State Panel OKs Closing Parts of Ocean Off Santa Barbara County to Boat Fishing

The California Fish & Game Commission has unanimously and near-unanimously advanced two tribally led proposals that would close roughly 18 square miles of ocean off Santa Barbara County to boat fishing — setting the stage for the first new marine protected areas in state waters since the original network was completed in the early 2010s.

At its meeting last week, the commission voted to move forward with a 9.18-square-mile protected area off Point Sal near Guadalupe in the North County, and a 9.05-square-mile area off the Carpinteria coast in the South County, as Noozhawk reported. The Point Sal petition passed on a unanimous vote; the Carpinteria proposal, known as the Mishopshno protected area, passed 4-2, with Commissioners Darius Anderson and Erika Zavaleta dissenting.

Both petitions must still clear a multi-step regulatory process before any closures take effect.

What the New Protected Areas Would Do

The Point Sal proposal, which would extend about 4.03 miles offshore around the Point Sal headland, would prohibit all take of ocean resources by boat, while shore-based recreational fishing by hook and line would remain allowed. The area would also be renamed with a Chumash place name, to be determined. Exact boundaries have not been finalized.

The Mishopshno proposal off Carpinteria would cover 9.05 square miles extending roughly 3.6 miles from shore — a significant reduction from the 18 square miles petitioners originally sought. According to Sandy Aylesworth, director of the Pacific Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council, the area includes a 1.6-mile rocky reef, a kelp forest and a juvenile white shark aggregation. As with Point Sal, hook-and-line finfish fishing from shore would be permitted.

The proposals include a notable provision: the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians would be exempt from the take ban, with tribal members required to carry tribal identification while fishing, according to commission staff.

Why It Matters Locally

The votes mark a potential turning point for California's marine protected area network, a patchwork of underwater parks established under the Marine Life Protection Act that was completed in the early 2010s. If adopted, these would be the first new MPAs added to the network since then — and among the first driven by tribal governments rather than the state itself.

The Point Sal petition was co-sponsored by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and the NRDC. The Mishopshno petition was sponsored by the NRDC, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center.

"Chumash Tribes asked California to protect their ancestral waters, and today the state said yes," Aylesworth said after the vote.

Tribal leaders framed the proposals as a long-overdue correction. Violet Sage Walker, a spokeswoman for the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, called Point Sal a gap in the existing network that Indigenous people "want to fill," and thanked supporters including the city of Guadalupe, the Sierra Club and the Dunes Center. Kenneth Khan, tribal chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, said the Mishopshno area would be protected while ensuring new generations can "maintain the relationship with these waters."

Commissioner Samantha Murray emphasized that the process reflects voices left out of the original MPA design. "This is a change to hear from people, from unserved communities, from sovereign governments, who were not heard when this network was created in the first place," she said.

The Opposition: Access and Livelihoods

The proposals have divided coastal communities since they were first floated. A May meeting in Goleta drew a roughly even split of supporters and opponents, and last week's hearing featured emotional testimony on both sides — including from children. Pearl, a 10-year-old who fishes in the Point Sal area, urged commissioners not to "take my fishing spot away."

Fishing interests argue the closures would shut down access to productive grounds that local families and charter operations depend on. Jaime Diamond, a Carpinteria resident who owns Stardust Sportfishing, told the commission that charter vessels are the primary way disadvantaged communities experience the ocean, calling closure a "critical equity issue" and saying the "average Californian is lost in this conversation."

Zavaleta, one of the two dissenters on Mishopshno, raised concerns that the tribal take exemption could exclude non-federally recognized tribes. She also described the Carpinteria reef as "uncommonly resilient," and said that while restoring Indigenous rights was important, she was not convinced this particular petition was the right vehicle.

What Happens Next

The petitions now enter the formal regulatory process, which includes three hearings covering notice, discussion and adoption, followed by environmental review, according to Aylesworth. Final boundaries, regulations and effective dates will be determined during that process — meaning any actual closures remain months or longer away.

For Santa Barbara County residents, the immediate practical effects are limited for now: fishing rules off Point Sal and Carpinteria are unchanged. But the coming hearings will give anglers, tribal members, environmental groups and coastal businesses further opportunity to shape — or contest — what could become a landmark expansion of California's ocean protections, and a new model for tribal-led conservation on the Central Coast.