President Obama created the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument Thursday, saying that the new protected area was a needed response to unsafe climate changes, ocean dead zones and unsustainable fishing practices.
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More than 120 ocean conservation projects, including almost $2 billion in new pledges and commitments, are being announced at a major maritime conference hosted by the U.S. State Department, reported Voice of America.Officials say the measures will affect more than 2 million square kilometers in new or expanded marine protected areas around the world.
More than 20 countries attending the annual ocean conservation meeting will announce the creation of 40 significant new marine protected areas, totalling almost 1.2 million square km of ocean.
“We’re protecting fragile ecosystems off the coast of New England, including pristine underseas canyons and seamounts”, Obama said during his remarks.
The Atlantic Offshore Lobsterman Association says the government is essentially kicking them out of an area where there is a healthy fish population and that there are better ways to protect marine life.
“Dangerous changes in our climate caused mainly by human activity; dead zones in our ocean caused mainly by pollution that we create here on land; unsustainable fishing practices; unprotected marine areas in which rare species and entire ecosystems are at risk – all those things are happening now”, Obama said.
Opponents of the new Atlantic monument have complained that it threatens the commercial seafood industry in the region. Expeditions have found species of coral found nowhere else on earth.
In a memo about the merits of the monument the Natural Resources Defense Council said that the canyons and seamounts within the monument are some of the least fished areas in the U.S. Atlantic, which is a key reason it was chosen for possible monument designation. “These animals are under so much stress from climate change and over fishing that they need a refuge”.
Senior administration officials say the same presidential authority has been invoked more than a hundred times by some 16 presidents to protect national treasures like the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
Other environmental groups also applauded the designation, saying that it was as important to be good stewards of the ocean as it was the land and air.
Their efforts proved persuasive with a president who is also looking to establish his own legacy as a protector of the environment. That is more than any other president in history.
“Deep in the oceans exist some of the world’s oldest and most mysterious sea canyons and mountains, or seamounts”.
“Our members are disappointed, angry and feel somewhat betrayed”, said Bob Vanasse, a spokesman for the National Coalition for Fishing Communities.
Obama will formally announce the designation Thursday when he addresses the Our Ocean conference, a global gathering his administration initiated two years ago.
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Despite the positive intentions, several New England fisherman are pretty upset about the new designation. The conference focuses on marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.
