Fitzgerald Marine Reserve lies at the heart of a larger Marine Protected Area (MPA), Montara State Marine Reserve, which was established on May 1, 2010. Click here for a PDF map.
Scientists are now at work monitoring MPAs to try to determine their effectiveness at replenishing fish populations. KQED Quest’s blog has a great article with an embedded 9-minute video showing some of these researchers in action. Some of the underwater footage gives us a glimpse of what lies beyond the shallow tidepools of our reef (including a pretty big octopus!):
http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/one-fish-two-fish-monitoring-marine-protected-areas/