Chumash Seek Role as Local Ocean Monitor

• Want More Commercial Constraints

BY BILL KOENEKER

Chumash leader Mati Waiya announced this week that the group Wishtoyo Foundation intends to play a role in the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act, a state law to provide protection for marine life and ecosystems by providing protection for various marine habitats.
Waiya said he met with stakeholders recently to talk about the tribe’s interest in safeguarding the ocean waters from Leo Carrillo State Beach to Point Dume.
He said the area, which currently contains some of the best last kelp beds in Southern California and has been designated an area of biological significance, could become a tribal marine protected area. Waiya said no other area tribes have taken part in the MLPA process in this manner.
The MLPA stakeholders group is attempting to develop a dataset for tribal uses that would facilitate creation of the highest form of protection known as a Marine Protected Area, or MPA.
MPAs are discrete geographic areas designed to protect or conserve marine life and habitat, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.
The South Coast group plans public workshops on MPAs for its study region in June and July.
Some of the goals of including tribal information are to build a collaborative relationship with traditional cultural users in the study region. The data collected would include tracking where cultural uses occurred and what resources were or are gathered.
Staffers, who have gathered the data in the northern region, acknowledge for many areas there was no tribal contribution, especially in the central and southern part of the study region.
The process has strived to include representation of tribal uses in the southern portion of region.
The Chumash spokesperson said he envisions an area that is free of all commercial fishing, but left open to spear fishing, netting and pole fishing.
Waiya said stakeholders have visited the Chumash village at Nicholas Canyon that for several years has been the showcase of the Wishtoyo Foundation.
“If we protect [the ocean here], imagine what it will be like after seven or 10 years of recovery,” Waiya said, while acknowledging it will take effort to keep the commercial squid and lobster fishermen out of the area.
Waiya said not only could tribal members be the eyes and ears for reporting violations in waters earmarked for special status, but residents along that stretch of Malibu’s shoreline might also want to participate.
The South Coast study region is the third MLPA study area to undergo the regional MPA planning and design process. The regional process started in the summer of 2008 and is scheduled to continue through 2009.
The law, enacted in 1999, directs the state to design and manage a system of marine protected areas in order to protect marine life, habitats and ecosystems, as well as improve recreational, educational and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems.