US approves first-ever tribal marine sanctuary: ‘Our community’s hard work has come to fruition’

After years of campaigning by Indigenous Americans in central California, the US has finally approved the country’s first Indigenous-nominated national marine sanctuary, a 4,543 sq mile expanse of ocean that will protect marine life from mining and oil drilling.

The Chumash Heritage national marine sanctuary – which will be nearly four times the size of Yosemite national park – will stretch along 116 miles of the California coastline that supports a number of at-risk species, including southern sea otters, abalone and blue whales. The area is also home to critical kelp forests, which not only provide food and shelter for marine life, but also act as a carbon storage system – they can sequester up to 20 times as much carbon as terrestrial forests.

“We had huge, overwhelming support for this area to be protected, and we brought communities together,” says Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC), who was integral in pushing for the sanctuary to be nominated.

The tribe worked with a variety of community and environmental groups to rally support for the sanctuary. “Generations of central coast residents from tribal elders to college students have knocked on doors, sent postcards and emails, circulated petitions, addressed local governments and community groups, and held fundraisers on behalf of the marine sanctuary,” said Gianna Patchen, coordinator of the Santa Lucia Sierra Club chapter. “Now that our community’s hard work has come to fruition, we’re elated to help make this sanctuary the best it can be.”

Walker took over campaigning following the death of her father, Fred Collins, former chief of the tribe, who had nominated the sanctuary in 2015.

The tribe say they are stewards of both the land and the ocean, and have a duty to protect the waters from oil drilling, deep sea mining and overfishing. The sanctuary will encompass Point Conception – known as Humqaq in the Chumash language, which means “the Raven comes”. This area, also known as the “western gate”, is particularly sacred to the tribe, who believe it is the point from which the souls of their dead travel from this world to the next.

Supporters prepare for a rally held by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council at the base of Morro Rock on 20 September 2023 in Morro Bay, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Two days before Collins died unexpectedly in 2021, he asked his daughter to help him realize his dream of creating a sanctuary.

“I feel complete,” Walker said, “like I’ve fulfilled a promise and an obligation to my family, to the earth. It’s something that has been on my mind for a long time, and something we’ve always been worried about. Now we can stop worrying so much and move onto the other things we have to deal with.”

The sanctuary’s boundaries will come into effect on 15 December, following a statutory 45 day final review by US Congress and the state of California. One of the main points of contention was an offshore wind farm that the California Energy Commission approved earlier this year. The farm will see hundreds of giant turbines floating in the ocean 20 miles off Morro Bay, a small city in central California, that could bring up to 3 gigawatts of clean energy to the grid – enough to power more than 1 million homes.

The tribe was concerned about the impact that the increase in ocean noise would have on whales, fish and other marine species, as well as the proposed port that would need to be built to transport the energy. Morro Bay is home to one of the last remaining southern sea otter populations, and environmental campaigners raised concerns about increased boat traffic through the proposed port.

“We’re protecting what we can now, and this is the biggest success, but there’s still more work to be done,” Walker said.

The plan that has been approved is significantly smaller than what the tribe initially proposed, which was 7,670 sq miles of ocean. Morro Bay, which was also included in the tribe’s original plan, has been excluded from the sanctuary.

In 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducted an environmental review of potential impacts of offshore wind activity in the central California coast region and found “no significant impacts to environmental resources”.

The sanctuary had widespread support from senators and members of US Congress. Salud Carbajal, a Democratic representative, whose district includes parts of San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, areas alongside the sanctuary’s boundaries, said he is “grateful” to the Indigenous leaders who helped advocate for these protections.

“The historic designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary comes not a moment too soon,” he told the Guardian in an email. “As our oceans and communities [face] unprecedented challenges from a changing marine environment, this new sanctuary comes at a critical time for our region.”

Carbajal was part of the negotiations between the tribe, local communities and federal and state entities to reach a compromise that would allow offshore wind development off the Morro Bay coast.

Although the tribe won’t manage the sanctuary, Paul Michel, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s sanctuaries, west coast region, adds that Noaa will “establish a collaborative co-stewardship management structure for the sanctuary to provide for respectful and meaningful involvement of representatives and partners from multiple local tribes and Indigenous communities”.

As for Walker, who has spent the past three years fighting for the sanctuary’s designation, she says she’ll be taking some much needed time off. “I just want to relish in the moment,” she said. “And so I’m going to ride my horses and try to relax before I start on our next campaign.”