American Indian tribes on California's North Coast will retain the right to harvest plants and wildlife for subsistence purposes under a plan for new marine preserves north of Fort Bragg.

The California Fish and Game Commission, meeting in Stockton on Wednesday, approved the subsistence gathering language as its preferred option for additional environmental study.

Though not yet final, it indicates a major shift in state policy toward coastal protection.

"I hope if one thing comes out of this process, it's the beginning of long-term trust between sovereign tribal governments and the state of California," said John Laird, secretary of the state's Natural Resources Agency.

Under terms of the Marine Life Protection Act, a 1999 state law, California is in the midst of a decadelong effort to establish hundreds of marine preserves along its coast, where fishing is either banned or strictly limited. The aim is to create aquatic wilderness areas where fish and other wildlife can rebuild and flourish.

The law made no provisions for the unique needs of Indian tribes, which have been harvesting coastal resources for thousands of years as part of traditional diet and cultural practices.

The proposal adopted Wednesday allows tribes to continue gathering fish, mussels, seaweed and other resources in most of the proposed reserves. The exemption is limited to federally recognized tribes that can provide evidence of their current or historic gathering practices within 60 days.

"It's for our subsistence and for us to survive in this world," said Richard Myers, a Yurok Tribe councilman. "As Indian people who have been here since the beginning of time, we could teach and you could learn and we could all be here in a better way."

The proposal is now the "preferred option" to be evaluated in an environmental study, which is expected to return to the commission for a final vote in March 2012.

The state's failure to consider tribal concerns received little attention until last year, when, as part of an earlier package of preserves, the Pomo Tribe and others protested closure of a traditional gathering area at Stewarts Point in Sonoma County.

The commission in February approved a special exemption for tribal gathering at Stewarts Point. It also committed, with Laird's backing, to a larger review of the conflict for the North Coast preserves, which extend from Fort Bragg to the Oregon border.

North Coast tribes and other interest groups worked together to prepare the proposal that the commission supported Wednesday.

The only dissenting vote came from Commissioner Dan Richards, but not out of concern about tribal practices. Richards has regularly opposed new marine preserves because the state lacks money to monitor and protect them.

"Like most of the department's programs, we don't have what we would consider appropriate or adequate funds to fully carry out the charge the Legislature has given us," Fish and Game Director John McCamman said in response to a question from Richards.

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