Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument – a preservation area about the size of CT – will sit 130 miles off Cape Cod’s coast and will be off-limits to commercial fishing. So if we’re going to leave our children with oceans like the ones that were left to us then we’re going to have to act. If nothing changes within seven years, Palombo said, “I guess you just go out of business”.
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“Today, more than a century after Teddy Roosevelt began a legacy of protecting America’s special places, President Obama has taken the baton and carried it to new heights”, Conservation Law Foundation president Bradley Campbell said in a statement, as reported by the State House News Service.
“President Obama’s designation is historic for the Atlantic Ocean and contributes to global commitments to protect special ocean places”, said Lee Crockett of the The Pew Charitable Trusts, overseeing the USA ocean conservation project.
“As we know, fully protected marine areas are six times more resilient to the harsh impacts of climate change and a vital tool in protecting the health of our ocean and our communities for future generations”.
The Department of Interior and Commerce will be responsible for managing the reserve where recreational fishing is allowed.
The United States on Thursday joined more than 20 countries in creating 40 new marine sanctuaries around the world to protect oceans from the threat of climate change and pollution.
President Barack Obama has signed an order protecting a section of underwater mountains and canyons off New England’s coast. “We’re going to have to act boldly”.
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument consists of almost 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains off the New England coast. Some fishing groups had protested the long-rumored designation of the canyons and seamounts as a national monument, saying the move could harm the region’s economy and impede the work of existing fishery management groups.
Obama, who recalled body-surfing in the Pacific Ocean while he was growing up in Hawaii, called the pledges a “pretty good down payment” but said bolder global action was needed. And having represented MA in the U.S. Senate for nearly 30 years, I am pleased that he has done so in a manner that respects and supports the unique environment and industry of MA and New England.
“The coral canyons and seamounts area is occupied by a diversity of extremely fragile species, like deep sea corals”, he said.
The monument designation means that all commercial fishing will eventually be banned, along with any mineral extraction, but most other activities can resume.
“We’re proud to call him a part-time resident of MA”, said Kerry, the former senator from MA. Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to four times its original size.
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Commercial fishermen including Bobby Guzzo, of Stonington, who owns and operates two fishing boats, opposed the designation.
