{"id":6207,"date":"2019-07-29T12:52:47","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/?p=6207"},"modified":"2019-08-02T10:16:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T17:16:57","slug":"a-brief-history-of-oregons-marine-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/2019\/07\/29\/a-brief-history-of-oregons-marine-reserves\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Oregon’s Marine Reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week marks the 10 year anniversary of Oregon\u2019s decision\nto pilot a system of marine reserves. On July 28, 2009, Gov. Kulongoski signed HB\n3013<\/a>1<\/sup>, which directed the\nimplementation of two pilot marine reserves at Redfish Rocks<\/a>\nand Otter Rock<\/a>.\nThe bill also directed study of additional marine reserves using a community\nprocess, and as a result of this process, three additional marine reserves (Cape Falcon<\/a>, Cascade Head<\/a>,\nand Cape\nPerpetua<\/a>) were designated during the 2012 legislative session. Oregon\u2019s\ncurrent system includes five no-take marine reserves (40 mi2<\/sup>) and\nnine adjacent marine protected areas (~77 mi2<\/sup>), an area that totals\nroughly 10% of Oregon\u2019s Territorial Sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years \u2013 the merest of moments geologically speaking, but\na (somewhat) long time from a human point of view. Because 10-year\nanniversaries are often a time of reflection, let\u2019s take this time to look back\non all the sweet (and less than sweet) memories of Oregon\u2019s relationship with\nthe concept of marine reserves. The impetus for my reflection came from the\nfact that although my current duties are about looking forward, as Carl Sagan\nsaid, \u201cYou have to know the past to understand the present.\u201d So, I have\ncertainly spent some time trying to better understand the policy landscape\nsurrounding this issue. I have been assisting the Scientific\nand Technical Advisory Committee<\/a> as they prepare to submit a legislatively-mandated\nreport to Oregon\u2019s Legislative Assembly regarding the status of Oregon\u2019s Marine\nReserves in 2023; this\nreport is to include \u201can assessment of social, economic and environmental\nfactors related to reserves and protected areas\u201d as well as \u201crecommendations\nfor administrative actions and legislative proposals related to the reserves\nand protected areas.\u201d2<\/sup> The report is to be prepared by an Oregon university, but making\nthings a bit more complicated is that no funding was allocated in the bill for\nthis assessment process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before we continue, we should get on the same page about\nterminology. Marine protected areas<\/strong>\nare defined as, \u201c\u2026any area of the marine environment that has been reserved by\nfederal, state, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide\nlasting protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources\ntherein.\u201d3<\/sup> Marine protected areas can\nallow many extractive uses with few protections or they may allow very little\nextraction with limited exceptions (for example, recreational harvest of\ncertain species). Marine reserves<\/strong>\nare a special class of marine protected areas, where no extraction of living or\nnon-living resources is allowed with the exception of take for scientific\nresearch. Marine reserves around the world have been established for different\npurposes, but the purpose of Oregon\u2019s Marine Reserves is to \u201cprovide an\nadditional tool to help protect, sustain or restore the nearshore marine\necosystem, its habitats, and species for the values they represent to present\nand future generations.\u201d 4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon\u2019s foray into using marine reserves as a management\ntool began about 20 years ago; in 2000, Gov. Kitzhaber\u2019s office requested that\nOregon Ocean Policy\nAdvisory Council (OPAC)<\/a> begin gathering information regarding marine\nreserves as a management tool. Over the next two years OPAC organized\ninformational meetings with experts and regional natural resource managers,\nheld public meetings with Oregon ocean stakeholders, and collected written\ncomments, which typically landed on one of two opposite ends \u2013 very supportive\nor very opposed. In its 2002 Report and\nRecommendations to the Governor<\/em>, OPAC recommended that Oregon should test a\nlimited number of marine reserves, and that those reserves should be determined\nbased on \u201c\u2026an open, public process with extensive stakeholder involvement.\u201d5<\/sup> The discussions and resulting\nreport set off a contentious debate between industry, conservation groups, and\nthe state government, ultimately postponing what was to come by about a decade.\nIndustry groups and fishing communities voiced concerns that such designations\nwould cause further economic harm to Oregon\u2019s coastal communities, which were\nstill reeling from the groundfish disaster and salmon crises of the 1990s. Various\ngovernment entities and environmental groups indicated that such measures were\nneeded to help avert such disasters in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What changed in the intervening decade? Sentiment-wise, not\na lot as far as I can tell. Staunch advocates remained staunch advocates and\nvocal opponents remained vocal opponents but political winds were shifting.  A number of major reports, the work of\nnational and international scientific experts, sounded the alarm in no\nuncertain terms that human activities were causing major and detrimental\nimpacts to ocean ecosystems and thus human well-being 6\u20138<\/sup>. Increasing interest in wave\nenergy development raised a new set of concerns for the fishing industry and\nfishing communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, in 2005, Governor Kulongoski requested that OPAC re-visit marine reserves. OPAC\u2019s Marine Reserves Working Group met several times over the next couple of years and in 2008, Executive Order 08-07 accelerated the marine reserves process in Oregon. In line with the process for extensive stakeholder involvement in siting and planning outlined in EO 08-07, community groups and citizens submitted 20 proposals, and on November 29, 2008, OPAC forwarded its recommendation on pilot sites and sites for further consideration to the Governor\u2019s Office. The following November, after passage of HB 3013<\/a> (the legislation that established the pilot marine reserves), ODFW\u2019s newly-established Marine Reserves Program worked with OPAC to form community teams to study the sites recommended for further evaluation. With the aid of a facilitator the community teams worked diligently over the next year, logging a total of 35 meetings and ~25,000 collective volunteer hours over an 11-month period to develop their final recommendations, which were submitted to the legislature in early 2011. Although legislation was introduced during the 2011 legislative session to establish the three new sites, negotiations were unsuccessful and the bill died in committee. Between the 2011 and 2012 sessions, the Coastal Caucus (the bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators representing coastal districts) worked to craft a plan that would receive support moving forward. On March 5, 2012, Gov. Kitzhaber signed SB 1510<\/a> and the period of marine reserves planning gave way to implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the major concerns among opponents during the contentious first decade of marine reserve discussions was that we don\u2019t understand enough about using marine reserves as a management tool. A common theme among proponents was that we can\u2019t wait until we know all the answers and that science should help guide an adaptive management process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what have we learned? A quick Web of Science search\nreveals that since 2000, over 2000 peer-reviewed articles regarding marine\nreserves globally have been published, with >100 new papers every year since\n2008. Change the topic search term to \u201cmarine protected areas\u201d and the number\nof publications is more than doubled. The oldest marine reserves and protected\nareas are now decades old, and many publications in recent years have synthesized\nthis wealth of data to examine the effectiveness of marine reserves, both from\nan ecological and a human well-being standpoint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as far as Oregon\u2019s nearshore is concerned, the ODFW Marine Reserves Program\u2019s research collaborations and monitoring efforts have contributed new understanding about Oregon\u2019s notoriously difficult-to-study waters (I encourage you to visit the Reserves News<\/a> to learn more about the research happening in the reserves). While the Marine Reserves Program\u2019s eyes are on the ocean, the eyes of the nation will be on Oregon as the process unfolds. Nationally, Oregon has a reputation as a conservation leader and also a leader in collaborative governance processes that involve citizens in important land use and coastal management decisions \u2013 often referred to as \u201cthe Oregon Way.\u201d Such participatory processes don\u2019t usually make any one group happy, but they do have the ability to ensure that people feel heard. And when people feel that they had a place at the table, efforts are more likely to succeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the future of Oregon\u2019s marine reserves system? One\nof the points of the mandated assessment is to provide valuable information to\nOregon\u2019s ocean stakeholders so that adaptive management as envisioned in OPAC\u2019s\n2008\nMarine Reserve Policy Recommendations<\/a> can take place. As the 2023\nassessment nears, it is time to start thinking about this important next step.\nGiven the current political climate and the still-raw emotions from the 2019\nlegislative session, it\u2019s helpful to reflect on the fact that Oregonians can\nhave difficult discussions, make tough compromises, and move forward together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.            House Bill 3013. Relating to\nocean resources; and declaring an emergency<\/em>. (2009).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.            Senate Bill\n1510: Relating to ocean resources; creating new provisions; amending ORS\n196.540; and declaring an emergency<\/em>. (2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.            NOAA Marine\nProtected Areas Center. Definition and Classification System for US Marine\nProtected Areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.            Ocean Policy\nAdvisory Council. Oregon Marine Reserve Policy Recommendations: A Report to\nthe Governor, State Agencies and Local Governments from OPAC<\/em>. (2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.            Ocean Policy\nAdvisory Council. Report and Recommendation to the Governor: Oregon and\nMarine Reserves<\/em>. (2002).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.            Ecosystems and\nhuman well-being: synthesis<\/em>. (Island Press, 2005).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.            Pew Oceans\nCommission. America\u2019s living oceans: charting a course for sea change. A\nreport to the nation.<\/em> (Pew Trusts, 2003).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.            US Commission on\nOcean Policy. An ocean blueprint for the 21st century<\/em>. (US Commission on\nOcean Policy, 2004).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week marks the 10 year anniversary of Oregon\u2019s decision to pilot a system of marine reserves. On July 28, 2009, Gov. Kulongoski signed HB 30131, which directed the implementation of two pilot marine reserves at Redfish Rocks and Otter … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1192028,7495,1192027],"tags":[784,514,1398],"class_list":["post-6207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anne-hayden-lesmeister","category-natural-resources-policy-fellow","category-scientific-and-technical-advisory-committee-fellow","tag-history","tag-marine-reserves","tag-oregon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6210,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6207\/revisions\/6210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}