Sonoma Coast State Marine Conservation Area is a protected area along the coast of northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, part of the North Central Coast Study Region. It is bounded by the mean high tide line, the 3-fathom depth contour, and several points along of coast between Mussel Point and Schoolhouse Beach in

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

. Within this Area, the recreational taking of all marine aquatic plants and some

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 is prohibited. Commercial taking of

giant kelp ''Macrocystis pyrifera'', commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp, is a species of kelp (large brown algae), and one of four species in the genus ''Macrocystis''. Despite its appearance, it is not a plant; it is a heterokont. Giant kelp is ...

and bull kelp is also prohibited.

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locator map

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Marine sanctuaries in California California Department of Fish and Wildlife areas Protected areas of Sonoma County, California {{SonomaCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References

External links