For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans have been living along California's central coast, an area of breathtaking beauty with stunning turquoise waters rich in biodiversity. Now, in the first partnership of its kind, the area will soon be part of a new national marine sanctuary that Native people will co-steward with a federal agency.
It will give the Chumash people, once the largest cultural group in California, a say in the way the marine sanctuary is preserved. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, designated by the Biden administration last week, is the first tribally nominated sanctuary in the United States.
It covers 116 miles 187 kilometers of California coastline. The more than 4,500 square miles 11,655 square kilometers of coastal and offshore waters that will be included contain diverse marine life increasingly threatened by climate change and pollution from human activities.
The designation, which was announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will take effect after Congress has 45 days to consider it.
The Chumash people, which span several tribes, including the federally recognized Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, have long depended on the ocean for fishing and shellfish, and today some are involved in environmental monitoring and advocacy work.
