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The Log • Jan. 15 - 28, 2016 • 9 NOAA could approve a new marine sanctuary this year
entific research and monitoring of coastal resources, and would enhance public aware- ness, understanding, appreciation and use of the marine environ- ment within the geo- graphic area, including the rocky intertidal fish community of the Central Coast of California,” the tribal council stated in its application.
A portion of the Central California coast could soon be protected under the Chumash Marine Sanctuary. How will boaters be impacted?
Tribal council members added the
marine sanctuary along the Central California coastline is necessary to pre- vent proposed oil and gas drilling or exploration. Government agencies, legislators and some recreational angling groups expressed their support of a new marine sanctuary just north of the Channel Islands. NOAA accepted Northern Chumash
Tribal Council’s application for the marine sanctuary in October 2015. The federal agency is also weighing in on proposed marine sanctuaries along a
portion of the Potomac River in Maryland and a section of Lake Michigan’s Wisconsin coast. NOAA will spend the next five months drafting a work plan, reviewing findings, and possibly creating working groups. A draft rule and first run at an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is scheduled to be complete by May 2017, followed by a 60-day public com- ment period. Federal officials plan to have a final rule and EIR prepared by December 2017 and formally issued to the public in January 2018.
Chumash Marine Sanctuary would restrict boating access north and west along the Pacific Ocean coast north of Goleta and south of Monterey.
By Parimal M. Rohit
SANTA BARBARA — Recreational boaters, anglers and offshore corporate interests might lose access to a stretch of Pacific Ocean just off the Santa Barbara coast as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will soon decide whether to grant the Northern Chumash Tribal Council’s application for a marine sanctuary. The Chumash Heritage National
Marine Sanctuary, if approved, would prevent boaters and anglers from navi- gating north and west along the Pacific Ocean coast north of Goleta and south of Monterey. Recreational boaters, individual anglers and sportfishing vessels from Santa Barbara and Ventura harbors would have to travel south of the Channel Islands and then west to access the Pacific Ocean. The bound- aries of the proposed marine sanctuary extend as far as 13 miles offshore; its shortest boundary is about 3.2 miles at the southernmost border near Santa Barbara. Members of the Northern Chumash
Tribal Council, however, claim a marine sanctuary is necessary along the California Central Coast to pre- serve valuable resources. Recreational anglers and boaters would actually benefit from a coastal sanctuary, the tribal council members argued in its application to NOAA. “The sanctuary will protect an abundantly rich and diverse marine ecosystem that is a nursery and home for many fish and marine mammal species, and a migration lane for seven species of whales and six types of dol- phins and porpoises, a diverse fishery, and many more seals, otters, and marine wildlife. The sanctuary would promote, support and coordinate sci-
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Image courtesy Chumash Marine Sanctuary
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