A hilltop view of the Wrigley Institute on Catalina Island

The Wrigley Marine Science Center sits on Catalina Island’s Big Fisherman Cove, which is part of California’s network of marine protected areas. The USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, along with local Catalina Island groups, stewards the cove and the broader marine reserve that encompasses it. (Photo: Nick Neumann/USC Wrigley Institute)

California’s marine protected areas recognized as gold standard for conservation

Wrigley Marine Science Center’s Big Fisherman Cove is part of state network accepted to IUCN Green List

August 12, 2025

By Kathryn Royster

In June, California’s marine protected area network was officially accepted to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, a high-profile international certification that recognizes the most successful examples of biodiversity conservation worldwide. California’s system of marine protected areas (MPAs), the largest in North America, is the first nature network in the world to receive this honor.

“We’re thrilled that California’s marine protected area network will join the IUCN Green List,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s Secretary for Natural Resources. “As the first nature network in the world to be awarded Green List status, the system of 124 protected areas along our coast provides an important model of science-based conservation at large scale. Nature networks like this are essential to protect and restore nature across our planet and help all life thrive.”

California’s MPAs span the state’s 1,100-mile coastline and cover 16% of state waters. Just as California’s State Parks protect special places on land, MPAs protect a variety of iconic coastal and marine ecosystems, from sandy beaches and estuaries to kelp forests and deep underwater canyons. About half of the MPA network is fully protected by no-take marine reserves.

Preserving a Biodiverse Future for the Next Generation

One of these no-take reserves is Santa Catalina Island’s Big Fisherman Cove, adjacent to the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability’s Wrigley Marine Science Center (WMSC). Originally part of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge, which was created in the late 1970s, the cove became part of the Blue Cavern Onshore State Marine Conservation Area in 2012.

VIDEO: A student-guided tour of Blue Cavern SMCA

The cove is a centerpiece of programs at WMSC, where USC students attend the Wrigley Institute’s Catalina Residential College and other programs designed to train future environmental leaders. Researchers from USC and other institutions also use the cove as a field study site.

“Students and researchers create core memories of their time at USC during their visits to Catalina Island,” says Wrigley Institute Executive Director Jessica Dutton. She describes alumni who attended an island-based program 20 to 30 years ago and still fondly recall it as a “watershed moment” that cemented their paths in environmental studies. “For others,” she says, “it opened their eyes to realize, first, that there’s this marine life so close to home, and, second, the reasons they ought to care deeply about it.”

a scuba diver swims through a kelp forest off Catalina Island

A group of students hold a light underneath a jar of ocean water they've collected. The ocean water has algae and plankton in it, and the students are illuminated red because it is nighttime.

A student wearing gloves and a beanie stands chest-deep in the water at Wrigley Marine Science Center

A giant sea bass looks right into the camera in Big Fisherman Cove

2024 Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellow Maya Gomez on a training dive in Big Fisherman Cove. Gomez, a Ph.D. student who researches coral conservation, earned her scientific diving certification so that she could conduct field studies on vanishing coral reefs. USC’s scientific diving program relies on Big Fisherman Cove as a training location for future ocean scientists. (Photo: Nick Neumann/USC Wrigley Institute)

A group of USC undergraduate students inspect a water sample from Big Fisherman Cove during a nighttime plankton lab. The cove supports educational activities that help train USC undergrads in key scientific skills, including the Wrigley Institute’s annual Catalina Residential College. Located just 22 miles from mainland Los Angeles, the cove also offers students a sometimes startling encounter with pristine nature. Many students leave WMSC with a newfound appreciation for the power of conservation and the urgent need to protect our planet. (Photo: Scott Applebaum)

2023 Wrigley Institute Bertics Graduate Fellow Justin Gaffney sampling water in Big Fisherman Cove. The cove is a key research location for USC’s marine scientists, who collect insights on everything from animal behavior to microbiology, kelp restoration, and the ocean’s response to climate change. Because of its pristine state, the cove also makes a useful control site for researchers studying the effects of human activity on mainland L.A.’s marine ecosystems. (Photo: Jason Goode/USC Wrigley Institute)

A full-grown giant sea bass in Big Fisherman Cove. The fish calmly approached Wrigley Institute intern Yannick Peterhans and swam alongside him for more than an hour before slowly gliding away. Giant sea bass, which can live for up to 70 years and weigh 500 pounds or more, are a critically endangered species. No-take MPAs such as Big Fisherman Cove provide crucial nursery habitat and an area where the fish can live safely for long periods – an important safeguard for the species, since they take more than a decade to reach reproductive age. (Photo: Yannick Peterhans/USC Wrigley Institute)

A great blue heron on the shore of Big Fisherman Cove at twilight. MPAs like the cove don’t just support biodiversity and ecosystem health in the water – their benefits also spill over onto the nearby coastline. Thanks to the wealth of available food in Big Fisherman Cove, herons, seagulls, and hawks all nest and raise young nearby. (Photo: Jason Goode/USC Wrigley Institute)

A Garibaldi, California’s state marine fish, in Big Fisherman Cove. Thanks to the cove’s no-take status, its Garibaldi population is especially healthy. The fish are found all around Catalina Island, however, giving rise to the animal’s other common name: the Catalina goldfish. They lay their eggs, with males guarding the nests, along the rocky reefs that ring the island. When the young hatch, they are bright orange with vivid turquoise spots. (Photo: Nick Neumann/USC Wrigley Institute)

Thanks to its longtime status as a protected area, Big Fisherman Cove is remarkably biodiverse. The marine life it shelters includes several threatened or critically endangered species. Students and researchers regularly have close encounters with giant sea bass, kelp bass, California spiny lobsters, bat rays, California sheephead, and the iconic Garibaldi, California’s bright-orange state marine fish. As the ocean warms and animals such as green sea turtles move north, the cove provides a safe stopover on their journeys.

“The cove is always teeming with life…you can see some of the biggest, coolest fish. And they know they’re protected. They don’t see humans as a threat, so you can swim right up to them,” says Juan Carlos Aguilar, a WMSC staff member and champion free diver who regularly helps train students in USC’s scientific diving program.

Setting the Gold Standard for Conservation

California’s MPAs were intentionally designed to function as a network, helping to maintain the flow of life between ecosystems. The first Decadal Management Review of the MPA network, completed in 2023, clearly demonstrated that MPAs are providing important ecological benefits, with more and bigger sea life found within many MPAs compared to unprotected areas across the state.

MPAs also support coastal communities. They conserve ecosystems for economic value and provide unparalleled opportunities for surfing, diving, kayaking, and other recreational activities – helping to drive California’s multi-billion-dollar ocean economy.

two students, one wearing a red hat, paddle a yellow fiberglass kayak — USC students kayak in the Blue Cavern State Marine Conservation Area adjacent to the Wrigley Marine Science Center. WMSC education staff regularly lead students on kayaking expeditions around the MPA to teach them about ocean and Catalina Island ecology. (Photo: Yannick Peterhans/USC Wrigley Institute)

In addition, California’s MPAs are a key part of the state’s plan to meet its goal of conserving 30 percent of coastal waters by 2030. Adaptive management, especially in the face of climate change, will help MPAs continue to provide strong protections for coastal and marine ecosystems.

At WMSC, adaptation is also the name of the game. The institute regularly monitors the health of Big Fisherman Cove, works with local groups to enforce the Blue Cavern Onshore SMCA’s no-take status, and looks for ways to protect this dynamic environment long-term. For instance, a large group of USC and Catalina Island stakeholders, led by Wrigley Institute Scientific Operations Manager Lauren Oudin, are currently collaborating on a multi-year project nicknamed the “Green Ravine.”

people plant a tree in a grassy ravine as someone digs a hole in the background — USC students plant a native tree in the ravine that leads to Big Fisherman Cove. A major planting project designed to reduce erosion and runoff in the ravine will help keep naturally occurring metals, sediment, and other particulates out of the MPA. (Photo: Nick Neumann/USC Wrigley Institute)

The project team is focused on a long ravine that runs through the middle of the WMSC campus, from its hilly top to Big Fisherman Cove at its foot. During the November-March rainy season, heavy runoff carries naturally occurring metals, sediments, and other particulates down the ravine and into the cove. The Green Ravine project is designed, in part, to reduce the runoff so that Big Fisherman Cove’s waters stay pristine.

Starting with erosion-control measures such as bioswales and rock dams, the team has also added a wealth of native plants to the ravine. These plants and the other new landscape features help slow the runoff as it rolls downhill. This gives the water more opportunity to percolate into the ground, so that less foreign material is carried into the cove.

“We aspire to offer the Blue Cavern Marine Conservation Area as a model for other marine protected areas, to build new partnerships and collaborations in both research and education,” says Wrigley Institute Director Joe Árvai. “We want to encourage awareness to benefit management and public stewardship everywhere.”

Learn more about the Wrigley Marine Science Center >>

Learn more about the Catalina Residential College >>

VIDEO: A Day in the (Wild)Life of Big Fisherman Cove >>

VIDEO: One Breath, One Ocean: Freediving with Juan Aguilar >>

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