Public Comment Period Is Open for South Coast MLPA Initiative Plan DEIR

• Point Dume Area Proposed Marine Protected Areas Could Potentially Be Given Chumash Names

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative South Coast Study Region’s Marine Protected Area plan was released on Aug. 18. A 45-day public comment period on the report will continue through Oct. 4.

“The DEIR analyzes the potential environmental impacts of each of the five MPA proposals currently under consideration for this area, which extends from Point Conception to the California border with Mexico. The MPA proposals are part of the larger Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process, which will create new MPAs along the length of California’s coastline.” a Department of Fish and Game press release states.

“The DEIR was prepared by the California Fish and Game Commission with assistance from the California Department of Fish and Game as part of the required environmental review process under the California Environmental Quality Act,” the press release states.

“The process began in June with a public scoping phase, during which DFG solicited comments on the range of issues and type of information that should be considered in the DEIR. These comments helped to shape the content of the DEIR released this week.”

Although the DEIR examines all five MLPA alternatives, ranging from maintaining the status quo through the various stakeholder group proposals, observers say that a version of the final Integrated Preferred Alternative, or IPA, is expected to be adopted.

In Malibu, the IPA includes a State Marine Reserve, the highest level of protection, for the waters from just west of Paradise Cove to Zuma Creek, and a State Marine Conservation Area, the next level of protection—for the area between Zuma Creek and El Matador State Beach.

The two areas may receive  Chumash names: The proposed name for the SMCA is “Sumo,” the original Chumash place name for Zuma, which is said to mean abundance in the Ventureno Chumash language.

The suggested name for the SMR is “Lisiqsihi,” which, according to Chumash language specialist Richard Applegate, was the original name for the large Chumash community in west Malibu.  Applegate states in his 1974 monograph on Chumash place names published in the Journal of California Anthropology that the name Lechuza—Spanish for barn owl—may be a folk-etymology derived from the area’s original, somewhat similar sounding Chumash name, which may provide a clue on how to correctly pronounce the word. According to Applegate, Arroyo Sequit, at Leo Carrillo, may also derive from Lisiqsihi.

The proposed Lisiqsihi SMR, which includes Point Dume’s submarine canyon and a portion of kelp forests and reefs popular with kayak anglers and divers, would extend “from the shore due north-south along the 118 53.00 W to state waters” with the eastern boundary running “from shore along the 118 49.00 W to state waters.” The SMR designation means that “the take of all marine resources would be prohibited,” except under “a permit or specific authorization from the managing agency for research, restoration or monitoring purposes.”

The Sumo SMCA is defined as extending “along the shore due north-south along the 118 53.20 W to state waters; the eastern boundary runs from shore along the 118 49.00 W to state waters.” 

Comments can be submitted by email to MLPAComments@dfg.ca.gov with “MLPA CEQA Comments” in the subject line, or posted to MLPA South Coast CEQA, Department of Fish and Game, 4665 Lampson, Suite C, Los Alamitos, CA 90720. All comments must include the author’s name, address and a daytime telephone number, according to the DFG. The document is available online at the www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/impact_sc.asp. Print versions will reportedly be available at the Malibu, Ventura and Santa Monica public libraries.