CalOceans News

Preserving the Ocean and Tribal Way of Life on the North Coast

“Much work remains to build long-term trust between California and the many tribes of this state. But an important page has been turned.” – Hawk Rosales, InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council

In all the years of planning, meetings and compromises that have gone into making the Marine Life Protection Act a success, the stakeholder partnership taking place in the North Coast has to be the most impressive. They did, after all, come up with the only unanimous proposal for network of Marine Protected Areas for the region (the North Coast network is expected to be finalized next year).

But there was a hitch in the plan. Traditional tribal harvest wasn’t accounted for in the MLPA, and the new protections for the North Coast overlapped with the tribes’ historic harvesting sites. In an op-ed in today’s Sacramento Bee, Hawk Rosales of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council  describes the positive, constructive steps the tribes and the state have made in reaching agreement on a plan that preserves tribal rights while safeguarding California’s iconic coastal waters.

Despite historic injustices perpetrated by the state against native peoples, Rosales says “recent events offer hope that, at last, a new era is beginning.”

From the piece:

For the tribes, protection of the ocean and traditional cultural use of marine resources are inseparable ideas. Without careful stewardship, the ocean's gifts will steadily decline and may someday vanish. North Coast residents, including fishermen, harbor districts and conservation groups, stood in solidarity with the tribes.

Rosales praises state officials, including Resources Secretary John Laird and members and staff of the MLPA Initiative, for carefully considering tribal concerns. This story is a testament to the public, inclusive nature of the MLPA: coming together to make ocean management decisions that protect marine life while being respectful of the needs of all ocean users.

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