The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has rejected the proposal to create Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, a new National Marine Sanctuary on the Central Coast, which would have stretched from Cambria to near Gaviota in Santa Barbara County.

NOAA has said that the nomination by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council was not insufficient. Lisa Wooninck, policy coordinator with the NOAA Sanctuaries regional office in Monterey, said, "It really just boiled down to the fact that some of the management considerations needed more detail".

According to the director of the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club Andrew Christie, the Chumash can submit the nomination with additional details. The club is in favor of the formation of the sanctuary.

While talking about the rejection, he added that they always knew this was one of the potential outcomes and think that the Chumash will submit an amended nomination in response.

The proposed sanctuary would be in between two existing marine sanctuaries, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to the north and the Channel Islands Sanctuary to the south.

The California Coastal Commission, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson and State Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, have supported the proposal.

National Marine Sanctuary have various guidelines, including restrictions on dumping, altering the seabed and disturbance of historic and archaeological sites. Moreover, oil and gas drilling and exploration are also restricted.

In the nomination letter, Fred Collins, on the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, wrote that the proposed California Central Coast Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, if gets approval, will make sure that one of the most important, culturally and biologically diverse, unique and ecologically rich coastlines in the world is fully protected.

Successful marine sanctuary nominations usually take two to four years in the completion. In the last two decades, it is the first time that NOAA had opened the marine sanctuary nomination process.