The ocean surrounding California\u2019s Channel Islands can feel like another world. Beneath the surface sway towering kelp forests that are patrolled by huge sheephead fish, striking in pink and black with protruding teeth, along with refrigerator-sized giant sea bass. Seals and sea lions swim among colorful sponges and sea stars. \u201cWe sometimes think of the Channel Islands as our Galapagos in California,\u201d said Doug McCauley, a professor of marine science at UC Santa Barbara.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cornucopia of marine wildlife here wasn\u2019t always this vibrant. Violet Sage Walker, the chair of California\u2019s Northern Chumash Tribal Council, recalled documentary footage showing the Channel Islands before marine protections were enacted, in an era when intensive commercial fishing had damaged kelp forests and key species. \u201cIt looked like Mars, like a dead planet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But beginning in 2003, areas around the Channel Islands were designated as California Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs \u2014 a conservation strategy akin to creating underwater state parks<\/a>. With roughly 150 square miles of protected waters, the islands now function as a safe haven for marine flora and fauna, essentially acting as nurseries<\/a> for baby fish and protecting dozens of iconic species like kelp bass, rockfish, leopard sharks, and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, for the first time in 15 years,<\/a> California officials are considering proposals<\/a> to create new areas and expand existing ones, as part of the state\u2019s first-ever review of its MPA network. \u201cThis is a historic opportunity that we don\u2019t want to miss,\u201d said McCauley.<\/p>\n Building California\u2019s marine protections<\/p>\n MPAs are designated ocean zones<\/a> where restrictions on activities such as fishing, oil and gas drilling, and other seafloor disturbances can help preserve marine ecosystems and give damaged habitats room to recover. Protections vary by site, but in areas where these kinds of disturbances are removed, \u201cyou have larger fish, more abundant wildlife, and a healthier habitat,\u201d said Sandy Aylesworth, director of the Pacific Initiative, Nature, at the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC.<\/p>\n Among the 2026 potential additions are two new proposals for protected areas on the state\u2019s Central Coast: the Point Sal and Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area proposals. Each of these sites is co-sponsored by a California Tribe in collaboration with NRDC, and in the case of Mishopshno, also by the Environmental Defense Center, a Santa Barbara-based non-profit. These Tribally sponsored proposals represent a first for California\u2019s MPA network, and offer the state an opportunity to formally recognize the longstanding role of California Tribes as ocean stewards and make good on its commitment to Tribal marine stewardship.\u00a0<\/p>\n A rare convergence of habitats<\/p>\n The proposed Point Sal State Marine Conservation Area would include roughly nine square miles off the Santa Barbara County coast. Here, a headland shelters the waters on its southern side from the wind, creating calmer conditions where fish larvae can linger and mature safely. Nearby Lion Rock is a gathering place for seals and sea lions and a roosting area for seabirds, while kelp forests and rocky reefs provide habitat for fish, sharks, sea otters, and other wildlife. Over 880 sea lions have been documented there by scientists in a single day. \u201cIt\u2019s a little tiny paradise,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n For the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, which co-sponsored the proposal, Point Sal is also a place of deep cultural significance. Chairwoman Walker described ancient village sites up and down the coast and a relationship to the area woven through Chumash history. \u201cOur people lived and thrived there for thousands of years,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Preserving marine ecosystems and cultural connections<\/p>\n That history is central to another feature of the current MPA review: Tribal stewardship. California\u2019s current MPAs don\u2019t have formal Tribal co-management systems, though the Tribes\u00a0 have stewarded the lands and waters of the Central Coast for over 10,000 years. The Point Sal and Mishopshno proposals are among the first potential additions to the MPA network led by California Tribes.<\/p>\n Walker said she wants California to create a clearer pathway for coastal Tribes to continue to participate in ocean stewardship, including access for cultural practices and a role in management. \u201cBeing able to reconnect and offer our vision and our help with dealing with climate resiliency and coastal stewardship is critical,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The proposed Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area offers another example of what that kind of Tribal stewardship could look like<\/a>. Farther down the coast, near Carpinteria, is another unusual convergence of habitats. Just offshore sits a 1.6-mile rocky reef supporting one of the Central Coast\u2019s most enduring kelp forests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nearby sandy-bottom habitat, beach, and a protected salt marsh create connected nursery and feeding areas for marine life, supporting hundreds of bat rays, large fish species, and juvenile white sharks. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, NRDC and the Environmental Defense Center have sponsored a proposal to protect the area, which is named for a historic Chumash village in the region.<\/p>\n A refuge for marine wildlife<\/p>\n Shark filmmaker, documentarian, and researcher Carlos Gauna has spent thousands of hours filming the marine environment that would be protected by the Mishopshno MPA. \u201cI live and breathe sharks daily, and this is one of the most amazing spots in the world to see a great white shark. There is literally nothing like it anywhere else on the California coast,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his years of filming there, Gauna said, he\u2019s documented illegal fishing, jet skiers purposely ramming into wildlife, and other harms to the local marine population. \u201cI\u2019ve seen sharks get hit and injured by boats<\/a>, or even deliberately killed,\u201d he says, noting that the proposed MPA might help guard against such damaging actions because its status as an MPA would signal to visitors that it\u2019s a safe haven for marine wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also points to successful protected areas as a model for what the new Mishopshno MPA might achieve. At Cabo Pulmo in Baja California, Gauna said, the contrast across the protected-area boundary is night and day. Inside is a thriving, abundant ecosystem. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most stable and beautiful areas in the world for marine wildlife,\u201d he said. Outside, where there is intensive\u00a0 fishing activity, \u201cit\u2019s an underwater desert.\u201d<\/p>\n An urgent moment<\/p>\n The state\u2019s voters treasure California\u2019s iconic coastal waters and advocate for keeping them healthy: Roughly 70% of California voters<\/a> support expanding MPA protections at both Point Sal and Mishopshno.\u00a0And while a small group of fishing interests opposes the new MPA proposals, there\u00a0is no scientific evidence that California\u2019s MPAs cause financial harm to fisheries. In certain circumstances, the opposite is true: a 2021 study<\/a> of two Southern California MPAs established in 2012 found that fishing boats in the surrounding areas had increased lobster catch by about 225% over six years.<\/p>\n