Just off the coast of Carpinteria, where sharks and surfers play in the waves and fishing boats dot the horizon, a new line is being drawn in the Pacific.
It marks one of California’s newly approved Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), adding to the state’s network of regulated ocean zones (dubbed “underwater state parks”) for the first time in 12 years.
Carpinteria’s new MPA covers nine acres from Toro Canyon to the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, stretching almost 3 nautical miles offshore. It was named “Mishopshno” after the ancient Chumash village that neighbors it, and it will be tribally co-led with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. The state’s Fish and Game Commission approved it and other new MPA’s during its meeting on Thursday…