Final technical report - An analysis of citizen science data from LiMPETS in support of the North Central Coast Baseline Characterization Project

The 1999 Marine Life Protection Act directed the state of California to design a comprehensive network of marine protected areas to protect, sustain and conserve marine life populations and increase the health, productivity, and resilience of ocean ecosystems. The MLPA requires monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs). Monitoring will facilitate adaptive management of MPAs and ensure that the MPA network meets the goals of the Act. The North Central Coast MPA Baseline Program is a collaborative effort among the State Coastal Conservancy, Ocean Protection Council (OPC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Ocean Science Trust, MPA Monitoring Enterprise and California Sea Grant. “The program seeks to provide a summary description, assessment and understanding of ecological and socioeconomic conditions, inside and outside North Central Coast MPAs to be designated under the Marine Life Protection Act, at or near the time of MPA implementation” (NCC MPA Monitoring Plan, 2010). The North Central Coast MPA region consist of 25 MPAs and 6 special closure areas comprised of approximately 153 square miles (20.1%) of state waters within the region. In this project, an existing citizen-science data set, collected through LiMPETS, Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students, will be analyzed and integrated into the baseline data being collected by the other research teams. This report was originally uploaded to Oceanspaces (http://oceanspaces.org/) in 2013 as part of the North Central Coast baseline monitoring program. In 2020 the baseline data and reports were uploaded to the California Ocean Protection Council Data Repository by Mike Esgro ([e-mail]) and Rani Gaddam ([e-mail]). Every attempt has been made to include all of the original data, metadata, and reports submitted in 2013, but please contact the Data Set Contacts with any questions.

1999年《海洋生物保护法》（Marine Life Protection Act，MLPA）责成加利福尼亚州构建一套综合性海洋保护区网络，以保护、维系并保育海洋生物种群，同时提升海洋生态系统的健康水平、生产力与恢复力。该法案要求对海洋保护区（Marine Protected Area，MPA）开展监测工作，监测可助力实现海洋保护区的适应性管理，并确保该保护区网络契合法案设定的目标。

北中海岸海洋保护区基线项目是由加州海岸保护委员会、海洋保护委员会（Ocean Protection Council，OPC）、加利福尼亚州鱼类与野生动物部、加州海洋科学信托基金、海洋保护区监测企业以及加州海洋推广计划联合开展的协作项目。正如《北中海岸海洋保护区监测计划》（2010年）所述："本项目旨在对依据《海洋生物保护法》划定的北中海岸海洋保护区内外的生态与社会经济状况，在保护区实施之时或临近实施阶段，提供概况描述、评估与认知。"

北中海岸海洋保护区区域共包含25个海洋保护区与6个特殊封闭区域，占该区域内州管海域总面积约153平方英里（占比20.1%）。本项目将对通过LiMPETS（Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students，学生长期监测计划与体验式培训）采集的现有公民科学数据集进行分析，并将其整合至其他研究团队正在收集的基线数据中。

本报告最初于2013年作为北中海岸基线监测项目的一部分上传至Oceanspaces网站（http://oceanspaces.org/）。2020年，Mike Esgro（[e-mail]）与Rani Gaddam（[e-mail]）将该基线数据与报告上传至加州海洋保护委员会数据仓库。

本报告已尽可能收录2013年提交的全部原始数据、元数据（metadata）与报告，如有任何疑问，请联系数据集联系人。