Many fish off California’s coast are in such decline that some species will take 50-80 years to recover to healthy levels.

La Jolla’s lush kelp forest is like a stand of underwater redwoods – it provides food and shelter for hundreds of species, from tiny invertebrates to fish, mammals and birds.

Since 1990, revenues from commercial fishing have declined by more than half and the number of fishing boats calling at CA ports has declined by nearly three-quarters.

Average size across a wide range of West Coast fish is down by half from 20 years ago.

A 40-cm bocaccio rockfish produces an average of just over 200,000 eggs per year, whereas an 80-cm fish at double the length produces nearly 10 times as many eggs (2 million)!

More than 250 marine reserves have been established worldwide.

Marine reserves cover less than .01 percent of the ocean worldwide.

Scientists studied more than 120 marine reserves ranging in size and habitats. The review found that the weight of all animals and plants studied is more than 4 times larger in reserves than unprotected areas.

The Marine Life Protection Act, a state law introduced in 1999, requires networks of marine reserves as the backbone for California’s ocean restoration and protection plan.

California designated thirty-four regions along the coast in the 1970s as "Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS)."