A once-in-a-generation opportunity for California’s ocean

California officials are reviewing proposals to expand its Marine Protected Area network for the first time since the system's last major update, including two Central Coast sites, Point Sal and Mishopshno, each co-sponsored by a California Tribe alongside conservation groups. The Channel Islands MPAs, established starting in 2003, now protect roughly 150 square miles and are credited by scientists and tribal leaders with reviving kelp forests and fish populations that had been depleted by commercial fishing. The new proposals would mark the first Tribally sponsored additions to the state's MPA network, formalizing a stewardship role Central Coast Tribes say they've held for over 10,000 years.

Supporters point to documented wildlife, including hundreds of sea lions at Point Sal and juvenile white sharks at Mishopshno, as evidence the approach works, while a shark researcher who films at the proposed Mishopshno site says he's also documented illegal fishing and deliberate harm to marine animals there.

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