“By designating the coral canyons and seamounts a new national monument, President Obama is giving this part of the ocean a fighting chance to continue to thrive in the face of a warming climate”, said executive director Michael Brune. Expeditions have found species of coral found nowhere else on earth.
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“The notion that the ocean I grew up with is not something that I can pass on to my kids and my grandkids is unacceptable”, Obama said at the first day of the two-day event, after recalling his own childhood in Hawaii. The designation just announced serves both, because research has shown that fully protected marine areas are more resilient to the negative effects of climate change.
“We can not truly protect our planet without protecting our oceans”, he said. He said the investments the USA and other nations were taking with new marine protected areas were vital for their economy and national security, but “also vital to our spirit”. However, those in the fishing industry think it will make it harder for them to earn a living.
The new national monument follows Obama’s recent expansion of the huge Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off Hawaii, and 20 more countries are to declare new reserves.
Environmentalists are ecstatic with the announcement, but New England fishermen aren’t very happy about losing fisheries worth $50 million to their bottom-line, reports The Washington Post.
The Gulf of ME is warming at a rate faster than nearly any other ocean area in the world, and this monument will provide areas where biodiversity and marine life can continue to thrive; it will also provide an area for scientists to study climate change and possible strategies to better protect the ocean’s living resources against climate impacts.
“We have made a number of decisions in the context of this monument to try to directly speak to mitigating any economic impact that may come along”, an official said.
Located 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, the Atlantic zone will prevent all drilling and other development.
Commercial fishing as well as “other extractive activities such as mining and drilling” in the protected area is to be phased out. “We are grateful that the Obama administration has taken a thoughtful approach to designating marine monuments in a way that recognizes the importance of allowing the public to access and enjoy these precious areas”.
The move, in the works for more than a year, will further Obama’s conservation efforts in the final months of his presidency, an initiative he views as a major component of his environmental legacy. The red crab industry, for example, is sustainably managed, according to an independent organization that promotes sustainable fishing.
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Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Freking, Jennifer McDermott and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press and by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis of The Washington Post.
