New National Marine Sanctuary Nomination Announcement of Final Criteria and Process

The idea of proposing a national marine sanctuary to fight off shore oil extraction threat was first proposed by District 2 supervisor, Bill Coy in 1989. June 18, 2014 email from Lisa Wooninck, Policy Coordinator of NOAA Sanctuaries, West Coast Regional Office Announcement of Final Criteria and Process for the Sanctuary Nomination Process:

On June 13, 2014 NOAA published a final rule re-establishing the process by which the American public can nominate nationally significant marine and Great Lakes areas as potential new national marine sanctuaries (see http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-13/pdf/2014-13807.pdf). NOAA is taking this step to address the growing number of requests for new national marine sanctuaries from a variety of interested constituents from around the country.

This action will help fulfill NOAA's mandate under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to identify marine areas of special national significance and supports the administration's goals of ensuring healthy coastal communities and economies. Now, for the first time in 19 years, communities may nominate their treasured marine place as a national marine sanctuary. While this action allows communities from around the country to nominate a national marine sanctuary, it does not guarantee sanctuary designation, nor does it add new regulations to areas in the marine environment or Great Lakes.

More Information - Next Steps

NOAA's website for the Sanctuary nomination process has information describing the nomination process, including the list of criteria and considerations that NOAA will use to evaluate nominations. NOAA expects the nomination review process to take approximately three to six months.

Once the review is complete, successfully nominated sites will be placed in an inventory of areas NOAA could consider for national marine sanctuary designation.

Once an area is placed in the inventory, NOAA may consider beginning the multi-year, highly participatory designation process for that area. Being in the inventory does not guarantee that NOAA will designate that area as a national marine sanctuary in the future, and it does not establish any regulations or limit activities in the area.

Typically, marine sanctuary designations take three to five years. The designation process depends on a range of factors, including the complexity of the area, the proposed regulations, the level of support from current user groups, and agency resources.

This is America's opportunity to protect its treasured places and ensure that they, and the resources contained within, are conserved for generations to come.

Please share this announcement with members of your community. Thank you for your participation and continued engagement in national marine sanctuaries.

Sincerely, Lisa Wooninck, Ph.D., Policy Coordinator, NOAA Sanctuaries, West Coast Regional Office, 99 Pacific Street, Bldg 100 - Ste F, Monterey, CA 93940, Office 831-647-6454, Fax 831-647-1732

Press Release
Nomination Website
Federal Register Notice

Background

Grassroots efforts for National Marine Sanctuary designation off the coast of San Luis Obispo County, CA have occurred since before 1990 when the proposal document was approved by the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors, and then twice proposed in Congress, but it failed to reach the House floor. Karl Kempton, the lead author of that proposal (linked in the above title), has waited for 24 years for the opportunity to submit another proposal to NOAA for most of the same area.

In 2009, Carol Georgi coordinated the formation of the Marine Sanctuary Alliance with the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club and the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. This grassroots effort now includes many local, state, national, and international organizations and individuals supporting establishing a National Marine Sanctuary.

When the groups realized the common thread among all of the San Luis Obispo coastal cities and county and those on the western coast of Santa Barbara County is the history of the Chumash Native American villages and culture, the name of the proposed Sanctuary became, “Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary."

The Chumash cultural heritage was part of the 1990 proposal and at that time unique among proposals sent to NOAA. Staff members at NOAA commented about the uniqueness of such a thorough Native American cultural element being included in a proposed nomination document.

Led by Fred Collins, Tribal Administrator of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC), many came together to form the Chumash Heritage Sanctuary Group and write the beginning proposal. http://www.slocoastjournal.com/docs/archives/2013/oct/pages/chumash.html These dedicated volunteers are an exceptional and fun working group. The Proposed Chumash Sanctuary website http://chumashsanctuary.com has more information and most of the Marine Sanctuary articles written over the past 5 years for the digital SLO Coast Journal.

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