Science for Successful Marine Managed Areas (MMAs): During the past 20 years, the establishment of MMAs has become increasingly popular as a way to protect the ocean from human impacts. Now that many MMAs have been in place for several years, it is essential to assess their progress toward management objectives and to determine the characteristics that lead to successful MMAs. The Science-to-Action partnership was established to answer these questions with recognition that success must be measured in terms of both ecosystem health and human well-being. Using natural and social sciences, we study MMAs to understand how to make them effective - and we put the science into action.