California's Marine Sanctuary Foundation

California is the first state in the nation to establish a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), similar to national parks, forests and wilderness areas on land, to protect and restore ocean habitats and increase the health, productivity and resilience of ocean ecosystems. California took a regional approach to the design and implementation of MPAs along its coast and divided the state into four coastal regions. The network has created over 120 underwater refuges along the California coast. These maps are provided to help understand which marine areas are protected areas.