October 17, 2016 — About 70 miles out in the Atlantic, a canyon begins. Down steep, craggy walls draped with corals it descends some 6,000 feet, a bridge between the continental shelf and the deep, deep ocean. Creatures move in swarms so thick along stretches of this oasis that cameras simply can’t peek through.
Yes, the Norfolk Canyon is grand.
Grand enough, some admirers say, that it should be given special status as a national marine sanctuary.
For more than a year, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center has been developing a case for making the canyon part of the sanctuary system. It has company: The National Aquarium in Baltimore and the New York Aquarium are working on nominations for ocean canyons off their states as well.
“These are incredibly special places, amazing places,” said Mark Swingle, the Virginia Aquarium’s director of research and conservation.
The Atlantic canyons, of which there are more than 50, large and small, are “biological hot spots,” he said. They’re havens, feeding grounds and nurseries for thousands of species of creatures, from worms burrowing in the deepest sediments to whales breaching on the choppy surface.
Swingle is leading the push for the Norfolk Canyon, the southernmost of the big ones. He said the Beach City Council will be asked soon to adopt a resolution of support, after which a nomination will be filed before year’s end with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.