Sign-on to tell NOAA you support the Northern Chumash Tribal Council’s Chumash Sanctuary letter
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is pursuing a new marine sanctuary in Central California to be managed in partnership with the Chumash Tribe. The sanctuary would protect ocean biodiversity, including salmonids, and would advance environmental justice through collaborative management. However, NOAA’s current proposal provides several options for the sanctuary designation area, none of which include Morro Bay and Lisamu (Morro Rock). The Chumash Tribe has voiced how important it is to include that area within the new sanctuary boundaries because of the significant cultural significance the area represents to the Tribe.
CalTrout encourages you to support the Northern Chumash Tribal Council’s originally nominated boundary, which protects 7,600 square miles and over 156 miles of coastline, including Lisamu, for continuous protection.
“Including the waters between Point Buchon and Cambria will close a biodiversity protection gap along the California coast. This will protect the only eel grass bed in a 300-mile stretch of coast, many historic Chumash sites, numerous protected marine mammals and shorebirds, the area with the highest population of sea otters on the California coast, several State Marine Conservation Areas, the kelp forests of the Santa Barbara Channel, and rocky intertidal marine habitat considered to be one of the most diverse and abundant in the world.” – Northern Chumash Tribal Council
Under sanctuary status, electric transmission cables can be permitted under certain conditions, while other activities, such as offshore oil development and dumping, would be prohibited. There are no new fishing regulations proposed in the designation.
Learn more about NOAA’s current proposed sanctuary here. Learn more about the Chumash Tribal Council’s originally nominated boundary here.