Date of Award

2020

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Marine Affairs

Department

Marine Affairs

First Advisor

Amelia Moore

Abstract

The use of marine citizen science in the management of marine protected areas has grown increasingly popular over the past two decades for a variety of reasons. These include increased monitoring and enforcement capacity, increased engagement with the public, and chances for increased social acceptance hopefully leading to more effective conservation overall. California has taken this a step further and included marine citizen science as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (1999) in an effort to increase public access to marine protected areas as well as access to education and information about marine protected areas and conservation in the state. This thesis examines the relationship between marine citizen science, the Marine Life Protection Act, and the environmental and social history of the central coast region of California while attempting to determine if the use of marine citizen science is increasing the equitability and accessibility to the marine protected areas of the central coast region as well as the marine citizen science programs themselves.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.