May 2, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Cautiously aligned with the government in support of America’s first marine monument, environmentalists urged a federal judge Monday to sink a challenge by fishing groups.
Designated by President Barack Obama in September 2016, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument encompasses 4,913 square miles off the coast of New England.
Cordoned off from oil and gas exploration, as well as commercial fishing, the seabed within the monuments boasts four underwater volcanoes and three canyons.
Obama’s proclamation creating the monument spoke to the scientific and ecological importance of this ecosystem, but a group of commercial fishers challenged the designation in March 2017.
Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service