State / Commonwealth / Territory - Marine Managed Areas (MMAs)

Educational Reserves
Environmental Reserves
Scientific Reserves

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) is provided with the proprietary authority to identify and withdraw lands from conflicting uses, and has specific direction to protect aquatic lands of special educational or scientific interest or aquatic lands of special environmental importance threatened by degradation by designating areas as Aquatic Reserves. The overall goal of the Aquatic Reserves program is to ensure environmental protection, preservation and enhancement of state owned aquatic lands that will provide direct and indirect benefits to aquatic resources in the state of Washington.

Ongoing MMA Initiatives
In recent years, a strong interest in Marine Protected Areas has emerged in Washington State and the bordering British Columbia. In 1994, the British Columbia/Washington Marine Science Panel recommended, with high priority, that MPAs be established in Puget Sound. The Washington Marine Protected Areas Work Group, formed in 1995, developed a strategy for identifying and establishing a network of MPA sites.

Under the guidance of the Puget Sound/George Basin International Task Force, work groups from the U.S. and Canada assembled to address the British Columbia/Washington Marine Science Panel's recommendation of establishing a network of Marine Protected Areas. One work group, the Washington Marine Protected Areas Work Group, developed a common strategy for identifying and forming a network of MPAs. In addition to recommendations and action from the British Columbia/Washington Marine Science Panel and associated work groups, other calls for establishing Marine Protected Areas in the Washington have emerged. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new policy calling for the development of a marine protected areas strategy. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has received funding, convened a task force, and taken initial steps toward more complete development of an underwater parks program, a development which may hold potential for the establishment of additional MPAs.

Relevant Agencies/Programs:

Marine Managed Area Systems:

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