President Obama on Thursday will designate the first national marine monument off the Atlantic Coast as part of a broad conservation push to fight the effects of climate change on sea life.
The announcement comes just two weeks after he designated the largest marine national monument off the coast of Hawaii. Obama will make the announcement at the third annual Our Oceans Conference being held in Washington with leaders from around the world.
“Today, President Obama will designate the first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, protecting fragile deep-sea ecosystems off the coast of New England as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument,” the White House said. “The new national monument — which encompasses pristine underwater mountains and canyons — will provide critical protections for important ecological resources and marine species, including deep-sea coral and endangered whales and sea turtles.”
White House officials said by protecting the resources, “these actions will also improve ocean resilience in the face of climate change, and help to sustain the ocean ecosystems and fishing economies in these regions for the long run.”
The monument, which will be off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, will protect 4,913 square miles of marine ecosystems. The marine monument will include three underwater canyons that are deeper than the Grand Canyon and four undersea mountains that are home to several rare and endangered species. The area has yielded discoveries of new species of coral found nowhere else on the planet as well as rare fish and invertebrates.
The canyons also provide habitat for a variety of known creatures such as sea turtles and endangered sperm, fin and sei whales.
The White House noted that recent federal studies are projecting that ocean temperatures are rising three times faster than the global average because of climate change. “Additionally, the first of several assessments to analyze the impacts of climate change on fish stocks and fishing-dependent communities, found that warming oceans are threatening the majority of fish species in the region including salmon, lobster and scallops,” it said.
White House senior officials said the effect on fishing communities, in particular crab and lobster fishermen, was raised with the communities ahead of the decision. They said the lobster and red crab fishermen will have seven years to adjust their fishing practices. In normal cases, a marine monument would be off limits immediately to commercial fishers.
Republican critics on Capitol Hill have criticized the president’s prior decision in Hawaii for not taking into account the impact on local economies, tourism and fishing in making the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument announcement late last month.
At this week’s Our Ocean Conference, other countries are expected to announce 40 significant new marine protected areas, totaling nearly 460,000 square miles of ocean. “When combined with the Papahānaumokuākea expansion, the nations of the world have protected more than 900,000 square miles of ocean in 2016, exceeding last year’s record of more than 730,000 square miles,” the White House said.
