Thank you for proceeding with the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
We urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to designate the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary within the borders of the Initial Boundary Alternative as originally proposed, along with the Gaviota Coast Extension.
Including the waters between Point Buchon and Cambria will close a biodiversity protection gap along the California coast. This will protect the only eel grass bed in a 300-mile stretch of coast, many historic Chumash sites, numerous protected marine mammals and shorebirds, the area with the highest population of sea otters on the California coast, several State Marine Conservation Areas, the kelp forests of the Santa Barbara Channel, and rocky intertidal marine habitat considered to be one of the most diverse and abundant in the world.
Excluding any of these waters is unacceptable when multiple options are available that would allow for the permitting of the cables and infrastructure needed for the adjacent offshore wind area and would not require the permanent exclusion of 2,000 square miles of ocean from sanctuary protection. The National Marine Sanctuary Program should work closely with state and federal partners, OSW companies, Tribes, and community members to ensure off-shore wind is developed in the most environmentally and culturally responsible manner.
No other proposed alternative is adequate to this purpose. The Environmental Impact Statement acknowledges that all other alternatives would variously reduce the significant beneficial impacts on biological resources provided by the Initial Boundary Alternative to “moderate” or “minor” by comparison and increase the vulnerability of those resources to adverse impacts that the Initial Boundary Alternative would prohibit or mitigate. The alternatives that truncate the Initial Boundary Alternative would impact the many species that migrate through the unprotected areas, impacts that would go far beyond the wind farms' cable corridors.
We urge you to recognize your obligation to future generations and secure full protection for the irreplaceable ecosystem and cultural heritage of this vital marine region.
Initial Boundary Alternative Proposed in 2021
NOAA Alternative Boundary Proposed in 2023