It’s one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world–and now we have the opportunity of a lifetime to create a new National Marine Sanctuary to protect the wild and wonderful ocean ecosystems of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this summer that it would start considering new areas for National Marine Sanctuary designation for the first time since 1995.
Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, which border a key offshore area not protected by a sanctuary, should seize this opportunity with both hands.
A new National Marine Sanctuary along the Central Coast would include about 30 miles of Northern Santa Barbara County. The new sanctuary would fill a critical gap—the doughnut hole between the existing Channel Islands and Monterey Bay sanctuaries—to create one contiguous protected area of enormous ecological significance.
The area covered includes rich kelp forests, southern sea otters, and gray whale migration routes. It also provides an important stopping point for migratory birds.
While the environmental benefits of a new marine sanctuary are obvious, there’s another factor to consider: the big infusion of cold, hard cash it could deliver to our economy.
The new sanctuary would provide long-term support for commercial fishing and recreational tourism, as well as an opportunity for our community to work together to shape our region’s future.
As business and community leaders in San Luis Obispo County, we’ve been impressed by how neighboring counties have reaped tremendous economic benefits from marine sanctuaries.
The Monterey Bay Sanctuary has brought a sustained financial boost capped by the recent construction of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center and Education Facility, which now contributes $10.9 million annually to the local economy.
Santa Barbara County has also benefited. In 2005, the Channel Islands Sanctuary began building new facilities on the UC Santa Barbara campus. That project added $8.2 million to the community, and the sanctuary continues to receive funding to complete an outreach center.
A Central Coast marine sanctuary could create 600 or more permanent, local jobs and bring more than $23 million a year into the local economy, according to a new report from experts with the Center for the Blue Economy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Sanctuary designation could increase economic activity through grant funding for research in the region, government spending, and tourism-related revenue likely to be generated by a better-protected coastline, according to the report.
A new Central Coast sanctuary would bring new government offices, staff, and infrastructure. Judging from the track record of the four existing National Marine Sanctuaries in California, local institutions are likely to attract significant outside funding to support research that is only possible in a protected natural area.
Tourism would also get a boost. Most obviously, a marine sanctuary would protect the natural wonders that keep sightseers, scuba divers, surfers, and other recreationalists visiting our coast.
A sanctuary designation could also help to attract whole new populations of recreational and environmental tourists to enjoy our coast and boost our economy. It would signal that there is something truly special about our coastline—something worth protecting.
The region’s fishing industry would benefit as well. The proposed sanctuary area is home to one of the most sustainable fisheries in the country. Commercial fishing, like other economic activity that works in concert with natural ecosystems, would be unaffected by this designation—and would benefit from being protected from pollution.
The federal government is placing particular emphasis on community support as it considers new applications for sanctuary designation. With broad support from across our community and the counties of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, this stretch of coastline could become one of only a handful of truly protected coastal regions in the United States.
Sanctuary designation would preserve cultural and natural resources on one of America’s most beautiful stretches of coastline. And we will have secured a vision for the Central Coast’s future that makes both economic and environmental sense.
Kara Woodruff is a financial planner and attorney, and former chair of American Land Conservancy. Enrique Sanchez-Rivera owns La Isla Fashion Group LLC, a San Luis Obispo-based clothing company.
This article appears in Dec 18-25, 2014.