Governor Newsom announces historic new ocean protections as Trump pushes offshore drilling

SACRAMENTO – As the Trump administration continues its assault on California’s coast, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the state is protecting more of its coastal waters than ever before by creating the first new marine protected areas in more than a decade and expanding protections for vital ocean habitats.

California is strengthening the state’s network of marine protected areas along its coastline. Marine protected areas are California’s greatest tool for conserving marine life and habitats. The newly protected areas bring the state to 22.2% of coastal waters conserved overall — an additional 15,000 acres — and put California closer to its goal to conserve 30% of coastal waters by 2030. 

Actions taken by the California Fish and Game Commission include the designation of the first new marine protected areas in over ten years, which will safeguard critical coastal and marine habitats in the face of climate change while also providing historic new opportunities for collaborative stewardship with California Native American tribes. The Commission focused on strengthening protections while balancing the needs of California’s fishing communities.

This comes just weeks after the Governor announced California’s largest annual increase to conserved lands under the 30×30 initiative since it began. 

California’s new protections stand in direct contrast to the Trump administration’s push to open federal waters off the state’s coast to new offshore oil and gas leasing for the first time in decades. As part of that push, the administration has launched a review of California’s Coastal Management Program that the state has warned could weaken its ability to protect the coast and clear the way for more drilling.

Stronger protections for California’s ocean habitats

The new marine protected areas will safeguard two biodiversity hotspots — Point Sal in San Luis Obispo County and Carpinteria Reef in Santa Barbara County — helping marine life and habitats withstand the growing pressures of climate change. The suite of new protections includes: 

• New Point Sal State Marine Conservation Area: Protects important habitat for fish, seabirds, and migrating whales along a remote stretch of the coast.

• New Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area: Protects Carpinteria Reef and one of the healthiest and most persistent kelp forests in the Santa Barbara Channel. 

• Expanded Point Dume State Marine Conservation Area: Protects additional kelp forest habitat off of Malibu, helping to support the resilience of these vulnerable ecosystems in a warming ocean. 

• Strengthened Pyramid Point State Marine Conservation Area: Protects declining fish populations on the North Coast while preserving tribal harvest for a culturally important species.

A historic step for tribal stewardship

California’s actions last week also reflect a watershed moment in the state’s journey to support tribally-led stewardship and right historic wrongs. Both Point Sal State Marine Conservation Area and Mishopshno State Marine Conservation Area were proposed by Chumash tribes, and as the first tribally-nominated marine protected areas in California’s network, these areas will now provide new opportunities for collaborative stewardship between State agencies and Chumash tribes, bringing the State closer to its goal of returning 7.5 million acres of land and coastal waters to tribal stewardship.  

“We are heartened and encouraged by the Fish & Game Commission’s decision to approve our petition to create the Mishopshno Marine Protected Area,” said Kenneth Kahn, Tribal Chairman for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. “We are grateful to co-petitioners the Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense Center as well as the Ocean Protection Council for their efforts and support throughout this process. This area has important cultural and spiritual values that deserve to be protected for future generations.”

“This is a landmark moment in our work with tribes to protect the ocean and our coast,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “Climate change is heating up the ocean and creating dangerous conditions for sea life and our coastal communities. These new protected areas proposed by tribal partners provide important protections at a critical time.”  

Protecting ocean health and coastal communities 

Marine protected areas are geographic areas managed to conserve marine ecosystems. In 2012, California completed the implementation of an integrated statewide network of 124 marine protected areas that stretch from the California-Oregon border to the U.S.-Mexico border.
 
Ongoing scientific monitoring has demonstrated that California’s marine protected areas are working to protect ocean health. Not only do marine protected areas help increase overall biomass and diversity of marine life, but they can also help support local coastal communities by boosting tourism, providing important recreational opportunities, and even strengthening catches for commercial and recreational fisheries located outside of marine protected areas. Largely because of its clear biodiversity benefits and strong, science-based management, California’s marine protected area network has been recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List as the global gold standard for marine conservation, making it the first nature network in the world to receive this honor. 

Built with tribes and coastal communities

Over the past three years, the California Fish and Game Commission, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and California Ocean Protection Council have engaged directly with California Native American tribes, local governments, commercial and recreational fishermen, port and harbor communities, environmental organizations, scientists, and members of the public to evaluate petitions for changes to California’s marine protected area network following the first ten-year management review of the network, which was completed in 2023. The marine protected area petition process involved multiple public meetings, including three regional convenings held earlier this year, where Fish and Game Commissioners Eric Sklar (President), Darius W. Anderson (Vice President), Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, Samantha Murray, Erika Zavaleta, and other agency representatives had opportunities to hear directly from members of the public about marine protected area proposals.

Restoring and protecting biodiversity 

The Newsom administration has continued to protect biodiversity, expand access to nature to all Californians, and strengthen relationships with tribes across the state.

The state has helped restore and rehabilitate ecosystems across the state, including efforts to restore salmon populations and habitats.

• Last June, Governor Newsom announced major progress toward protecting salmon populations and their habitats, with nearly 50% of actions to restore aquatic ecosystems completed since the launch of California’s first strategy to protect salmon amid hotter, drier weather in 2024. With administration investments, salmon populations are rebounding and allowing California’s commercial and recreational salmon fisheries to reopen for the first time in three years. 

• Last April, California’s work to restore salmon populations made strong progress — and commercial fishing of ocean salmon resumed for the first time since 2022.

• In November 2025, Governor Newsom also announced repopulation of the salmon in the Klamath River, providing important commercial, recreational, economic, intrinsic, and cultural benefits to fishing communities, California Native American tribes, and the entire state. 

• In October 2025, the largest ancestral land return in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Central Valley restored cultural connections, strengthened tribal sovereignty, and advanced California’s 30×30 goals.

• In April 2025, the state worked with local and federal agencies on a historic project to repopulate the North Yuba River with native fish, including salmon, and help protect the state’s waterways and ecosystems.

• In June 2024, the Tule River Tribe, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), released a family of seven beavers into the South Fork Tule River watershed for the first time in over a century. This project will have positive impacts on water supply and improve drought and wildfire resilience.