The designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument marks the 27th time Obama has acted to create or expand a national monument.
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“We can not truly protect our planet without protecting our oceans”, Obama said at the conference, which was attended by Secretary of State John Kerry and representatives of more than 20 countries who announced creation of their own protected marine areas.
Have a peek at Obama’s full remarks in the video below, courtesy of the official U.S. Department of State YouTube account.
The new Marine National Monument will protect 4,913 square miles that encompass three deep sea canyons and four underwater mountains.
Altogether, countries at the two-day oceans conference will announce new sanctuaries covering almost 460,000 square miles (1.19 million square km) of ocean, an area around the size of South Africa. “We’re helping make the oceans more resilient to climate change, and this will help fishermen better understand the changes that are taking place that will affect their livelihood”. Scientific expeditions to this region have yielded new discoveries including species of coral found nowhere else on Earth and other rare fish and invertebrates.
“It is this spectacular ocean wilderness, that has plummeting canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, undersea mountains taller than anything east of the Rockies, and sublimely attractive deep-sea corals that blossom out of the depths and are as ancient as the redwoods”.
Britain was one of the first to show its hand, announcing a plan to double the area of protected ocean around its far-flung overseas territories.
Ocean temperatures in the Northeast are warming at triple the pace as the global average, says NOAA, threatening the majority of marine speices including lobster, salmon and scallops.
The aim is to protect oceans against the threat of climate change and pollution.
This “epic” designation, per the NRDC, will help the ocean resist climate change, Suh adds. Next year’s meeting will be hosted by the European Union.
To explore the United States’s newest national monument, you’re going to need a boat – or at least, some kind of device that keeps you afloat oceanic waters.
The decision to allow red crab and lobster fisheries to continue fishing in the area is likely an economic one, as the industry is estimated to be worth millions.
“Recreational fishing and commercial fishing are fundamentally different activities”, Center for Coastal Conservation president Jeff Angers told Trade Only in an email this morning.
“I think the entire New England fishery is upside down over this”, Williams said.
It is a good day to be a New Englander.
Mr Obama has increased by 20 times the amount of protected ocean habitat.
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President Obama’s designation of the Atlantic’s first marine monument has cemented his legacy on both conservation and climate change, while demonstrating the continued importance of the venerable Antiquities Act, first used by President Theodore Roosevelt, in protecting natural resources at risk. More Protected endangered and threatened marine species, including sea turtles and manatees. “And that’s why my administration has protected more waters than any in history”. Back in November, he wrote a letter to the President outlining some of the environmental protection efforts in the regional already underway.
