California Says Equity Matters. Where’s the follow-through?
Photo: Sterling Lanier
California has made bold commitments to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in ocean management. On paper, those commitments are clear. In practice, to say they are falling short is an understatement. For Fish On and our partners, some who have been leading this work for decades, our efforts to advance ocean justice and everyone’s right and opportunity to experience a healthy, thriving ocean, are actively being undermined by state agencies.
In response to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s evaluation of proposals to adapt our state network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), we recently submitted a letter to the Fish and Game Commission—the body that will make the ultimate decisions—outlining serious concerns with how the state is approaching this process. At a moment that should have been about correcting past inequities, the current process is instead reinforcing them.
The Commission’s own data shows their stakeholder processes are dominated by a narrow set of voices that continue to shape decisions that affect everyone. Meanwhile, the majority of communities who rely on the ocean for cultural, subsistence, or everyday enjoyment continue to face barriers to participation, and in some cases, hostility when we do show up.
This isn’t just about who is in the room. It’s about whose experience and whose future matters, and whose doesn’t.
This was supposed to be a moment to ensure California’s ocean parks were resilient to climate change and working for all communities, not just those in power. This was acknowledged in language but ignored in action, ultimately making the state mandate of equitable access to the ocean for all, a glaring failure.
Tools to evaluate impacts on marginalized communities were available yet ignored. Opportunities to prioritize equitable access were overlooked. And in some cases, the rationale provided by the Department dismissed equity considerations as too “speculative” to include.
It’s not speculative for those of us on the ground, and if the state even bothered to ask, we could have shared our very real challenges. Communities across California—especially in urban areas like Los Angeles—are still effectively left out of the MPA experience altogether. Physical distance, environmental quality, and social barriers all play a role. If we don’t address this, we’re locking in the same inequities for another generation.
Over 99% of marine species are not actively managed, and many of our communities depend on these ecosystems in ways that aren’t captured by current frameworks.
MPAs are supposed to be part of the solution—a tool not just for conservation, but for fairness. Done right, they can restore ecosystems, expand opportunity, reconnect communities with what the ocean is supposed to be, and rebalance who benefits from ocean access. This is our once-in-a-decade chance to fix our mistakes of the past, and set the next generation up with an ocean that can endure the heatwaves and degradation we’ve instigated upon it. Instead, the Department seems committed to a process that looks backward instead of forward. One that leans on “original intent” without acknowledging who was excluded, unwelcome and even harmed the first time around.
In our letter, we lay out a path forward: prioritize equitable access, build accountability into decision-making, center marginalized communities, and use MPAs as a tool to repair—not reinforce—systemic imbalance.
California has the policies. It has the data. It has the expertise. If the state is serious about environmental justice, this is the moment to prove it.
