The United States President Barack Obama on 15 September 2016 designated the country’s first marine national monument, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, in the Atlantic Ocean. 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.
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Although the lobster and red crab industries can continue to use the area for the next seven years, and recreational fishing will be permitted, some fishermen say that Thursday’s designation will upend the fishing industry in New England. In addition to this new US marine monument, several countries attending the conference made commitments to create or expand protected marine areas, including Cambodia, Costa Rica, Lebanon and Seychelles. “And we’re doing it in a way that respects the fishing industry’s unique role in New England’s history and economy”. Late last month, he expanded the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which includes Midway, making it the largest protected area on the planet.
He traveled to the remote Midway Atoll in the reserve, and told the conference what it was like to snorkel among purple and orange coral as endangered monk seals sunned themselves on nearby rocks.
In his address, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister outlined the commitments made by Sri Lanka under the themes – Marine Protected Areas, Marine Pollution, Sustainable Fisheries, and Climate and Ocean.
“There seems to be a huge misconception that there are limitless areas where displaced fishermen can go”, said Grant Moore, president of the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association.
The new Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument consists of almost 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains off the New England coast.
“It is global security”, he said, saying almost 50 percent of the world depends on food from the ocean and 12 percent of the world’s work force relies on the ocean for their livelihood.
Prior to establishing the marine monument, the Administration held a series of meetings with the fishing industry, scientists, conservation organizations and the public.
More than 90 countries took part in the two-day conference, the third of its kind, in an effort to galvanize attention to the dangers that pollution, climate change and over-fishing may pose to the world’s oceans.
Jon Williams, president of the Atlantic Red Crab Co.in New Bedford, Mass., said his company will survive, but the changes created to address some of the industry’s concerns don’t sway him about the merits of the monument. New England seafood companies also oppose the designation of this area as a monument, with one crab company describing it as a “big blow”.
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The designation was widely praised by environmentalists as a way to sustain important species and reduce the toll of climate change.
