The first Chumash-led nomination of a marine sanctuary reached one of its final phases on Friday, when the draft designation was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Set among 5,617 square miles of ocean that stretches along 134 miles of coastline from Montaña de Oro in San Luis Obispo to the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will also be the first to be co-led by tribal leaders and government agencies.
The Northern Chumash Tribal Council, led by Chair Fred Collins, has worked on the sanctuary nomination with environmental organizations since 2013. Collins died in 2021, about a month before NOAA announced it would put the nomination forward as a designation, and was succeeded by his daughter, Violet Sage Walker. The tribe described the Central Coast waters as globally significant, holding submerged Chumash sites dating back more than 9,000 years: “The proposed marine sanctuary encompasses the western slope of the underwater Santa Lucia Bank at the base of the continental shelf, a 3,000-meter-deep submarine canyon, three major nutrient upwellings, spawning areas and rookeries, and feeding areas and migration lanes for 13 species of whales and dolphins.”
Among the supporters of the marine sanctuary is the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Director Andrew Christie noted that the proposed sanctuary was “a priority for the Biden Administration and is part of the federal commitment to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of our lands, freshwater, and ocean by 2030.”