Primary Concerns: Investigating the Productivity of Marine Protected Areas

California's Marine Protected Area (MPA) network is made up of 149 individual MPAs within four bioregions.While the goal of these protections is to preserve and conserve the state's marine health and biodiversity, the variations in restrictions and protection levels begs the question: do these differences impact how effective the MPAs are?Specifically, do MPAs with stronger restrictions have a more productive marine ecosystem, as identified by the net primary productivity, compared to MPAs that are more lenient in their restrictions and protections?To answer this question, I compare the net primary productivity of California's four coastal bioregions from 2015 to 2020 and analyze the distribution of different MPA restriction levels and types within each of the bioregions. Context and SignificanceMarine protected areas were established because of the threats facing the ocean and its inhabitants.The network of MPAs in use now was created on paper in 1999 by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) as a result of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA).Due to the expanse of range the network was aiming to include in its protections, it was not until 13 years later in 2012 that the MPAs were officially finalized and implemented [13].While some have different goals and purposes, the "main focus of many MPAs is to protect marine habitats and the variety of life that they support" [1].This means that the priority for most MPAs is the protection and the continued maintenance of the habitat to ensure success for the now and the 1