California is the first state in the nation to establish a system of marine protected areas (MPAs), similar to national parks, to protect and restore ocean habitats and increase the health, productivity, and resilience of ocean ecosystems.

This summer, the California Fish & Game Commission will vote to pass or block several more Marine Protected Areas along California's coast. We are particularly passionate about the passage of proposal 2023-29, the Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area, which would be one of California's first tribally co-managed MPAs!

We are calling all California residents to write a letter to the California Fish & Game Commission voicing your reasons for the passage of the Mishopshno SMCA. The FGC tends to take public comment into account during their decision-making process, so every letter counts.

The area's diverse habitats — kelp forests, rocky reefs, sandy bottom, and an adjacent salt marsh—are powerful carbon sequesters threatened by climate change and overfishing. Carpinteria’s coastal waters serve as a nursery for juvenile white sharks, a vulnerable keystone species in regulating marine life populations facing the threat of habitat destruction and commercial fishing bycatch.

The area of Mishopshno has long been an important marine and cultural resource for all Chumash people. As the first stewards of this land, local Chumash have lived in harmony with the land and water for millennia and have fished for cultural, recreational, and subsistence purposes.

Designation of the proposed SMCA would add a Tribal MPA to the region, strengthening the role of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in co-management, monitoring, and marine education activities. The Chumash people would partake in "tribal take," allowing them to continue responsibly harvesting culturally significant marine species that continue strengthening the relationship with their ancestral waters.

Submit your letter to the FGC today, attend FGC meetings to submit public comment in person, and share this with three friends in California!