Today (June 8th) the Oregon Coast Aquarium invites the public to join in celebrating World Ocean Day. This year, World Ocean Day focuses on conservation action to grow the global movement calling on world leaders to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030. This critical need is called 30×30. By safeguarding 30% of our ocean through a network of highly protected areas we can help ensure a healthy home for all. A healthy ocean is a critical part of the solution to the climate crisis. With your help and that of hundreds of other organizations worldwide, we will support and grow the global movement to protect at least 30% of our blue planet by 2030. Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) As of 2020, approximately 15% of land and 7% of oceans are protected. If you have ever visited a National Park, then you have visited a protected land area. But how do you protect areas in the ocean? Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), like marine reserves and sanctuaries, are areas in the ocean where human activities are more strictly regulated than in surrounding waters—similar to the outdoor parks that we have on land. In the United States alone, there are about 1,700 MPAs—nearly 41 percent of the nation’s marine waters. Marine Protected Areas are important in safeguarding marine ecosystems in a specified area.
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife oversees the management and scientific monitoring of 5 areas along the Oregon Coast. Oregon’s marine reserves are areas in the ocean that are dedicated to conservation and scientific research. Within the marine reserves, ocean development and the removal of marine life is prohibited. Oregon created these marine reserves to conserve marine habitats and biodiversity. They also serve as living laboratories where we can learn about Oregon’s nearshore ocean environment and the effects that protections have over time on the marine habitat.
2022 marks ten years of research and discovery within the marine reserves; these protected areas act as a tool to help protect, sustain, or restore the nearshore marine ecosystem, its habitats, and species. Management and scientific monitoring of the sites is overseen by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW); the reserves are part of the continued effort to move towards the management of marine waters using an ecosystem-based approach.
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife oversees the management and scientific monitoring of 5 areas along the Oregon Coast. Oregon’s marine reserves are areas in the ocean that are dedicated to conservation and scientific research. Within the marine reserves, ocean development and the removal of marine life is prohibited. Oregon created these marine reserves to conserve marine habitats and biodiversity. They also serve as living laboratories where we can learn about Oregon’s nearshore ocean environment and the effects that protections have over time on the marine habitat.
2022 marks ten years of research and discovery within the marine reserves; these protected areas act as a tool to help protect, sustain, or restore the nearshore marine ecosystem, its habitats, and species. Management and scientific monitoring of the sites is overseen by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW); the reserves are part of the continued effort to move towards the management of marine waters using an ecosystem-based approach.
The Aquarium partners with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to SCUBA dive for the Marine Reserves program. The Aquarium dive team trains all of the Marine Reserve dive volunteers who collect data at each site. The aquarium has trained 29 divers and conducted over 600 research dives in the first eight years of the program. The OCAq dive team even created their own ID guides and showcase the animals at the aquarium during training.
