Newsom Announces California's First New Marine Protected Areas in Over a Decade as Protected Waters Hit a Record
SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom announced on October 19 that the California Fish and Game Commission has voted to designate the state's first new marine protected areas in over a decade, bringing California's protected coastal waters to a record level. The actions create two new state marine conservation areas (SMCAs), expand one existing area and strengthen another.
Each of the two new areas covers about nine square miles: the Point Sal SMCA, off northwest Santa Barbara County near Guadalupe, protects kelp forests and rocky reefs; the Mishopshno SMCA, at Carpinteria Reef, is a nursery for juvenile white sharks, bat rays and harbor seals. The new areas prohibit commercial fishing and boat-based sportfishing, allow shore-based hook-and-line fishing, and include a tribal take exemption for Chumash Indians. The Point Dume SMCA near Malibu was expanded to add about five miles of previously unprotected ocean, and protections at the Pyramid Point SMCA on the North Coast were strengthened, preserving tribal harvest.
The Governor's Office said these are the first areas approved since California completed its marine protected area network in 2012, and the first successful proposals in the network put forward by California tribes: Point Sal and Mishopshno were co-led by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, respectively, and will be co-stewarded by the state and Chumash Tribal Nations. Sandy Aylesworth, director of the Pacific Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Chumash tribes asked California to protect their ancestral waters "and today the state said yes," adding that the designations make the network more connected. Environmental groups welcomed the votes, while some commercial fishers warned they will lose access to key waters.
The designations are part of California's "30x30" goal of conserving 30 percent of the state's land and coastal waters by 2030. According to the state's latest progress report, as of June California had conserved 27.1 percent of its land and 21.9 percent of its coastal waters, with ocean progress lagging; since the 30x30 initiative was established in 2020, nearly all of the increase in protected waters has come from a single federal marine sanctuary created in 2024. The Governor's Office framed the move against the Trump administration's push for new offshore oil drilling and its review of California's Coastal Management Program.
The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that the changes add about 15,000 acres of protected waters in total, bringing the share of California's coastal waters under protection to 22.2 percent, across a network that now numbers 124 marine protected areas. The designations followed three years of negotiation among the state, the Chumash tribes and stakeholders, stemming from the ten-year review completed in 2023.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 本次扩围的 Point Dume 州立海滩海景（Malibu，资料照片）。Cecily Breeding 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。
