the purpose of resource protection, research, education, and public use.

Description

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is one of the largest of a system of 14 National Marine Sanctuaries administered by the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA), within the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

. It stretches from Rocky Point in Marin County, just north of the

, to the town of

, and encompasses a shoreline length of and of ocean surrounding

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 ...

. Its seaward boundary is an average of offshore, and shoreward boundary the mean

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

. Its area is 6,094 square statute miles or 4,024 square nautical miles. The deepest point is 10,663 feet (3,250 meters) in the

Monterey Submarine Canyon Monterey Canyon, or Monterey Submarine Canyon, is a submarine canyon in Monterey Bay, California with steep canyon walls measuring a full 1 mile in height from bottom to top, which height/depth rivals the depth of the Grand Canyon itself. It is ...

, which is deeper than the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

. The average ocean surface temperature is 55 °F (13 °C). The sanctuary provides habitat for 36 species of marine mammals, 94 species of seabirds, at least 525 species of fish, four of turtles, 31 phyla of invertebrates, and more than 450 species of marine algae. Historical sites include 1,276 reported shipwrecks and 718 prehistoric sites. The MBNMS has major programs for research and monitoring, and another for education and outreach. Public recreation activities such as kayaking, SCUBA diving, and surfing are permitted, along with commercial fishing. Oil drilling and

seabed mining Seabed mining, also known as Seafloor mining is the recovery of minerals from the seabed by techniques of underwater mining. The concept includes mining at shallow depths on the continental shelf and deep-sea mining at greater depths associated w ...

are banned to protect the sanctuary. The sanctuary provides economic value via ecotourism as well as fishery resources including the Dungeness crab and market squid. Otter trawling has been shown to have significantly negatively impact the benthic invertebrate biodiversity in areas where trawling is less restricted. Despite its protection as a National Marine Sanctuary MPA, a study found microplastic concentrations were higher than the global average, with a higher amount closer to shore.

Visitors centers

A Coastal Discovery Center is located across the Pacific Coast Highway from the

Hearst Castle Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his archit ...

visitor’s center in

San Simeon, California San Simeon (Spanish: ''San Simeón'', meaning "St. Simon") is a village and Census-designated place on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Its position along State Route 1 is about halfway between Los Angeles ...

near the William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach. Th
Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center
opened on July 23, 2012 at 35 Pacific Ave. in Santa Cruz, CA.

Collaborations

MBNMS collaborations include: * The Sanctuary Advisory Council's twenty voting members represent a variety of local user groups, as well as the general public, plus seven local and state governmental jurisdictions. In addition, the respective managers for the four California National Marine Sanctuaries (

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is a sanctuary off the Pacific coast of Southern California. The National Marine Sanctuary program is under the administration of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Established ...

Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a marine sanctuary located off the coast of California. It protects an area of of marine wildlife. The administrative center of the sanctuary is on an offshore granite outcrop by , located on the con ...

Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary), the

Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve is a nature reserve that is located at 1700 Elkhorn Road in Watsonville, California. The reserve encompasses the central shore of Monterey Bay and is approximately south of San Francisco, Cal ...

and the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

sit as non-voting members. Members are appointed competitively by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and serve three-year terms. The Advisory Council meets bi-monthly in open sessions located throughout the almost 300-mile boundary of the Sanctuary. * Working groups of the Council: Research Activities Panel, Sanctuary Education Panel, Conservation Working Group, Business & Tourism Activities Panel * Regional partnerships * B-WET (Bay Watershed Education and Training Program): a grant program to provide funding and support for environmental education for students, teachers, and communities throughout the Monterey Bay watershed.

Events and activities

Ocean's Fair at the Coastal Discovery Center, San Simeon 2008

See the MBNMS event calendar for a list of meetings, as well as volunteer events such as Snapshot Day, Urban Watch, First Flush (water quality monitoring programs), and TeamOCEAN (kayaker naturalist program). The organization launched the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) website in 2003 to collect metadata for its various monitoring projects. In 2012, this information was released as an

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

application to allow visitors better access to the over 4,200 photos that have been collected.

History

A Marine Sanctuaries Study Bill was first proposed in 1967 with lobbying efforts by the Sierra Club. The

Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (MPRSA) or Ocean Dumping Act is one of several key environmental laws passed by the US Congress in 1972. The Act has two essential aims: to regulate intentional ocean disposal of materials, ...

authorized the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

to monitor off-shore dumping. In 1975, the California Coastal Zone Conservation Commission recommended a marine sanctuary and in 1976 Santa Cruz County and

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

joined the lobbying effort. In 1983 the

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

administration dropped the area for consideration as a sanctuary. In 1988 congress re-authorized the Sanctuaries Act and proposed a sanctuary in Monterey Bay. However, public hearings, with the memory of the

1969 Santa Barbara oil spill The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third after ...

, brought protests demanding a larger size. The first Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released in 1990, and a final management plan in June 1992 proposing the extended area. On September 20, 1992, the MBNMS was authorized by legislation proposed by congressman

Leon Panetta Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in several different public office positions, including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of ...

. It was the largest federal marine sanctuary.

Management

There have been five Superintendents of the MBNMS since its inception: # Terry Jackson (1992 to 1997): Jackson was a NOAA Corps officer that was assigned to the MBNMS as its first manager in 1992. As a NOAA Corps officer, Jackson's land-based assignment ended in 1997. Over the next year, Jackson hired the first MBNMS staffers. Jackson retired from the NOAA Corps in 1998. # Carol Fairfield (June and July 1997): A call for Superintendent applicants went out in the spring of 1997. However, that process was ended by the National Marine Sanctuaries Chief, Stephanie Thornton, because she "did not believe any of the current applicants had the skills she was looking for to be the MBNMS Superintendent." The call for applicants was re-advertised, and Carol Fairfield (with the NOAA's NMFS Protected Resources Program) was selected. Fairfield was selected in June and spent her first month at the Sanctuary Headquarters in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

. Fairfield was reassigned on July 28, 1997, and Thornton said "Fairfield¹s reassignment is a personnel matter which cannot be discussed in detail." # Joanne Flanders (1997): At the time of Jackson's departure, Joanne Flanders (another NOAA Corps Officer) was Assistant Superintendent. Flanders was appointed Acting Superintendent for about six months. # William J. Douros (1998 to 2006): In January 1998 William J. Douros, who had previously worked for

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

became superintendent. # Paul Michel (2007 to Present): In 2006 Douros was promoted to West Coast regional director for the National Marine Sanctuary Program. Paul Michel, who had worked at the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

since 1987, became superintendent.

Management of northern section

Since the

(GFNMS) had been established earlier and had a staff already, the section north of Año Nuevo point near the

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

line was managed by GFNMS from its office in

. By 1996, Terry Jackson of MBNMS requested to have the management boundaries match the preserve. Ed Ueber of GFNMS saw no reason to change.

Oil and gas reserves

There are oil and gas reserves off the coast, but exploration has not been permitted. In 1982, Interior Secretary

James G. Watt James Gaius Watt (born January 31, 1938) is a public servant who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1981 to 1983. He has been described as "anti-environmentalist", and was one of Ronald Reagan's most controversial cabinet appointment ...

proposed opening the Central California coast

outer continental shelf The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a feature of the geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U. ...

to oil and gas exploration. California residents and politicians strongly opposed the proposal and it was defeated. In 1990, President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

used an obscure 1953 law to permanently ban oil and gas development in California's Monterey Bay. In late December 2016, President Obama used the same law to ban oil exploration from Hearst Castle to Point Arena in Mendocino County, California. In July 2017, under the direction of

Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

13795 from President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, the U.S. Department of Commerce began re-evaluating the protected status of the sanctuary, which includes the

Davidson Seamount Davidson Seamount is a seamount ( underwater volcano) located off the coast of Central California, southwest of Monterey and west of San Simeon. At long and wide, it is one of the largest known seamounts in the world. From base to crest, t ...

off the coast of Big Sur. The seamount, at long, wide, and high, is one of the largest in the world. Opening the area to oil and gas exploration was opposed by many environmentalists and residents.

Related protection areas

A large number of protected areas have overlapping jurisdictions. From roughly from north to south: *

adjacent to the north *

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve The San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (San Francisco Bay NERR) is one of 27 reserves established as part of the United States National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The reserve is used to promote San Francisco Bay wetlan ...

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is a marine reserve in California on the Pacific Ocean, located just north of Pillar Point Harbor and Mavericks in the San Mateo County community of Moss Beach. Moss Beach is located approximately south of San Francis ...

Half Moon Bay State Beach Half Moon Bay State Beach is a stretch of protected beaches in the state park system of California, United States, on Half Moon Bay. From north to south it comprises Roosevelt, Dunes, Venice, and Francis Beaches. The park was established in ...

* San Gregorio State Beach * Pomponio State Beach *

Pescadero State Beach Pescadero State Beach () is alongside State Route 1, located 14.5 miles south of Half Moon Bay and 1.5 miles west of the city of Pescadero in San Mateo County, California. The beach has a mile-long shoreline with sandy coves, rocky cliffs, tid ...

* Bean Hollow State Beach * Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park * Año Nuevo State Marine Conservation Area * Año Nuevo State Reserve *

Theodore J. Hoover Natural Preserve Theodore J. Hoover Natural Preserve, which includes Waddell Marsh, is located at the mouth of Waddell Creek, a coastal freshwater marsh that is one of the rarest habitats on the Central Coast of California. This marsh is one of the few relatively ...

* Greyhound Rock State Marine Conservation Area * Natural Bridges State Beach * Lighthouse Field State Beach *

Twin Lakes State Beach Twin Lakes State Beach is a beach located on Monterey Bay directly south of the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor Santa Cruz, in coastal Santa Cruz County, northern California.New Brighton State Beach New Brighton State Beach is a beach park on Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz County, California, consisting of a beach and campgrounds. The park is located east of Santa Cruz in Capitola, on Park Avenue off of Highway 1. The park is adjacent to S ...

Seacliff State Beach Seacliff State Beach is a state beach park on Monterey Bay, in the town of Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California. It is located off Highway 1 on State Park Drive, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz, . The beach is most known for the ...

Manresa State Beach Manresa State Beach is a state-protected beach on Monterey Bay near Watsonville in Santa Cruz County, California. Manresa State Beach has two different State owned and operated facilities associated with it: Manresa Main State Beach, and Manresa U ...

Sunset State Beach Sunset State Beach is a park and beach on Monterey Bay, in Santa Cruz County, California. It is operated by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Geography It is approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 km) long, and located near Watson ...

* Santa Cruz harbor * Zmudowski State Beach * Moss Landing State Beach *

Moss Landing Wildlife Area Moss Landing Wildlife Area is a California State wildlife preserve on the shore of Elkhorn Slough. Description The Moss Landing Wildlife Area protects of Monterey County, California, just north of the town of Moss Landing, California. It inclu ...

Salinas River State Beach Salinas River State Beach is a beach at the river mouth of the Salinas River at Monterey Bay, in Monterey County, California. It is located at the south end of Moss Landing, California. The park can be accessed from the Potrero exit off of H ...

Salinas River National Wildlife Refuge Salinas River National Wildlife Refuge is located approximately 11 miles north of Monterey, California, and 3 miles south of Castroville, California, at the point where the Salinas River empties into Monterey Bay. The refuge encompasses several ...

Marina State Beach Marina State Beach is a protected beach on Monterey Bay, located in the city of Marina in Monterey County, California. Recreation The park is popular with hang-gliders, paragliders, and kite flyers. It is also a popular spot from which to watch ...

Monterey State Beach Monterey State Beach is a protected beach on southern Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. It extends from the city of Monterey to Seaside. The Seaside end of Monterey State Beach is a popular launch spot for paragliders. Surf fishing i ...

* Edward F. Ricketts State Marine Conservation Area *

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 . ...

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 ...

Asilomar State Beach Asilomar State Beach, officially Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds State Park, is a state park unit of California, United States. It provides public access to rocky coast and dune habitat on the Monterey Peninsula. The property include ...

Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve (SMR) is a marine protected area in Carmel Bay including a unique underwater pinnacle formation with adjacent kelp forest, submarine canyon head, and surfgrass. Carmel Bay is adjacent to the city of Carmel-b ...

* Carmel Bay State Marine Conservation Area *

Point Lobos Point Lobos and the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is a state park in California. Adjoining Point Lobos is "one of the richest marine habitats in California." The ocean habitat is protected by two marine protected areas, the Point Lobos St ...

State Marine Reserve and State Marine Conservation Area *

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is a state park in Monterey County, California, near the area of Big Sur on the state's Central Coast. It covers approximately of land. The park is centered on the Big Sur River. It has been nicknamed a "mini Yose ...

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a state park in California, 12 miles south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on California's Pacific coast. A main feature of the park is McWay Falls, which drops over a cliff of into the Pacific Ocean. The ...

Big Creek State Marine Reserve and Big Creek State Marine Conservation Area Big Creek State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Big Creek State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that lie offshore of Big Sur on California's central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is . ...

Cambria State Marine Conservation Area Cambria State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area located off the coast of the city of Cambria, California on California’s central coast in San Luis Obispo County, California. The marine protected area covers . Within the ...

* William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach *

San Simeon State Park Hearst San Simeon State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving rocky coast and rare habitats. It is located between Cambria and San Simeon. The park was first established in 1932. The park includes the Santa Rosa Cree ...

* White Rock (Cambria) State Marine Conservation Area

Gallery

File:Sanc0823 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg, Young

elephant seal Elephant seals are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oi ...

at rookery, MBNMS File:Purple striped jellyfish, Pelagia panopyra, MBNMS.jpg, A purple striped jellyfish in the sanctuary File:Sanc0878 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg,

Anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...

, MBNMS File:Sanc0831 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg, Point Sur Lighthouse

References

External links

Live HD Web Cam of the Monterey Bay National Marine SanctuaryCalifornia's MPAsMonterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
{{authority control Marine sanctuaries in California National Marine Sanctuaries of the United States Protected areas of Marin County, California Protected areas of San Francisco Protected areas of San Mateo County, California Protected areas of Santa Cruz County, California Protected areas of Monterey County, California Protected areas of San Luis Obispo County, California Monterey Bay Natural history of San Francisco