Inhabited by the Chumash peoples for over 10,000 years, the stretch of coast between the Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries is infused with cultural and ecological significance. It has been explored by scientists, adventurers, fishermen, and writers alike. So, in 2013 when the Northern Chumash Tribal Council launched a campaign for a new Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS), it presented a long overdue chance to elevate Indigenous perspectives and cultural values in ocean conservation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) accepted the nomination two years later and officially placed it on a list for future consideration.
With the proposed sanctuary now in the scoping period, NOAA is preparing a host of draft documents, including a management plan, environmental impact statement, and proposed regulations for the sanctuary boundaries. It is here where scientific information is critical to moving the designation forward. But this is not just any process. If instead of diving straight into hard data and analyses, we take a step back, elucidate the relationship between traditional and scientific endeavors – what richer picture of this diverse and beautiful coast will emerge?
For years, the Northern Chumash Tribal Council has been building partnerships across the spectrum, including with funders, grassroots organizations, scientists, and more. The goal is not only to advance and inform the sanctuary designation process, but also to lay the foundation for different sources of knowledge to contribute to our understanding of this rich stretch of coast. On March 14, 2023, Violet Sage Walker, Chairwoman, Northern Chumash Tribal Council, P.J. Webb, Advisor, proposed CHNMS, Dr. Stephen Palumbi, Professor, Stanford University, and Dr. Stefano Mariani, Professor Liverpool John Moores University came together to discuss one such effort, “Understanding the Ecological Diversity of the CHNMS.”
Together, they are working to combine scientific data, Indigenous knowledge and culture, and community engagement to assess and monitor the distribution and structure of marine biodiversity in the CHNMS. The researchers will employ environmental DNA, or eDNA, to characterize species assemblages and the genetic diversity of fish, invertebrates, algae, and seabirds. The researchers will engage students, fishers, and volunteers in trekking out into the field to collect samples from kelp forest cobbles, water samples, and guano at an array of evenly spaced stations across the coast. Together with Tribal leaders and other community members, they will then compare observations and analyses, sharing insight on the historical context for patterns in species distributions, including what is known from cultural heritage sites, museum exhibits, ethno-botany records, oral histories, and other cultural records.
Their collective goal is to produce a detailed geography for hundreds of coastal species, including identifying biodiversity ‘hotspots and coldspots,’ as well as exploring the features of the ecosystem and food webs. The project aligns well with the process leading up to the designation of the proposed CHNMS. In particular, the researchers will work with the Chumash community to understand how marine biodiversity historically important to Chumash culture is shaped by the environment over space and time, which could serve as a centerpiece for the Sanctuary’s research plan.
And they are just getting started. The scientists and Chumash Tribal leaders are already systematically and strategically planning to do this work long into the future. As California’s statewide network of marine protected areas enters their Decadal Management Review, the team will sample inside and outside three highly protected state marine reserves at Point Buchon, Vandenberg, and Point Conception. They will track species ranges and abundances across the biogeographic break at Point Conception – one of the strongest climactic species-level abundance shifts – to detect non-native species invasions and link such dynamics to warming and other climate-driven ocean changes. They will collaborate with NOAA to produce operational field, lab, and computation protocols that can be continually applied and updated over time.
In other words, they are changing not just what we understand about ecological diversity, but how we go about understanding it. The project as it stands now runs from late 2022 through spring 2025, and we hope, well beyond that.
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The project is being funded by the Lenfest Ocean Program, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Oceankind Labs. Contact: Emily Knight, Manager, Lenfest Ocean Program (eknight@pewtrusts.org).