Obama has designated the first United States marine reserve in the Atlantic Ocean, an area known for underwater mountains and canyons, off the coast of New England.
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The area is incredibly biodiverse, hosting a range of endangered and rare species including turtles, whales, dolphins, and deep-sea fish.
Speaking to representatives from dozens of countries gathered in Washington for the third annual Our Ocean conference, President Barack Obama said Thursday that it was urgent that leaders take swift, bold action to safeguard oceans around the globe.
Supporters say the monument will help sustain important species and reduce the toll of climate change, but many in the fishing industry oppose the move.
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. Just last month the Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii was expanded to cover over 440,000 square miles, making it the world’s largest marine reserve.
White House officials said the administration listened to the fishing industry concerns and noted that the monument is smaller than originally proposed and contains a transition period for companies such as Williams’s.
“Warming waters, acidification, plastic pollution, methane release, drilling, over fishing and the destruction of marine ecosystems like coral reefs are pushing our oceans to the very brink”, the Oscar-winning actor said. But many in the fishing industry worry Obama’s actions will make it harder for them to earn a living.
“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.
Conversely, the monument’s canyons delve more than a mile below the ocean floor, and some are even deeper than the Grand Canyon. Expeditions also have found species of coral found nowhere else on Earth.
This new zone is about 150 miles off the Coast of Cape Cod.
Obama, who recalled body-surfing in the Pacific Ocean while he was growing up in Hawaii, called the pledges at the conference a “pretty good down payment” but said bolder global action was needed.
“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”, Obama said in his speech this morning.
With this and other efforts to establish monuments under the US Antiquities Act (which requires no Congressional approval), the President has used his executive power to protect over 265 million acres of America’s public lands and waters.
Delegates hope that by 2020, 10 per cent of the world’s oceans will become protected reserves, with fishing and oil exploration banned or tightly restricted. We have to act and act boldly.
“During our gatherings in 2014 and 2015, nations from across the world committed to designate over 6 million sq.km (2.3 million sq. miles) of ocean as marine protected areas”, Kerry said.
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“We can not truly protect our planet without protecting our ocean”, the president said, adding that the USA and others had begun to address threats such as climate change and overfishing.
