“Obama said that he created the Atlantic Ocean’s first national monument Thursday, off the coast of MA, in part to protect the ecosystem from the effects of climate change”.
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The first ever Marine National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean has been established today by the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Gov. Charlie Baker is “deeply disappointed” by President Barack Obama’s plan to designate an area off the New England coast as the first deep-sea marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, a move the Republican’s administration sees as undermining MA fishermen. It is his third national monument designation in the past month, following the creation of the Katahdin Woods and Waters monument in ME and the significant expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea marine monument northwest of Hawaii.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell – whose town relies heavily on fishing revenues – also wrote a letter to the administration claiming “serious concerns about the impact a monument would have on the commercial fishing industry here”.
To mitigate financial harm to the fisheries industry, the Atlantic monument is smaller than planned, administration officials said, and lobster and red crab fisheries have been given a seven-year grace period before they have to comply.
“We can not truly protect our planet without protecting our oceans”, he said.
“The designation of the New England Coral Canyon and Seamounts will allow us to continue to study this vulnerable and otherworldly part of our ocean and ultimately educate our visitors with the goal of creating ocean stewards for generations to come”, Stephen M. Coan, president and CEO of Mystic Aquarium, s aid last month.
The White House said that more than 20 countries attending the annual ocean conservation meeting will announce the creation of 40 significant new marine protected areas, totaling almost 460,000 square miles (1.2 million square kilometers) of ocean.
It will be Obama’s 26th use of the Antiquities Act, through which he has protected more land and water than any other president. The conference focuses on marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.
“I saw it. It was right there, evidence of the incredible power of nature to rebuild itself, if we’re not consistently trying to tear it down”, Obama said.
The newest Marine National Monument was announced by the president at the 3rd annual Our Ocean Conference in Washington D.C. this morning.
At least 54 species of deep-sea corals, sponges, and anemones are found in the newly-designated monument and provide food, shelter, and spawning habitat for a variety of species.
The designation restricts oil and gas exploration, drilling as well as both commercial and recreational fishing.
“We don’t normally create laws in this country by the stroke of an imperial pen”, says Bob Vanasse, a spokesman for the National Coalition for Fishing Communities.
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The plans impose a permanent ban on commercial fishing in an additional one million square kilometres (386,100 square miles) of ocean, according to Britain’s Foreign Office. Other marine life known to frequent the area include more than 10 species of sharks, including white sharks; marine birds, including vulnerable Atlantic puffins, and leatherback and loggerhead turtles.
