Wednesday November 19, 2025
NRDC —
Gripping the rough surface of submerged volcanic boulders, tall stands of kelp sway with each heave of the Pacific Ocean. Fish dart among the kelp while two-foot-long California sheepshead swim past. Spotted harbor seals twirl underwater, curious to see the snorkelers nearby. Under a rocky overhang, an imposing army of 15 spiny lobsters waggle their antennae at divers who stare in amazement—these are no typical lobsters.
Here, inside Scorpion State Marine Reserve, a 22-year-old marine protected area (MPA) off Santa Cruz Island, it’s clear that wildlife has benefited from living in an underwater park. The rocky and sandy substrates are coated with bright sponges, large abalone, and vibrant corals. Fish, lobsters, and invertebrates here are bigger and more abundant than in the areas outside the MPA.
MPAs are places where ocean life can recover and thrive without pressure from industrial activities. The public can enjoy activities like diving, kayaking, swimming, and surfing in these areas, but extractive uses like oil and gas drilling and commercial fishing are not allowed.
Experienced waterman Josh Cocker of Ocean Origins, an organization that empowers Indigenous communities to manage marine resources, says this healthy ecosystem is more like what California’s ocean is supposed to be like. And that’s one of the reasons why Ocean Origins is supporting a proposal for a new MPA: the Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA).
An October 2025 poll shows that California voters broadly and strongly support MPAs, with nearly four in five voters in favor of them, and support shown across multiple demographics like age, gender, race, ethnicity, and political leaning. Seventy-eight percent of voters especially value MPAs because they provide a place for fish and wildlife to recover and thrive. The poll also shows that more than two-thirds of voters support adding two new MPAs to the state’s network: one at Point Sal in Santa Barbara County, roughly 50 miles to the northwest of Point Conception, and the Mishopshno proposal, named for the historic Chumash village of Mishopshno, located in Carpinteria.
California is one of the few states to commit to the ambitious challenge of significantly increasing protections in its ocean waters by 2030 as part of the 30×30 initiative to conserve 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030. For California to meet its goals, the state will need to conserve an additional 8 percent of state waters. Adding new MPAs or enlarging existing ones by “adaptively managing” California’s MPA network is one of the state’s four key strategies to increase protections in state waters.
The Mishopshno and Point Sal SMCA proposals are two MPA proposals that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Fish and Game Commission are evaluating as part of the state’s adaptive management process. If designated, these MPAs would boost ocean protections to better withstand current and emerging threats and to include more thoroughly the groups that were underrepresented during the initial implementation—in particular, California Tribes. It’s important that the Fish and Game commissioners and other state leaders hear the broad and robust support that there is for establishing these two new MPAs.
In spring 2026, the Fish and Game Commission will make initial decisions on whether to approve 11 proposals—including the Mishopshno and Point Sal SMCAs—that would create new or expand existing MPAs to enhance the state’s existing MPA network. These proposals would conserve small pockets of high biodiversity and help build on these successes. They would also protect sensitive habitats, conserve special areas that are nurseries for larval fish, and help make the network more connected and resilient to climate change. Some of these, such as the Mishopshno and Point Sal MPA proposals, would also create new Tribal co-stewardship opportunities.
California’s ocean leadership has served as a model for other jurisdictions to emulate and enriched millions of Californians’ lives, all while conserving some of the world’s most majestic and imperiled marine species. As climate change, biodiversity loss, and a hostile federal administration threaten to undermine some of the gains of California’s bold leadership, it is time to strengthen our commitment to ocean conservation and ensure that California’s ocean is prepared for the changes ahead.