The Northern Chumash Tribal Council is working with the community to garner support to make sure Morro Bay is included in the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
“The area of the southern sea otters, the area of the humpback whales needs to be in the marine sanctuary,” said Violet Sage-Walker, Northern Chumash Tribal Council Chairwoman.
The Northern Chumash Tribal Council is hoping to get the community on board to support their originally nominated map that covers 7,600 square miles.
“Greenpeace believes strongly that Indigenous people are the best stewards of the land and the water,” said Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA Ocean Sanctuaries Project Lead. “They carry with them ancestral knowledge.”
Tribal leaders, including Uncle Solomon Kaho’ohalahala, who represents the Maui Nui Makai Network, met next to Morro Rock on Wednesday for a rally and signed two resolutions.
One was to celebrate the signing of the United Nations’ High Seas Treaty. The other was to support the inclusion of SLO County’s north coast in the proposed Chumash National Marine Sanctuary.
“A resolution of the Chumash people declaring this area [Morro Rock] a sacred site and worthy of protection under NOAA,” Sage-Walker added. “We’d like NOAA to include Morro Bay, Cayucos and Cambria.”
Representatives from Congressman Salud Carbajal’s office and from Senator John Laird's office were also in attendance
“I am committed to working with all local stakeholders to bridge any remaining challenges with NOAA and the Commerce Department’s draft and keep us on a path to making the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary official by the end of this Congress,” Rep. Carbajal said in a statement.
In a previous story, Paul Michel, the NOAA Sanctuaries West Coast Regional Policy Coordinator, explained why Morro Bay was excluded.
“The Morro Bay wind energy area, when that gets developed, they'll need to bring that energy to shore and a corridor to the Morro Bay power plant and connect to the grid,” Michel said on Sept. 7, 2023. “What we've been told by both the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is that there could be as many as 30 cables in that corridor, maybe some substations as well.”
“Extremely alarming that there is a corridor of exclusion between Morro Bay and Cambria specifically assigned to offshore wind and that is not just limiting it to offshore wind and that could open it up to offshore oil,” Sage-Walker added.
Tom Hafer, who represents the Morro Bay Commercial Fishing Organization, said the group was originally concerned about the sanctuary designation.
“We've been fighting it a long time to not have this a sanctuary,” Hafer said, adding they are open to the proposal if they get a seat at the table. “If the Chumash work with us and we can work with them and there's some cooperation.”
But Hafer said they are still worried about plans to build offshore wind farms.
“What we mostly worry about is a federal government stepping in the Central Coast and making new fishing regulations and laws,” Hafer said.
Morro Bay City Manager Yvonne Kimball said the city is closely following these issues.
“[We] remain neutral to all these things, but we also wanted to be a true team player too on renewable energy and in our tribal partners,” Kimball said. “On the other hand, we realize that […] our identity is in part due to our commercial fishing industry and the city has consistently supported their effort to continue to exist.”
Robert Piatti, Salinan Tribal Councilmember for Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, expressed his concerns over the name of the proposed sanctuary.
“The idea that you're going to come off a coastline that belongs to multiple people and give it the name of one people is a sign of disrespect,” Piatti said during Wednesday's rally.
Piatti insisted that he is in support of the sanctuary designation.
“Morro Rock is important for everybody," Sage-Walker said. "I think everybody who lives here loves it. The Chumash were just the first people who lived here and loved it and the original caretakers and we are trying to be as inclusive to as many people [who] want to support the marine sanctuary.”
Michel said in an email that they are encouraging the community to participate during the current public comment period. The deadline to submit a comment is Oct. 25, 2023.
NOAA is also hosting the following public comment meetings:
- Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, at 5 p.m. at the County of San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors Hearing Room located at 1055 Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo.
- Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, at 5 p.m. at the Dick DeWees Community Center located at 1120 West Ocean Avenue, Lompoc.
- Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at 1 p.m. — virtual. You can register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7569323252287031132
To learn more about the proposal, draft environmental impact statement, and draft management plan, click here.
