Conservation

Pollution

Coastal pollution poses a threat to tide pool animals and plants. Pollution such as discarded trash, oil spills, sewage spills and toxic chemical runoff all negatively effect the ecosystem. Organizations have set up local beach clean ups all around the world to pick up trash and prevent any pollution from affecting the marine life.

This quote from Subtotal Marine Biology book calls for a ban on local thermal effluents. “It may be necessary to designate certain areas along California’s coast where no thermal effluent will be permitted, and establish other areas where subtropical water temperatures will be maintained by heated effluent.” (1)

Climate Change
Climate change is also having a massive impact on the rocky intertidal zones. Climate change has lead to rising sea levels and temperatures and the more common extreme weather events. The rise in temperature in the water effects how the marine life lives and many creatures aren't evolved to rising temperatures. Scientists from Hopkins Marine Station in Central California compared survey data from 1993 with data collected at the same location in the 1930s. They noticed that species populations with a more southern distribution (adapted to warmer water) became more abundant, while species with more northern distributions (adapted to colder water) declined. Sea water temperatures from this location had increased an average of 0.7 degrees celsius and peak air temperatures increased 2.2 degrees celsius. Many tide pools are exposed at low tides so they are effected by the temperature in the air and the water. (3) These figures have most likely increased since this study was done. Other records show that sea temperature has risen an average of 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit per decade from 1901 to 2015. (4)

Direct Human Impact

Tidepools in Southern California are being destroyed and left bare by people. They come into the tide pools with buckets, jars, and plastic bags and collect almost everything in sight. Many tide pools formerly rich in marine life, no longer have the same exciting and colorful forms.

Numerous sponges and other attached animals live on the underside of rocks in tide pools. When the rocks are overturned by collectors and the animals are exposed to the sun over a period of time, they die. Many people go around the tidepools and over turn almost every rock they see, many of them they don’t turn back over. However in recent times there have been more laws put in place to prevent the marine life from being taken and destroyed by visitors. (3)

State Laws

There are state laws that prohibit the damage of rocks and sea life, for example, in Hawaii state law prohibits the breaking and taking of live corals and rocks covered with sea life. These laws are vital to protecting the intertidal zones and the organisms that live in the tide pools, without these laws 
many of these animals would be overfished or killed off by humans.(2)

The Wildlife Protection Management Used By The Department Of Fish And Game have generated a list of techniques to help manage the environment (1):

Closed Seasons - these are used when it is clear that a species needs protection for a period of time. This is when the species is at a critical stage of defenseless or low population.

Bag Limits - This depends on the location and the population numbers of the local species, this technique limits the amount of species that can be taken on each visit.

Size Limits - This normally protects animals until they attain maturity and reproduce once or twice

Gear Restrictions - Some types of gear have been banned from areas because they they threaten the population of certain populations. Explosives, fish poisons and electric shocking equipment have been banned.

Closed Areas - These areas have been put in place to protect a species from human interaction.

(1)"Subtotal Marine Biology of California Robert Galbraith and Ted Boehler"
(2) Ann Fielding Hawaiian Reefs and Tidepools
(3) https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/ecosystem-infobooks/tide-pools/human-impact-and-conservation
(4) https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-surface-temperature