Abstract
There are currently 124 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the coastline of California (CDFW, 2022). The 11 MPAs within San Diego County cover approximately 17,779 acres of marine habitats (CDFW, 2022). MPAs are designed to preserve and protect marine ecosystems or conserve marine life and habitats. With the extensive range these areas cover, it is often a challenge to monitor and prevent illegal activities from happening within the boundaries of these zones. Marine Monitor (M2) is a system that includes marine radar hardware with a custom software solution to track boat activity and illegal fishing in nearshore waters (Protected Seas, 2022). There are currently two M2 systems installed in San Diego County, one located at Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area and one at La Jolla Shores that monitors the San Diego-Scripps Marine Reserve and the Matlahuayl Marine Reserve. This specific monitoring program of M2 systems will be referred to as ‘RADAR’. Using current and historic RADAR data, this project aimed to improve the MPA monitoring protocols of the two current sites. Historic and current data was used to record the quantity, location, and patterns of any illegal activity happening within the MPA boundaries. Additionally, field assessments were conducted to give in-person data comparisons to the recorded RADAR data to evaluate their accuracy. Using data on the M2 site from May 2022 through the end of July 2022, a generalized linear model was used to analyze what fraction of boat tracks were triggered by the software as potential violations and which of those were determined to have been possible poaching events based on a detailed examination of the RADAR tracks and associated photos. The results of this analysis provided evidence of effective use of the RADAR program and should be extended to other MPA sites. This project also revealed the need for targeted patrols of law enforcement in areas of high potential violations.