September 19th, 2016 — Opponents of President Barack Obama’s newly designated Atlantic marine monument, which will eventually bar all commercial fishing in a 5,000 square-mile area, say its creation was not preceded by sufficient cost-benefit analysis.
Last week, Obama established a protected area — which will be called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument — of nearly 5,000 square miles 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod.
The area was established under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows the president to create national monuments without congressional approval, and the method means there was a severe lack of economic and scientific analysis before the decision was made, opponents said.
By contrast, the creation of a national park or changes to fishing policies under the Magnuson-Stevens Act typically trigger extensive public comment and review processes.
Grant Moore, president of the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, estimated to Undercurrent News that the economic impact could be over $120 million in lost revenue, but added that making predictions is difficult given how diverse and dynamic the fishery is.
“There was absolutely no analysis done. This was basically behind closed doors,” he said, adding that there were some private meetings, but “nothing that you would have to go through under Magnuson-Stevens”.
According to Moore, many in the industry never expected the monument to pass when they first heard about it a year ago at a meeting in Providence, Rhode Island and is now trying to figure out how it will adjust.
“Basically the industry right now is taking a step back and taking a deep breath. It came at everybody pretty fast,” Moore said. “It was not until last Friday that certain members of the industry saw the proposal for the first time. That doesn’t give you a whole lot of time to comment and try to work with them. It was basically a done deal.”