President Barack Obama will address the conference on Thursday, where he will unveil the designation of a US marine monument off the coast of New England, the White House said.
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“The more of those threats that we eliminate through conservation, the more resilient those ecosystems will be to the consequences of climate change”.
President Obama’s designation of the Atlantic’s first marine monument has cemented his legacy on both conservation and climate change, while demonstrating the continued importance of the venerable Antiquities Act, first used by President Theodore Roosevelt, in protecting natural resources at risk.
The newly named Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is home to underwater canyons and extinct volcanoes, with rifts that delve deeper than the Grand Canyon and heights that soar more than 7,000 feet.
Kerry also said that illegal fishing causes losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars each year and is linked with organized crime and drug trafficking, as well as forced labor. The group is part of the New England Seamount chain, the longest in the North Atlantic that consists of over 20 extinct volcano peaks.
Earlier this month Obama traveled to Midway atoll in the Pacific to view the expanded Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which he quadrupled in size in August. But Obama said it was created to respect the fishing industry’s role in the region’s economy and history.
Obama said conservation efforts and obligations to combat climate change go hand in hand, because marine areas have many stressors: overfishing, ship traffic and pollution that ranges from visible plastic to invisible carbon. Since that time, senior Administration officials have visited the region repeatedly to engage with elected officials and stakeholders, including meeting locally with members of the commercial fishing industry, to gather data and information and to understand the potential impacts of permanently protecting marine areas. Recreational fishing will be allowed within the monument. A seven year exception will be made, however, for the lobster and red crab industries.
To explore the United States’s newest national monument, you’re going to need a boat – or at least, some kind of device that keeps you afloat oceanic waters.
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.
But Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of CT said the monument “will protect countless species and habitats from irreversible damage, advance key research, and support critical jobs that depend on healthy oceans”.
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The various sanctuaries, unveiled at a high-level conference in Washington, limit commercial fishing, oil and gas drilling, and other human activities that affect ocean ecosystems. Most of these designations have put federal waters under increased protection, according to the Post.
