By Jim Hines
For over ten years, native Americans, Sierra Club and many other conservation activists have been working through two Presidential Administrations (Trump and Biden) to have the vast and biologically rich ocean waters off the northern coast of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties protected as a national marine sanctuary.
Finally, yes finally we have the official proposal by the Biden administration to designate the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary and you can help advance this forward, hopefully with the official designation in 2024.
But we have major opposition. In a meeting this week with environmental advisors to the President, my team learned that the administration has already met with representatives of the commercial fishing industry, most of whom do not want to see offshore rules which would limit commercial fishing. They will soon meet with the offshore oil and mining industries who want NO restrictions in the new sanctuary.
I also met with Rep. Bruce Westerman’s staff (Arkansas) who is leading congressional opposition to the new sanctuary designation. I can tell you that the political opposition is very real and the U.S. House, which controls the purse strings, could very well block the sanctuary’s creation or at least provide no funding.
You may help advance the marine sanctuary designation by providing your input and support during the public comment period which goes until Oct. 25 (see below).
And that’s not all, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reduced the scope of the proposed sanctuary, according to the Guardian.
The tribe has been tirelessly campaigning for the central coast to be designated as a marine sanctuary – a fight Violet Sage Walker’s father, Fred Collins, started more than five decades ago – and was confident the sanctuary would go ahead after a successful public comment period last year drew 10,000 supporting signatures.
But then, last month, NOAA released a draft management plan for the sanctuary that left the tribe reeling. The stretch of coast they had advocated for – from Cambria to Morro Bay – had been left out. Instead, NOAA’s proposed sanctuary would start just south of Morro Bay, stretching down to Gaviota. The reason, NOAA told the Guardian, is because a marine sanctuary is not compatible with offshore wind – and Morro Bay is set to be the hub of the country’s biggest offshore wind development project.
“We felt so betrayed,” Walker told the Guardian. “We really thought we were going to get the marine sanctuary we had campaigned for, we thought we were going to get protection for the entire central California coastline.”
If you too feel betrayed, then add it to your comments.
According to NOAA, “the proposed sanctuary management plan and regulations would guide community-based management and ecosystem-based management–including a framework for tribal and Indigenous collaborative management – to balance marine conservation efforts with other uses, including renewable energy opportunities in nearby waters.”
“The preferred boundary accommodates an area beyond the sanctuary where subsea electrical transmission cables from nearby development of offshore wind could be built and includes a permit pathway to support additional cables within the proposed sanctuary. NOAA will continue to closely coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure that the sanctuary designation process aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration and State of California’s efforts to advance responsible offshore wind deployment.”
A detailed description of the proposed sanctuary, as well as additional information about opportunities to provide public comment, can be found on the website for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
How to Comment
To submit your comment on the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary,
follow these steps:
- Go to: https://www.regulations.gov
- In the search window, type: NOAANOS-2021-0080
- Paste your comment in the text box or upload your letter into the “Attach Files” box.
- Complete the remaining form by adding your email, selecting “an individual” from the options, and filling out the Name, Address, and Contact fields.
- Click the blue SUBMIT COMMENT button at the bottom of the page.