Newsom Announces Historic Ocean Protections as Trump Pushes Offshore Drilling

California, Creative Commons

SACRAMENTO — As the Trump administration continues its assault on California’s coast, Gov. Gavin Newsom Oct. 19 announced the state is protecting more of its coastal waters than ever before by creating the first new marine protected areas in more than a decade and expanding protections for vital ocean habitats.

California is strengthening the state’s network of marine protected areas along its coastline. Marine protected areas are California’s greatest tool for conserving marine life and habitats. The newly protected areas bring the state to 22.2% of coastal waters conserved overall — an additional 15,000 acres — and put California closer to its goal to conserve 30% of coastal waters by 2030.

Actions taken by the California Fish and Game Commission include the designation of the first new marine protected areas in over ten years, which will safeguard critical coastal and marine habitats in the face of climate change while also providing historic new opportunities for collaborative stewardship with California Native American tribes. The Commission focused on strengthening protections while balancing the needs of California’s fishing communities.

This comes just weeks after the Governor announced California’s largest annual increase to conserved lands under the 30×30 initiative since it began.

California’s new protections stand in direct contrast to the Trump administration’s push to open federal waters off the state’s coast to new offshore oil and gas leasing for the first time in decades. As part of that push, the administration has launched a review of California’s Coastal Management Program that the state has warned could weaken its ability to protect the coast and clear the way for more drilling.

Stronger protections for California’s ocean habitats

The new marine protected areas will safeguard two biodiversity hotspots — Point Sal in San Luis Obispo County and Carpinteria Reef in Santa Barbara County — helping marine life and habitats withstand the growing pressures of climate change. The suite of new protections includes:

New Point Sal State Marine Conservation Area: Protects important habitat for fish, seabirds, and migrating whales along a remote stretch of the coast.
New Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area: Protects Carpinteria Reef and one of the healthiest and most persistent kelp forests in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Expanded Point Dume State Marine Conservation Area: Protects additional kelp forest habitat off of Malibu, helping to support the resilience of these vulnerable ecosystems in a warming ocean.
Strengthened Pyramid Point State Marine Conservation Area: Protects declining fish populations on the North Coast while preserving tribal harvest for a culturally important species.

A historic step for tribal stewardship

California’s actions last week also reflect a watershed moment in the state’s journey to support tribally-led stewardship and right historic wrongs. Both Point Sal State Marine Conservation Area and Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area were proposed by Chumash tribes, and as the first tribally-nominated marine protected areas in California’s network, these areas will now provide new opportunities for collaborative stewardship between State agencies and Chumash tribes, bringing the State closer to its goal of returning 7.5 million acres of land and coastal waters to tribal stewardship.

Protecting ocean health and coastal communities

Marine protected areas are geographic areas managed to conserve marine ecosystems. In 2012, California completed the implementation of an integrated statewide network of 124 marine protected areas that stretch from the California-Oregon border to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ongoing scientific monitoring has demonstrated that California’s marine protected areas are working to protect ocean health. Not only do marine protected areas help increase overall biomass and diversity of marine life, but they can also help support local coastal communities by boosting tourism, providing important recreational opportunities, and even strengthening catches for commercial and recreational fisheries located outside of marine protected areas. Largely because of its clear biodiversity benefits and strong, science-based management, California’s marine protected area network has been recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List as the global gold standard for marine conservation, making it the first nature network in the world to receive this honor.