US President Barack Obama announced the creation of a new marine reserve in the Atlantic on Thursday (Sep 15) as Washington hosted a major world summit on protecting the planet’s oceans.
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The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, is about the size of the state of CT.
Recalling his September 1 visit to Midway, Obama described how he observed Hawaiian green sea turtles sunning themselves on the beach (“It turns out they like sun when we’re not overcrowding the beaches”) and the fact that while snorkeling, he gazed not only at purple and orange coral but a nearby monk seal that dived into the water.
Kerry said over two days the delegates would announce 120 preservation projects and US$2 billion in new funding to protect more than two million square kilometres of sea.
Obama said his administration “has protected more waters than any in history”.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said the designation “singled out commercial fishing for more punishment” and marked a missed opportunity to “balance conservation and support for commercial fishing”. Shank is attending the sixth International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals at the Long Wharf Marriott in Boston.
Williams, owner of the Atlantic Red Crab Company in New Bedford, doesn’t know what his next steps will be. “The ocean’s really nice there”, he said.
US Senator Richard Blumenthal will share the details of the first-ever Marine National Monument in the Atlantic on Friday. “And the notion that the ocean I grew up with is not something that I can pass on to my kids and my grandkids is unacceptable”.
Thursday’s designation followed Obama’s decision last month to expand the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii by 442,781 square miles (1.1 million square kilometers), creating the world’s largest marine protected area. They described the monument, located about 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, as one of the least fished areas in the U.S. Atlantic, which is part of why it was chosen. The designation prohibits fishing, mining and drilling. And it’s going to be increasingly important as climate change and its impacts increase. But opponents are already challenging the move, calling it an illegal use of presidential authority.
“We don’t in this country make regulations by the imperial stroke of a pen”.
SMITH: Bob Vanasse is a spokesman for the National Coalition of Fishing Communities. It’s an end run around the entire system that Congress created to protect these ocean resources. Ultimately, they say protecting that ecosystem will help boost the fish stock in surrounding waters. “Why is it necessary to take this action”, he said, “if fishing for species such as red crab, swordfish, tuna, squid have all taken place over these locations for years?”
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VANASSE: We anticipate the offshore lobster industry will be affected to the tune of about $10 million per year. “Not the other way around”, the president said while adding he remains optimistic that those in the room could rise to the challenge because “these are problems we can solve”.
