Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

The sanctuary, designated in 1980, surrounds five of California's Channel Islands — San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara — with about 3,800 km² of cold, current-mixed Pacific. This is California diving at full strength: giant kelp forests swaying over rocky reefs, garibaldi and sheephead, playful sea lion colonies, spiny lobster and abalone relics, and water that swings from gin-clear to green with plankton that feeds passing blue and humpback whales. Within the sanctuary, a network of state and federal marine reserves established in the 2000s has become one of the best-studied no-take systems in the world, with measurably bigger fish and lobster inside the lines.

The rules that bind divers

A network of marine protected areas inside the sanctuary sets the harvest rules: marine reserves (including waters at Anacapa, Santa Barbara, and elsewhere) are fully no-take, while conservation areas allow limited take; boundaries are precise and enforced, so boats carry current MPA charts. Oil, gas, and seabed disturbance are barred sanctuary-wide, and vessels avoid anchoring on sensitive habitat. Divers hunting lobster or fish outside reserves need California licenses and must follow season and size rules. Most diving runs from permitted charter boats out of Ventura and Santa Barbara; there is no sanctuary entry fee.

Fees & permits: No sanctuary fee; California fishing licenses and report cards are required for any take outside the no-take reserves.