WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Thursday that creating the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument was a needed response to risky climate changes, ocean dead zones and unsustainable fishing practices.
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Obama addressed the first day of the Our Ocean conference, where ministers and envoys from some 90 countries met with environmental experts to announce conservation measures.
The conference was opened by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has made ocean protection a priority during his three years in office that he hopes his successors will continue.
“One of the reasons I ran for president was to make sure that America does our part to protect our planet for future generations”, President Obama said at the Our Oceans Conference.
Obama has protected more areas of land and water than any other president in U.S. history: just last month, Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument became the world’s largest marine protected area – roughly twice the size of Texas – after Obama expanded the region first established by George W. Bush.
“We don’t normally create laws in this country by the stroke of an imperial pen”, spokesman Bob Vanasse, from the National Coalition for Fishing Communities, told NPR, alluding to Obama’s use of presidential power to create the monument. The White House said the designation will lead to a ban on commercial fishing, mining and drilling, though a seven-year exception will occur for the lobster and red crab industries.
The endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, one species protected by the new Atlantic ocean monument.
White House officials said the administration listened to industry’s concerns, and noted the monument is smaller than originally proposed and contains a transition period for companies like Williams’.
Novelli said plastic debris was running into the ocean at such a pace that by 2050 there would be more plastic than fish in the sea.
“By protecting ecologically sensitive areas of our ocean, the United States is leading on an issue that is important to people on every continent because of the ocean’s connection to food security, shared prosperity, and resiliency.”
Obama said helping oceans become more resilient to climate change will help fishermen.
Eric Reid, general manager at a fish processing plant in Point Judith, Rhode Island, said the monument’s proponents failed to recognize it would have “localized economic damage” in areas such as Montauk, New York, southern MA and Rhode Island. In these waters, the Atlantic Ocean meets the continental shelf in a region of great abundance and diversity as well as stark geological relief.
Prior to establishing the marine monument, the Administration held a series of meetings with the fishing industry, scientists, conservation organizations and the public.
The head of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership and Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association said these farmers can’t just pick up and move their operation.
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Obama’s previous marine conservation declarations have focused on some of the most remote waters under USA jurisdiction, including last month’s expansion of a massive protected area in Hawaii.
