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You Left a Public Comment. Now What? · How To Protect The Ocean

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  this week you've been following a process for the California Marine Protected Areas
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  Network that we've been covering all on the episode from Monday to today's episode.
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  And we've been talking about a lot of different things.
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  And, you know, one of the calls to action that I've been asking is for people to,
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  you know, put in their public comment for the meetings or show up to the meetings.
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  But what happens after the meetings?
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  Like how do you know what the outcomes are?
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  And how do you make sure you can follow all the rules?
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  I think that's the big thing. Cause what happens like the coverage stops
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  and you're left with the most like practical question of all.
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  Like, does anything actually change for you?
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  Does anything actually change for me?
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  How would I even find out? And to be honest,
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  we're gonna provide that honest plan answer with a couple of question
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  and answers that we're gonna go through on today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast. because this is what this podcast is for.
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  I want to make sure that you can get the decision that you can get
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  the answers that you deserve when you follow this type of process.
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  Cause there's one thing about for me and others to ask you to participate within
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  a specific process, a public comment period,
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  show up to a public meeting, but you got to know the answers,
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  right? That's the big question.
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  That's the big thing with all this.
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  You're doing it for change. How do you know what happens with the change
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  and how do you follow the change and make sure the change is implemented?
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  You're following the rules.
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  All that kind of stuff. We're gonna talk about that on today's episode of
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  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin. I'm marine biologist,
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  a science communicator, the ocean communications manager for
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  a consulting firm called Pisces Oceans,
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  where we help ocean projects succeed so they can have a positive impact
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  on the ocean. and we love doing that.
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  And this is what I love doing.
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  I love talking about ocean stuff,
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  but this I'm very excited about this episode
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  because this is where you and I are gonna go through and try to get
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  rid of that uncertainty of when things are asked of you and you don't really know
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  the answer. Because sometimes,
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  an organization will ask you to do something.
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  they may not communicate to you whether things have changed or not,
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  or you're not on their email list,
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  so you don't get the updates, or you know,
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  maybe you're not hooked into their social media and you don't get the updates.
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  There's a lot of uncertainty that goes on and they've asked you to do a lot,
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  or they'll ask you to take
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  Time out of your day to do something for the ocean.
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  So you want to make sure that you find what actually happened.
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  So I'm going help you through that process by answering a few questions,
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  the first thing to answer is like,
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  how would I know what's actually allowed at a specific marine protected area?
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  there are 124 marine protected areas in the network in California.
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  So just to give you how you can find that information.
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  The California Department of Fish and Wildlife maintains
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  the authoritative current maps and regulations for every MPA in the state
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  on its own MPA programs. Pages will link to that in the show notes.
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  And it matters because like the news coverage of a decision stops after,
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  once they tell the listener. And so you can go to this site and you can
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  go on this to make sure that you can see the actual line-by-line rule
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  for the specific spot that you care about.
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  The state's own regulation pages are the only source that's guaranteed current once
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  a rule change formally takes shape.
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  Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna go up fast,
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  That doesn't necessarily mean that's gonna happen,
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  but it's gonna happen at some point,
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  and you'll be able to check that.
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  And people would can update you on that,
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  or if you just check it on a regular basis,
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  you can always do that. To be honest,
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  you can have something like AI to give you a formal,
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  like check the website every day and give you an update once that that's been
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  updated.
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  All right, let's go to question two.
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  So let's talk about like what actually changes after a commission votes
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  on a petition or proposal. So this next meeting in October that we talked about
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  in the in Monday's episode with ANUPA,
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  there's gonna be a change after they're gonna vote on specific petitions,
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  whether they're gonna go through or whether they're not gonna go through.
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  And if they do go through, what's gonna be changing?
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  How do you actually find out what actually changes?
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  So the commission decision isn't the final step.
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  approve changes to the any MPA boundaries or rules go through
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  the state's formal rulemaking process before they're legally in effect.
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  And the updated regulations get published once that's complete.
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  So there's, a real like sometimes multi month gap between
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  the commission approved this and like this is now an enforceable rule.
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  So you know it's something that you have to be aware of.
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  Government works slow.
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  They work slow for a number of different reasons.
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  some people are like, well, they just don't work hard.
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  That's not true. It takes time to make these decisions.
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  Once it goes to the approval, they have to go through the nuances of making sure
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  it fits within the law. I covered something interesting yesterday,
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  how Canada, the country, the my country,
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  has ratified the high seas treaty.
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  And it took a while from 2023 to now almost 2027,
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  or at the end of 2026. And it took a while because it takes a while to ratify it.
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  Because you have to put it in the laws.
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  You have to make sure that every part of the high seas treaty,
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  if it's going to be accepted by Canada,
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  ratified by Canada, you have to make sure that is put forth.
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  Now they had already signed on to agree to the bill,
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  then they had to ratify it. Now it's in the laws.
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  It's gonna there's gonna be line by line items in the law to make sure that
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  we accountable for that. And so the same thing happens with the state process
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  in California. There is a gap between when it's actually approved
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  and when it's enforceable because they have to put it into law.
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  That takes time. It has to go through Congress or the Senate.
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  I'm not sure the full state process is because I'm I again I'm Canadian,
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  but they have to go through that legal process to make sure it goes through.
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  That takes time. It does take time.
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  And sometimes you wish it goes faster,
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  but it does take time and it and it's important that it does,
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  like that make sure that they're doing things you know,
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  f by like they're actually taking it seriously.
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  Now, here's something that's interesting.
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  the question, the third question is.
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  How is any of this actually enforced?
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  And I think this is kind of cool because this is something a way that
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  you can participate in because there is an organization called MPA Watch.
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  I covered this on either on the podcast or on Ocean Decoded,
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  I'm not sure on my YouTube channel.
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  MPA Watch is a thing, statewide citizen science network coordinated with
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  the California Ocean Science Trust and supported by the California Department
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  of Fish and Wildlife. It trains ordinary volunteers to walk designated stretches
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  of coastline and record human activity in and around the MPAs.
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  Both inside the protected boundary and outside of it,
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  just for comparison. And the volunteers use standardized data sheets,
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  and the data they collect is used directly by the California Department
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  of Fish and Wildlife and other enforcement and research partners.
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  So as of the program's own recent figures,
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  more than 2,000 volunteers have been trained,
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  monitored more than 115 sites,
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  covering roughly over 187,000 acres of protected and surrounding waters.
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  and so like the enforcement of these protections is not invisible and
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  not purely the theoretical. We are seeing on the ground citizen science programs
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  that are monitoring people. And it's actually shown that people are using
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  the MPAs when they're allowed to use the MPAs.
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  And that's that's value. That's valuable information that gets it's
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  the social science around the MPA design and how things are being adhered to.
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  If things aren't being adhered to and there's more enforcement need
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  in certain areas.
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  then that's always great. but also just to see how people are actually using these
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  Americans value their protected areas,
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  their parks. It's very difficult for any government agency to try and destroy that,
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  even though they do try. but Americans love it.
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  Doesn't matter what side of the aisle you fit on or you side on,
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  it's it it's pretty tough to change national parks and
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  state parks because Americans love their nature and they use it,
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  which is great, which is amazing.
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  I don't think a lot of people would think that.
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  But yeah, their parks are phenomenal and they're well taken care of as long
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  as it doesn't get touched by federal or state governments.
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  And people a lot of times don't allow that.
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  So that's really great. okay last question that we're gonna go through what happens
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  to a petition or proposal that doesn't get adopted this cycle?
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  So this can happen a lot. Like petitions will get put forth
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  and maybe at this time the commission doesn't think that this is the right time
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  to do this, or maybe they don't like the petition,
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  whether we agree with the decision or not.
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  It doesn't mean it's the end of that petition.
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  Adaptive management, the same mechanisms that we covered,
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  or earlier in this week on Monday,
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  the same mechanism that we discussed earlier on Monday's episode with ANUPA
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  is an explicitly recurring process written into the Marine Life Protection Act,
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  right? So
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  It's not a single one-time event.
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  So it comes up over and over again.
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  So a proposal that doesn't move forward in this review cycle,
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  it's not permanently closed. It can be revisited or submitted in
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  the future adaptive management cycle as new science and new monitoring data
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  and new community priorities developed.
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  So maybe it doesn't fit within this time within this session,
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  but it'll fit within the next adaptive management process.
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  Now, whether that's five years,
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  10 years, I think it they do it every 10 years.
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  That's not great if it doesn't go through.
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  but you hope that it could be resubmitted.
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  And this is how conservation works.
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  you don't get it accepted. You go back,
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  maybe add some more information,
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  prepare it a little, better, not to say that it wasn't prepared well
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  in the first time. Then hopefully maybe the commission changes.
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  There's somebody on the board who doesn't like the proposal,
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  but maybe that person changes,
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  that goes in, or maybe they have a change of heart.
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  And then maybe the next time the proposal goes in.
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  It's a bit of a science and a little bit of luck and a little bit of timing
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  on a lot of these things.
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  And it can be tough. It can be tough to not get your proposal
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  or put petition submitted. They had quite a number of petitions submitted this
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  in this process. Not every one of them is gonna be used.
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  You just hope that the ones that should be prioritized are gonna get prioritized.
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  And that's really up to the petitioners and to make sure that they stand
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  up and they you're they're allowed to speak and they feel safe to speak.
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  That apparently did not happen last meeting.
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  Hopefully this meeting in October that happens.
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  hopefully that will go through.
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  so the big thing here, you know,
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  is that there are processes for MPA design.
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  It's not just science. we've talked about it all week.
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  It's not just a science thing.
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  yes, data gets put in, it's very important to identify areas using
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  a science-based approach, but it's not just the natural science data that goes in.
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  There's social science data, like how people feel about it,
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  who's proposing
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  these types of MPAs. Why are they important?
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  Are they connected with other MPAs that are in the network?
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  And like in from a biological standpoint.
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  So are, rockfish larvae going from one MPA down the coast to another MPA,
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  maybe that should be protected too,
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  because that is a sink of this type of larvae.
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  And that's where they settle down.
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  So they should be connected and both be protected.
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  Are there certain kelp areas that are doing well?
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  doing well in MPAs and not doing well outside MPAs.
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  Maybe those should become MPAs if they're really important.
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  All these different things change and there's a process for that.
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  Adaptive management plays a big role.
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  The way people are allowed to speak and the environment around that and
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  how open and honest it can be is always tough to handle.
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  But it should be handled properly where everybody feels safe to have a say.
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  That's really what it comes down to,
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  It doesn't seem difficult to do,
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  but people's emotions get really wrapped up in these situations because their
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  livelihood's at stake. Not to make an excuse,
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  but it is something that happens.
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  And it's important to make sure that everybody,
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  all groups, no matter what they look like,
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  where they're from, that they get a say in this area because they're all part
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  of the same network of MPAs and it's all going to affect them.
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  And I think that's really important.
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  one of the things that you can do is join MPA Watch.
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  If you're in California, you can join MPA Watch.
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  the nearest program near you. Sign up as a volunteer.
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  It's real, right? It's an existing way to be a part of
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  the enforcement and monitoring.
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  And you can just see, maybe you have a chance to go all these MPAs that
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  you never really would have thought of before,
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  so to be able to monitor like if there's access still available,
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  if people are using it, what people are doing outside the MPA,
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  you can
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  maybe interview people. It's a lot of fun to be able to be a part of this
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  and you feel better about yourself.
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  Plus it gets you out in nature.
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  I think that's really important.
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  this process for MPAs, it's an open process,
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  It's a real timeline. There's data that's involved.
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  it's made public. there's a real program to join an MPA watch and a real next chance
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  for anything
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  that didn't make it through this time,
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  like the in the petitions. So there's always something that can be done.
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  There's always something that you can do.
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  And I think that's part of the process,
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  Is to make sure that we are all available to do this type of work and to take part,
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  whether we're a scientist or not.
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  You know, this is your coastline.
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  This is your land. This is your state.
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  If you're in California or in another state that has a s a similar process,
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  it is up to you to participate,
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  You listen to this podcast, we give you the information.
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  You take that information and now it's up to you to go and implement that
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  and just show up to a meeting.
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  Just observe. You don't even have to say anything at that point.
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  You can just observe, see what happens.
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  If you see something that where you can help out,
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  that's great. If not, no worries.
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  Join MPA Watch. Get part of that process and then and you get to know that
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  you are helping in the adaptive management for these series of parks
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  or network of MPAs for the future.
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  And I think that's a really good saying that gets you out into nature.
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  I think that's kind of fun. I wish I had something like that.
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  Here in the Great Lakes. I wish Canada would start to put MPAs in the Great Lakes.
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  I know they're not marine, but they act like marines sometimes at their
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  big lakes and they need protection.
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  So hopefully that'll happen one day.
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  But anyway, until then, I want to hear from you.
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  Do you think you'll, if you're in California,
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  we have a lot of listeners in California.
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  Do you participate in this? Do you think you would participate in MPA Watch?
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  what do you think of the episodes this week?
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  I'd love to hear from you. If you're on Spotify,
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  leave a comment. If you are on one of our social networks,
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  feel free to DM me. LinkedIn, probably the easiest way to get a hold
• 13:07
  of me because I'm on it every day with work.
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  but yeah, I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
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  it'd be great to hear. And we can't wait for next week's episode.
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  We're gonna talking about marine pollution.
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  We're starting off with an interview with Dr.
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  Judith Weiss, who is now retired but it has had a book out
• 13:23
  Second edition book on marine pollution,
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  which is everything you need to know about marine pollution.
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  And that's going to be the dedication for next week.
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  We're going to talk all about the different types of marine pollution and
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  how we can help reduce it. So that's going to be on the bill for next week.
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  Can't wait to talk to you next week.
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  but until then, don't forget to follow.
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  Don't forget to share these episodes with somebody you think will benefit from it.
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  And we'll talk to you next week.
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  Have a great weekend and have a great day.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin. You've been watching the How to Protect
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  the Ocean podcast. Talk to you soon and happy conservation.