Oct. 16, 2024
Celebrating the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: A New Era of Ocean Protection
In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, host Andrew Lewin shares exciting news about the establishment of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of California. This sanctuary is groundbreaking as it is...
In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, host Andrew Lewin shares exciting news about the establishment of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of California. This sanctuary is groundbreaking as it is the first of its kind in California to be co-managed in partnership with Indigenous peoples, specifically the Chumash people.
Spanning 4,500 square miles, the sanctuary will prohibit oil drilling and protect numerous cultural resources, including the suspected remains of ancient submerged villages. The designation of this marine protected area (MPA) is a significant step towards recognizing and honoring the rights and knowledge of Indigenous communities in ocean management.
The journey to establish the sanctuary began in 2015, with the Chumash people advocating for its protection. After facing setbacks during the Trump administration, the Biden administration prioritized the proposal, leading to its recent designation. While the sanctuary's boundaries may not encompass all desired areas, it represents a crucial victory for Indigenous rights and environmental protection.
The episode emphasizes the importance of collaboration and communication among various ocean users, highlighting the need for ongoing dialogue to ensure that all voices, especially those of Indigenous communities, are heard in the management of marine resources. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary not only aims to protect marine biodiversity but also serves as a model for future co-management efforts, fostering trust and cooperation between Indigenous peoples and government agencies.
Overall, this episode celebrates the establishment of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary as a landmark achievement in marine conservation and Indigenous rights, paving the way for more inclusive and effective ocean management practices.
Link to article: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-10-14/white-house-announces-new-california-marine-sanctuary
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Transcript
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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
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everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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I'm your host Andrew Lewin, and this is a podcast where you find out what's happening with
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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
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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
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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
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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
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climate change, you know, being better at and being more resilient for climate
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change. So that's it for today's episode. I'd love to hear what you think. Put in
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the comments, either if you're watching this on Spotify, or on YouTube, you
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00:17:19,331 --> 00:17:22,653
can just put in the comments below. If you're watching this or listening to this
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on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, please let
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00:17:26,356 --> 00:17:29,838
me know how you feel by Instagram or DMing me on Instagram,
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shows my age, Instagramming me. No, DM me on Instagram at howtoprotecttheocean.
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00:17:34,122 --> 00:17:38,385
If you're on TikTok, you can do the same thing just to send me a DM. That's
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at speakupforblue. All the links are in the show notes or in
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00:17:41,727 --> 00:17:45,230
the description below. Looking forward to hearing from you. Always love
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to start this conversation and hearing for you to continue that conversation.
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And of course, if you want to sign up for our newsletter, you can do so at speakupforblue.com
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00:17:53,537 --> 00:17:56,899
forward slash newsletter. That's speakupforblue.com forward slash
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00:17:56,959 --> 00:18:00,242
newsletter. A lot of things that you can do. Looking forward to seeing
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and hearing from you. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of
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the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lew, and have a great day. We'll talk
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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
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everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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I'm your host Andrew Lewin, and this is a podcast where you find out what's happening with
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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
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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
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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
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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
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climate change, you know, being better at and being more resilient for climate
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change. So that's it for today's episode. I'd love to hear what you think. Put in
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the comments, either if you're watching this on Spotify, or on YouTube, you
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can just put in the comments below. If you're watching this or listening to this
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on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, please let
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me know how you feel by Instagram or DMing me on Instagram,
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shows my age, Instagramming me. No, DM me on Instagram at howtoprotecttheocean.
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If you're on TikTok, you can do the same thing just to send me a DM. That's
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at speakupforblue. All the links are in the show notes or in
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the description below. Looking forward to hearing from you. Always love
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to start this conversation and hearing for you to continue that conversation.
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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
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and hearing from you. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of
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the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lew, and have a great day. We'll talk
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