Beyond the Boundaries: What It Really Takes to Protect a Marine Protected Area

With insights from Jamie Blatter, climate specialist and tribal liaison at the MPA Collaborative Network

The world’s largest network of connected marine protected areas (MPAs) is located just offshore of the California coastline. This collection of 124 individual MPAs were established to prevent overfishing, restore biodiversity, and provide shelter for marine animals to recover from human impacts. Jamie Blatter, however, explains that simply saying an MPA exists is really the beginning of the work, not the end.

Jamie Blatter is the Climate Specialist and Tribal Liaison for the Marine Protected Area Collaborative Network (MPACN), an organization dedicated to upholding the value and efficacy of these protections long after the boundaries are established, which is one of the most important yet least visible aspects of ocean conservation.

“Paper Parks” and the Problem of Protection Without Management

“Paper parks” is a term often used in conservation for protected areas that only exist in name. These are the locations that might appear on maps but lack real community involvement, enforcement, or monitoring. “We know that paper parks are not effective,” Blatter says. Protection on paper doesn’t guarantee that fishing isn’t happening or that species are recovering. Real protection requires ongoing investment, public awareness, local support, and active enforcement. “So that’s really where the Collaborative Network comes in.”

Enforcement Is Not Enough: Community Is the Backbone of Effective Conservation

From researchers and educators to fishermen, tribal members, and local business owners, Blatter and her team connect more than 1,700 different members from over 450 organizations. “They all have a role to play,” she says. “We’re really working at awareness building and community stewardship… This might involve really tangible things, such as creating signs and brochures, and videos that have locally relevant information. We host training and docent programs, presentations, and workshop series.”

Each region’s MPA plan is designed to represent its unique ecosystem, community concerns, and capabilities through this hyper-local approach. “Our model is for each collaborative to be locally driven by their own needs rather than be uniform across the state,” says Blatter.

Adapting as the Ocean Changes

Marine Protected Areas need to evolve. Blatter highlights California’s Decadal Management Review, a ten-year cycle that compiles public feedback and research to determine if MPAs are accomplishing their goals. This procedure allows adaptive management, in which guidelines and tactics can change according to what is or is not effective.

“The Department of Fish and Wildlife is required to do something called adaptive management, which basically means that they need to change regulations or management structure if they see that what they’re doing isn’t working.” With climate change altering ocean temperatures, currents, and species distributions, that adaptability is more urgent than ever. “It never ends,” she adds.

The Human Element: Identity, Culture, and Long-Term Success

The MPAs that succeed are those where people feel a sense of ownership, relationship, and benefit. “Often, people feel like these decisions are being made on their behalf rather than with them or for them. We need to be internally motivated in order to actually take action rather than being kind of told externally. Rules and regulations are important, but we need people to care and want to participate in the process.”

Indigenous Partnership and Traditional Knowledge

This approach is especially important while engaging with the Indigenous people in California. Blatter continues, “We offer our platform, which can involve hosting webinars for tribal partners to share their knowledge or helping arrange meetings between tribal partners and other stakeholders.” The MPACN also helps write grants and navigate bureaucracy, playing a supporting role rather than a leading one. That work has already resulted in changes to signage, outreach materials, and even fishing exemptions that allow for continued traditional and ceremonial harvesting in some MPAs.

Real Protection Takes More Than Policy

What does it really take to protect a marine area?

It takes:

• Legal designation, but also constant review and improvement.
• Law enforcement, but also signs, education, and social license.
• Scientific data, but also traditional knowledge and lived experience.
• Government agencies, but also nonprofits, volunteers, and tribes.
• Policy frameworks, but also people who care enough to carry them forward.

Marine conservation isn’t a finish line. It’s a living system, just like the ocean itself.

Written By: Francesca DeNisco

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