Community Engagement:
Outreach, Education & Research
The California Marine Sanctuary Foundation collaborates with state, federal, and NGO partners to engage key stakeholder groups across California. Grounding our work in social-science research—surveys, focus groups, and other participatory methods—allows us to surface community perceptions and weave those insights into every initiative. We deliver clear, audience-tested conservation and science outreach, lead the field in evaluating and refining educational tools and methods, and use data-driven findings to inspire inclusive stewardship and evidence-based policy.
Education & Outreach
CMSF has played a key role in education and outreach efforts for California's network of marine protected areas (MPAs) for over a decade. Working with the Ocean Protection Council (OPC), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and thousands of local partners, the public has gained greater appreciation for California's coastal resources and the need to protect vulnerable species and natural areas.
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With support from RLF, CMSF currently leads a statewide MPA social media campaign and provides leadership to the NGO community in coordinating efforts for greater collaboration and impact.
MPA education and outreach resources are available through the CMSF-hosted California MPAs website.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Through funding from OPC and Resources Legacy Fund, CMSF has led a decade-long effort to install over 400 interpretive signs across the state.
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Now, in partnership with OPC and the MPA Collaborative Network, CMSF is evaluating existing signage effectiveness and assessing future statewide signage needs that will be used to inform the development of new MPA signs.
These recent efforts build upon our comprehensive OPC-funded study evaluating the state of California's MPA education and outreach tools.
Public Awareness
CMSF is focused on increasing sea level rise awareness and action. With funding from OPC, we recently led California's first-ever statewide sea level rise awareness campaign.
Our outreach efforts received more than 61 million views, far exceeding the project's initial goal of 1 million views. Reactions and impressions from our SLR campaign elements reveal that the public is clearly interested in learning more about the threats and solutions of climate change.
Research
Through the California Ocean Access Project, we're conducting research to understand how Californians use and value the ocean, and how environmental, social, and regulatory changes might affect these benefits
In this project, we aim to learn more about how people across California’s coastal communities - including Tribal and underserved communities - access, use, relate to, and/or value the ocean. Additionally, we are investigating the ability of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to amplify or diminish benefits for people across different locations, communities, and user groups
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