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Celebrating the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: A New Era of Ocean Protection · How To Protect The Ocean

• 0:07
  I have good news to share on this episode of the
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  How to Protect the Ocean podcast. There is a new marine protected area
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  in the U.S. off the coast of California that is the first of
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  its kind. It's called the Chumash Heritage National Marine
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  Sanctuary. It was designated on Monday, announced on
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  Monday. and it's the first such preserve in California to
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  be managed in cooperation with indigenous people. The
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  4,500 square mile sanctuary off the coast of California's rugged central
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  coast would prohibit oil drilling and offer other
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  protections to an area that encompasses numerous cultural resources,
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  including the suspected remains of ancient submerged villages.
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  We're gonna talk about that on today's episode. Let's start the show. Hey
• 0:55
  everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 0:58
  I'm your host Andrew Lewin, and this is a podcast where you find out what's happening with
• 1:01
  the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for
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  a better ocean by taking action. And today we're going to be talking about
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  government action that has been taken to put in a
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  national marine sanctuary called the Chumash Heritage
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  National Marine Sanctuary. As I mentioned in the pre-intro just
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  before we did it, This episode, it is the first
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  of its kind where it's in partnership to manage
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  with a indigenous people, which is
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  great. This is awesome. Now, the sanctuary
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  is going to stretch from just south of San Luis
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  Obispo in California to just about the
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  Channel Islands, so Santa Barbara. This is
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  a territory that has been in the making since 2015 when
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  the Obama administration allowed groups of
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  people to submit their own area
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  for protection. So the Chumash people decided to do
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  this. This was very important to them. And so
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  it was the Santanese Band of Chumash
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  Indians which submitted the proposal,
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  and that was tabled once the Trump administration
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  got into power for that era. And
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  then in 2021, I believe, after years of sitting on
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  the shelf due to that Trump administration, the Biden administration made the
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  proposal a top priority. But after NOAA publicly
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  posted the initial detailed plan in 2023, progress
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  hit a wall. So many indigenous and environmental leaders wanted
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  the sanctuary to extend up to the Monterey Bay Sanctuary,
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  past the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
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  However, That wasn't going to happen
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  for a number of reasons, including the fact that
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  there's offshore wind companies had long planned developing near
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  the power plant, which provides an easy connection to
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  the electrical grid since Diablo Canyon already has sent
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  6% of the states power from the coastal inland, from coastal
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  inland. So, you know, they wanted to propose it all the way up
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  to the Monterey Bay Sanctuary, which would have been a huge stretch. However, that
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  got kiboshed because of there was other ocean
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  users. This happens a lot of times with marine protected areas. It's almost like
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  a business plan for the, for the ocean along
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  the coastline. And in this case, You know, there are different ocean users that
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  wanted protections and there were other ocean users that wanted to use
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  it for offshore wind. Offshore wind has, I
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  guess, a controversial history in terms of the way it's
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  built and how quickly it's been built. Some people really don't like
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  it. A lot of misinformation around windmills, around
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  these offshore wind areas. But,
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  you know, there's always worry about it disrupting marine
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  mammal, migration patterns. sea
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  turtles, sharks, and so forth. So there
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  is a lot of environmental planning that goes into that process, but
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  it is, it can be controversial just because of the two sides. Like I
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  said, there's a lot of misinformation on one side saying that, you know, offshore
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  wind doesn't really help. However, there's a big push to put them
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  out there, and there is, there is shown to be proof that the
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  offshore wind is great to have. However, when you're looking at protecting
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  a swath of land, or a swath of ocean, you have of
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  ocean users that can conflict in that, and so you can't
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  take the entire way. However, that doesn't mean in the future
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  we can build on what's been put in place and
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  hopefully extend north
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  to the Monterey Bay area, which would be really great to have, because
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  that would make it a very large MPA with a
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  lot of different management areas, hopefully, And
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  we've seen different management areas before. It's not as easy
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  to put in because that takes a lot of negotiation,
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  a lot of discussion with the different ocean users. We've
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  seen it happen in Australia with the Great Barrier Reef, where the
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  Great Barrier Reef has a number of different management areas along It's
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  it's the along the reef base along the coastline of australia the
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  eastern coastline of australia and we've seen that
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  work in a big benefit at one point i remember when
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  i was a master student in two thousand three two thousand four
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  there was a presentation given where. The Great Barrier Reef actually increased
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  its no-take areas by 30% at the time. It
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  was at 3%, so they increased it by 30% to make 33%. And
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  they realized that the reason why they were able to do that is they tracked
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  where fishers were fishing in and around those no-take
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  areas. They noticed that they weren't going in the areas where they wanted to.
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  extend the no-take zone. So they said, OK, we're going to be able to do it. You guys
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  don't fish there anyway. We can increase it. They said, OK, since we're not
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  fishing there, no big deal. And it's going to help us in the long run. So
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  they added that on. So it just eventually helped. But it helped because
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  they did studies within the Marine Protected
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  Area and the network of Marine Protected Areas, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
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  So they were able to get that data and show that there's not really that much of
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  a conflict. The problem lies in a Marine Protected
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  Area when there's a lot of conflict. or there's
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  conflicting sides that want the same piece of
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  the area. So that can play a role when
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  we look at how do we increase or how do we move
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  closer to a larger marine protected area.
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  Now, of course, there are some areas where some
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  people, part of the Chumash area, but
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  a different region, said that they
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  did not feel that they were approached to find out
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  what they thought of the Marine Protected Area. Now, initially,
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  the northern Chumash tribe of San Luis Obispo County
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  and region whose tribal territory overlaps with the sanctuary now,
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  said that her, this is Haley Bautista, said that her tribe wasn't
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  made aware of the proposal until after an initial plan was already
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  submitted to NOAA. So now again, I don't know exactly what
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  happened here, but one of the tribes did
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  submit the proposal. They may not have included this
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  tribe here, or they may have just submitted just hoping that it
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  would get designated later on
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  and help everybody. brought in people. I don't know exactly what
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  happened, but obviously it makes a big difference to
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  have a number of different ocean users, right? Whether you're trying
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  to have the same protections, you know,
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  to the table, bring everybody to the table before you start. And
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  hopefully they'll be able to, to be able to voice their concerns. So
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  they said they voiced their concerns multiple times and submitted letters and
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  the reciprocation hasn't been great. So there's still
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  a lot of communication, even though this, MPA this marine protectors
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  marine sanctuary if you will was designated. There's still
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  a lot to build on You know a lot of the times
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  when we put in a marine protected area the initial marine protected area may
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  not be the best outcome for everybody. Some
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  people may not be happy that they weren't involved enough, some people may
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  not be happy that they didn't get their voice heard, or they
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  wanted certain things they didn't get, certain areas that
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  they wanted protected or not protected and they didn't get those. So
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  this has to build when you're looking at a marine protected area.
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  There's a lot of conflict that goes on, a lot of negotiations And
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  so this is a lot of conflict resolution when you really look at
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  it. But the thing is, is like with all of these groups, the
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  ocean to them is sacred, and it's important for them to
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  have a place to be able to protect so they
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  weren't too quick to be dismissed. And that's a big thing
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  for a lot of these groups, ocean users, indigenous
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  people, fissures. Nobody wants to be dismissed. Everybody
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  wants to be able to have their say, and especially
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  when it comes to indigenous people with the way they've been treated in the past. A
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  lot of trust needs to be built, not only now, but in the future. And
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  that's just starting, and it's pretty rocking in a lot of
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  places. It doesn't matter what government you're talking about, Canadian government, the
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  U.S. government, there's a lot of negotiations that are continuing to
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  happen for territories, but also just the basic
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  trust of government to indigenous people relationships and
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  vice versa is just not there at all. And I
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  don't know, that's going to be a long time before that gets there, but these These
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  processes of building marine protected areas and co-managing these
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  marine protected areas could help build that trust as
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  they move forward. So that's always great. Now, just to
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  give a little bit of a background of the Marine Sanctuary, it's
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  lined with sandy beaches, rocky shores. It's home of a multitude of seabirds and
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  sea lions. Kelp forests, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems
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  in the world, and great
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  absorbing carbon sit off the coast and have problems
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  just with climate change and everything. On the deep seafloor, rough
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  volcanic terrain harbors corals, sponges, and
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  fish. The open ocean is home to whales, turtles, and jellyfish, of
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  course, also sharks. tuna, large
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  fish, salmon, all those important fish
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  that are along those coastlines really end
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  up being a big part of this marine
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  protected area, of course. They'll definitely benefit
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  from being in this marine protected area, whether they're there all the time or
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  at some parts of those times. you
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  know that the the big thing here the protection is some of the seawater along
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  california's central coast is becoming increasingly unlivable the
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  santa maria and santa ine's rivers uh...
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  neither of which meet state water quality standards discharge a
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  mix of toxic chemicals fertilizers grease and dangerous bacteria Not
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  only do they have that from land, the rivers, but they have cruise ships and other vessels
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  that go by that can potentially discharge very concentrated
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  sewage, grey water, bilge water, ballast water, hazardous waste,
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  and solid waste. And this is according to an environmental report by
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  the Office of Marine Sanctuaries and NOAA. One
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  of the quotes from that report is, sewage from vessels is
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  generally more concentrated than sewage from land-based resources as
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  it is diluted with less water when flushed.
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  Large cruise ships can carry thousands of passengers and can generate
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  several million gallons of waste per year. per day. So that's
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  a big thing. Then you have seven offshore drilling rigs stand in
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  the vicinity with three permanently shuttered and
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  four temporarily out of operation. They are each connected to
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  shore by miles of oil carrying pipelines and
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  spills have fouled the sea multiple times in this
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  area developed in the 1970s. In 1997, a free point A
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  Freeport-McMoran pipeline
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  ruptured, releasing thousands of gallons of oil, killing hundreds
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  of seabirds. In 2015, an ExxonMobil pipeline
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  spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in
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  the ocean. I remember seeing that on TV and
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  online, and it was awful to see. Now, of course, with climate
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  change, greenhouse gas emissions, and so forth, You
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  have this innate ability with a marine protected area to protect
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  from a lot of the human disturbances that are around, not
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  necessarily climate change, but a lot of the other human disturbances. So
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  overfishing, you can stop overfishing. You can
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  stop people from being in the area at certain times of the
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  year or even all the time. You can stop oil
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  production. You can stop a lot of things within the marine protected area. The
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  one thing you can't protect, though, is water quality. These
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  boundaries that are around this marine protected area will not be physical
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  boundaries, obviously. It's going to be open boundaries. They're going to be invisible. There's
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  boundaries on a map that we will be able to delineate, but there's
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  no real boundaries in the area that we're going to see in
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  real life. So bad water quality from rivers can
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  actually get into the marine protected area
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  and still affect the sea life and the habitats that make
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  this such a unique habitat. So we have to control
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  those types of water quality, that type of water quality that's coming in.
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  Now, one good thing is if you have a marine protected area through
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  the Marine Sanctuary Program, there are different legislative tools
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  that you can use to ensure that the water quality is better because you
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  want to make sure everything in that marine protected area is going to be better. So
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  now there's a mandate to protect that area. It's not just any
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  kind of area that's found around. It's not just some random
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  area that's found. It's an actual protected area. There's a need to protect
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  it, so there's going to be a lot more focus on that. Now, Cal
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  Poly and UC Santa Barbara will help study the ecosystem. They're
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  going to check on it and make sure that its vital signs are good and
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  it's getting to know it better, just like they did in the Great Barrier
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  Reef, just like they do In other marine protected areas around the world, there's
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  going to be a lot more research around. There's going to be a lot more focus on the
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  health, making sure that they can build on the health now or improve
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  the health that it is now in the future and so that we
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  can build and build and build and we can see that we're going to, you know, the one
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  good thing about marine protected areas, if you want more fish, you can get more fish from
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  it. If you want more biodiversity by protecting the area
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  and all the different habitats that provide biodiversity like kelp forest,
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  then you'll be able to do that as well as long as you're able to
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  enforce the actions that are happening in and around the area. Make
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  sure that there are no fishing vessels within the marine protected area if they're not allowed. Make
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  sure that the water quality that goes into the Marine
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  Protect Area is solid, is good, it's great
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  quality water. So there's a lot of things that need to happen from now.
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  This is just the beginning. The designation is just really the
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  beginning of the process. Now you have to go through the enforcement
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  and the management to make sure that we clean up these rivers, we
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  clean up a lot of the stuff that comes off these platforms, we ensure that
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  there are no other platforms for oil that start
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  up again. So there's a lot of things that happen and there's a lot of forces
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  against it that could be overridden in the future. If
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  you have a different government in
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  power, like an election that's coming up that is more pro-drilling, like
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  the Trump administration that wants to drill more to bring down the
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  price of oil, then you have a problem here.
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  This brain-protected area is going to be affected by more oil
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  spills. It's in the business plan of oil companies and fossil fuel
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  companies that oil will be spilt. And that is something that
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  has to be avoided in the future. So there's a lot of things that have to
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  happen around here. This is just the beginning of the process. And
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  the co-management between NOAA, the National Atmospheric
• 15:51
  and Administration Ocean Administration, the
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  National Ocean Administration, National Ocean
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  and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and
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  the National Marine Sanctuaries Group will be working with the indigenous
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  peoples in and around that area to build on the marine protected
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  area, make sure it's in force and management. manage it properly. And that's
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  going to be something to be seen. I think it's going to be an interesting process to see
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  and build. And I'm looking forward to seeing this put in place and
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  enforced and built upon. So it's going to be a lot of fun. But that's
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  it for today's episode. I want to bring you that good news. I know I mentioned
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  a lot of stuff that could happen that may not be such good
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  news. But this is a learning process. This is an
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  adaptive management process where management changes and
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  priorities change as we go along and we figure out what's happening with
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  the area and what are the major threats, what are the major priorities that
• 16:43
  we have to shift in order to protect the area at all costs.
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  And of course, we need more areas. This is part of the 30-30 plan
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  by California. This is part of the 30-30 plan by the
• 16:54
  federal government. And so we're seeing this being built part
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  of the biodiversity plans, everything. There's a lot of things that can be ticked
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  off the boxes in terms of environmental protection, as
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  well as helping with, you know, being better at
• 17:09
  climate change, you know, being better at and being more resilient for climate
• 17:12
  change. So that's it for today's episode. I'd love to hear what you think. Put in
• 17:16
  the comments, either if you're watching this on Spotify, or on YouTube, you
• 17:19
  can just put in the comments below. If you're watching this or listening to this
• 17:23
  on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, please let
• 17:26
  me know how you feel by Instagram or DMing me on Instagram,
• 17:29
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• 17:34
  If you're on TikTok, you can do the same thing just to send me a DM. That's
• 17:38
  at speakupforblue. All the links are in the show notes or in
• 17:41
  the description below. Looking forward to hearing from you. Always love
• 17:45
  to start this conversation and hearing for you to continue that conversation.
• 17:49
  And of course, if you want to sign up for our newsletter, you can do so at speakupforblue.com
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  forward slash newsletter. That's speakupforblue.com forward slash
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  newsletter. A lot of things that you can do. Looking forward to seeing
• 18:00
  and hearing from you. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of
• 18:03
  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lew, and have a great day. We'll talk