Cashes Ledge Archives - Page 5 of 6

Fishermen Unite In Opposition to Atlantic Marine National Monument

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — September 15, 2015 — Tonight, at a NOAA town hall meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, representatives from two of the largest fishing industry organizations in New England presented a letter that will be sent to President Obama opposing calls for a new marine National Monument in the waters off the coast of New England.

READ SAVING SEAFOOD’S ANALYSIS OF THE NEW ENGLAND MARINE MONUMENT PROPOSAL

Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, and Jackie Odell, Executive Director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, will present the letter. In just 24 hours, over 630 fishermen, seafood industry workers, and members of our nation’s fishing communities have signed the letter. Signatures will continue to be collected, and the letter will be submitted to the White House, with copies to the Secretary of Commerce, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The meeting in Providence is being called to discuss the possibility of declaring Cashes Ledge, as well as the New England Canyons and Seamounts, as National Monuments. The signers of the letter strongly oppose the proposal as unnecessary and harmful to current management efforts. The letter notes that Cashes Ledge is currently protected, as has been so for over a decade. It also notes a National Monument designation, which would result from unilateral Presidential action under the Antiquities Act, would remove the areas from the open, democratic regulatory process that is currently responsible for managing them.

The Fisheries Survival Fund represents the majority of the full-time Limited Access scallop fleet. The Northeast Seafood Coalition represents members of the commercial groundfish fishery in New England.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition is a non-profit membership organization representing commercial fishing entities in the northeastern United States on political and policy issues affecting their interests as participants in the multispecies (groundfish) fishery.

The text of the letter is reproduced below:

We, the undersigned, in conjunction with the Fisheries Survival Fund and the Northeast Seafood Coalition, object to any attempt to manage New England’s offshore marine habitats through the use of the Antiquities Act and the designation of National Monuments. Doing so undermines the public and democratic processes that are now in place to manage these areas, shuts out important stakeholders, and prevents meaningful outside input. Considering that the current public process has led to the substantial habitat protections already in place throughout the region, such a designation is both unnecessary and damaging to the long-term management of these areas.

New England’s marine habitats are currently managed through a consultative process that considers the experience and input of expert scientists, fishermen, environmentalists, and regulators. It is where the best available science and analytical approaches are vetted in an open and transparent venue. Large-scale closures, enacted by executive fiat and not based in science, are not only undemocratic but they can have substantial unintended adverse impacts on bycatch composition, region-wide habitat, and the economies of coastal communities.

Recent actions by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), specifically the recently passed Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2) reinforce habitat protections in New England waters into the foreseeable future.

In addition to protecting features such as the kelp forests on Cashes Ledge under OHA2, the regional management councils have gone to great lengths to further safeguard essential habitats such as corals. The NEFMC is considering the Deep-Sea Coral Amendment, which would preserve the coral habitats in the New England Canyons and Seamounts, areas that have also been frequently under discussion for National Monument designation. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) also recently acted to protect over 38,000 square miles of deep-sea coral. These are clear demonstrations that current habitat management is remarkably sensitive to conservation and the need to protect unique habitats.

Replacing this collaborative, open management with top-down Presidential action undermines these successful efforts. It makes it less likely that local voices are heard in the deliberations, narrows the decision-making process from broadly democratic to single-handed, and in consequence disregards crucial stakeholder input and expertise. It ultimately results in a regulatory process that is not responsive to feedback and is not accountable to the people who are most affected by it.

As members of the fishing communities whose livelihoods depend on inclusive, responsive management we recognize that such a fundamental altering of the regulatory process is unacceptable. Any management of public resources needs to preserve public input and involvement, not disregard it. We oppose unilateral Executive Action to declare marine National Monuments in New England.

Click here to add your name to the letter

Conservationists Push for Atlantic’s 1st National Monument

September 13, 2015 — Undersea ravines deeper than the Grand Canyon, submerged mountains rising thousands of feet from the ocean floor and forests of kelp and coral would become the first marine national monument in the Atlantic if conservationists have their way.

The proposal to protect a pristine ecosystem undamaged by heavy fishing and pollution in the Gulf of Maine and canyons and peaks off Cape Cod — where vivid coral has grown to the size of small trees over thousands of years — would mirror the massive conservation efforts that have already taken place in the Pacific Ocean.

“We have an opportunity to permanently protect two of our nation’s greatest ocean treasures, right off our coast,” said Priscilla Brooks, the Conservation Law Foundation’s director of ocean conservation.

Environmental groups want President Barack Obama to permanently protect Cashes Ledge, the underwater mountain and offshore ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts, the chain of undersea formations about 150 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

But Maine Gov. Paul LePage and others oppose the effort to protect the two sites, together totaling about 6,000 square miles, because of the potential impact on fishermen.

LePage, a Republican, also takes issue with the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act to designate monuments, calling it a sweeping power that provides few procedural protections to those who are most likely to be affected.

Read the full story at ABC News

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: The case for a marine national monument in the Gulf of Maine

September 14, 2015 — Legend has it that in the 1600s, one could walk across the ocean on the backs of Atlantic cod. The Gulf of Maine’s iconic groundfish was so plentiful the species spawned colonial America’s first true industry: groundfishing.

But after centuries of overfishing and failed regulation, the Gulf of Maine looks drastically different. There are few spots where Atlantic cod approach being as plentiful as they once were. One of the few is Cashes Ledge, a 530-square-mile area of ocean 100 miles southeast of Portland.

A coalition of conservation groups, supported by more than 200 marine scientists from across the U.S., are pushing for President Barack Obama to designate the area, essentially a submerged mountain range, a marine national monument. The designation would protect Cashes Ledge permanently from commercial fishing — phasing out the limited amount allowed now — and other activity that could exploit or disturb the area’s ecosystem.

The push to make Cashes Ledge a marine national monument has drawn opposition from groups representing fishermen, which point out the area is already largely off limits to commercial fishing and that the designation would circumvent the nation’s established fishery management system. It also is opposed by those, such as Gov. Paul LePage, who are wary of a potential federal designation.

Read the full editorial at the Bangor Daily News

Pew Circulates Cashes Ledge Monument Petition

September 10, 2015 — The Pew Charitable Trusts is circulating a petition calling for President Obama to designate Cashes Ledge and areas of the New England Canyons and Seamounts as National Monuments. Such as designation would permanently close these areas to fishing and other commercial activity, but would also remove them from the current public management process. Several of the areas, most notably Cashes Ledge, are already off-limits to fishermen under existing habitat protections.

The text of the petition is below:

MAKE HISTORY BY ASKING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO CREATE THE FIRST MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

The “Grand Canyons,” sea mountains, and Cashes Ledge off New England’s coast are national treasures. These precious ecosystems provide refuge for hundreds of species of rare and unique marine wildlife, including whales, seabirds, and long-living cold-water corals. These remote areas are also critical to the health of our ocean fish, which are the lifeblood of Atlantic coastal communities.

Unfortunately, these fragile undersea places are under growing threat of destruction from overfishing and industrial exploitation as the deep ocean becomes more accessible to extraction. Now is the most crucial time to protect New England’s Grand Canyons, sea mountains, and Cashes Ledge—and we need your help!

SEND A MESSAGE. OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT IS NEEDED TO CONVINCE THE ADMINISTRATION TO FULLY PROTEC THESE SPECIAL PLACES FOREVER!

Read the petition here

Read Saving Seafood’s previous coverage of the issue:

ANALYSIS: New England Marine Monument Proposals Overlook Existing Protections, Overstep Democratic Management

A Simple Map Shows Cashes Ledge Habitat is Already Protected

AP: Proposal to Protect Offshore Sites Draws Support, Opposition

September 3, 2015 (AP) — Environmental advocates say the federal government should extend permanent protection to two underwater sites off the New England coast by making them national monuments.

Fishing advocacy group Saving Seafood said Wednesday it opposes more restrictions on the areas, already closed to fishing and monitored by federal regulators.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage wrote President Barack Obama last week saying he opposes the proposal, which he said would hurt the state’s economy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

There are no national monuments in Maine. Would Obama defy LePage to create one?

September 1, 2015 — Maine Gov. Paul LePage sent letters to President Barack Obama and members of the state’s congressional delegation to express his opposition to any efforts to designate certain Gulf of Maine and forest areas as national monuments.

In question are an undersea mountain range named Cashes Ledge and its environs, which conservationists consider a crucial refuge for the dwindling Atlantic cod population, as well as Millinocket-area land eyed by some as a potential spot for a national park.

While supporters of the designations argue they would advance important natural preservation efforts and — in the case of the national park — boost tourism and jobs, the governor and other opponents worry the moves would too greatly restrict the state’s commercial fishing and forest products industries.

But was a national monument designation ever likely for either location?

There are no national monuments currently in the state of Maine. Would Obama create one?

We’ll review some basics about national monuments and their history to help flesh out that discussion.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

Read the letter from Gov. LePage to President Obama

Gulf of Maine’s Cashes Ledge: Efforts to Extend Federal Protections Rankles Fishing Industry

September 1, 2015 — Several conservation groups are calling on the White House to designate an area of the Gulf of Maine as a National Monument. The Cashes Ledge Closed Area is considered important habitat for cod, and The Conservation Law Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and others say it must be protected.

This story includes a clarification. See Editor’s Note below.

But opponents of the idea, including Maine Gov. Paul LePage, say such a move is undemocratic and unfair to fishermen.

The area known as Cashes Ledge is about 80 miles off the Maine and the Massachusetts coast, covers about 500 square miles and contains the largest kelp forest in the North Atlantic.

It contains an underwater mountain range where the highest peak – known as Ammen Rock – comes to within 30 feet of the ocean surface. Not only is it a beautiful and diverse habitat, says Sean Mahoney of the Conservation Law Foundation, “but Cashes Ledge is such a key area if we’re going to have any hopes of restoring iconic fish like cod.”

Read the full story at MPBN News

A Simple Map Shows Cashes Ledge Habitat Is Already Protected

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — September 2, 2015 — Yesterday, Saving Seafood released an analysis explaining how the proposal to use a National Monument designation to protect Cashes Ledge, as advocated by the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Geographic Society, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, overlooks existing protections and overrides the current, successful system of open, democratic management. In short, we called the proposal “a solution in search of a problem,” one that removes the public from the management of public resources.

Read the full Saving Seafood analysis here

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) today provided Saving Seafood with an updated map (see below), one that is clear, simple, and easy to understand. It delineates the protections the Council voted for last June in Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), which are currently being evaluated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for final approval. In light of this evening’s public event at the New England Aquarium which will describe the uniqueness and value of this region, Saving Seafood is sharing this map so that all interested parties can be fully aware of the protections already in place, additional protections currently in progress, and of the decade of work by numerous scientists, fishermen, regulators, environmentalists, elected officials, researchers, academics, and career government staff at the Council and the Agency that has gone into developing them.

As we noted in our analysis, the NEFMC and NOAA have successfully protected Cashes Ledge over the last decade though a collaborative, consultative process that built a consensus among the scientists, fishermen, regulators, and other valuable New England stakeholders. The Council has also ensured that the region remains protected well into the future with the recent approval of Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), and is working to extend similar protections to the New England Canyons and Seamounts through their in-progress Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.

These developments support Saving Seafood’s conclusion that the process as it exists is working, and the a National Monument designation would only circumvent and undermine the public management of these areas that have been so beneficial to Cashes Ledge and other unique habitats.

See the updated map below:

Analysis: New England Marine Monument Proposals Overlook Existing Protections, Overstep Democratic Management

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – September 1, 2015 — Fishermen, fisheries managers, and environmentalists agree that the Cashes Ledge region of the Gulf of Maine is home to some of the most important marine environments in New England. These include lush kelp forests and the diverse ecosystem of Ammen Rock. Since the early 2000s, federal fisheries managers have recognized the value of these areas and have taken proactive steps to protect their unique habitats, preventing commercial fishermen from entering the areas and allowing them to develop mostly undisturbed from human activity.

But according to several environmental groups, including the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Geographic Society, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, such long-standing and effective protections are suddenly insufficient. A public relations, media and lobbying campaign has launched to have Cashes Ledge and the New England Canyons and Seamounts designated a National Monument. While such an effort may seem consistent with the current record of environmental stewardship on Cashes Ledge, such a designation would actually undermine the current management system by removing local and expert input from the process.

The current closures on Cashes Ledge are the result of an open, democratic and collaborative process. Managed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), the protections are the result of extensive consultation with scientists, fishermen, regulators, and other valuable stakeholders in New England. Through this process, the Council built a durable consensus in the region on the need to protect and preserve Cashes Ledge. As a result, no federally managed fisheries are allowed to operate in the area. Only the state-managed lobster fishery is permitted in the region, which is subject to the equally open and public management process of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

This process has been successful in making Cashes Ledge the hotspot for marine life that it is today. In fact, it has done everything that we usually ask of successful habitat management. The area has been closed for over a decade, and there are no plans to open it in the future. The bottom-tending gear that is likely to disturb habitats is already prohibited in this area. In the recently passed Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2), the Cashes Ledge closures remain untouched, and the current levels of protection are extended into the foreseeable future.

Since 2012, the NEFMC has been working on extending similar protections to the corals and other habitat features of the New England Canyons and Seamounts. Combined with efforts such as NOAA’s Deep-Sea Coral Data Portal, the Council is collaborating with a variety of stakeholders to fashion the best possible protections for the area. On September 23, the Council’s Habitat Committee will be discussing the Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment. Much like with the habitat protections on Cashes Ledge, this is being conducted through an open and public process that includes scientists, fishermen, regulators, and other interested parties.

So while CLF press secretary Josh Block has been recently quoted as saying a National Monument designation would ensure that the area “remains permanently protected from harmful commercial extraction, such as oil and gas drilling, commercial fishing and other resource exploration activities,” there are no actual attempts to remove the current protections, or to allow any of these activities on Cashes Ledge. Monica Medina of the National Geographic Society, who served in the Obama Administration as Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere at NOAA, acknowledges that the areas “are currently closed to industrial fishing,” but goes on to say “there have been calls to open them to fishing at some point in the future.” From who is a mystery, because during the OHA2 process, the only suggested openings were for scientific analysis.

National Geographic’s Monica Medina wrote, “scientists have recently uncovered some offshore treasures [in New England]: an area called Cashes Ledge, plus five canyons and sea mounts.” In fact, Cashes Ledge was mapped by R. Rathbun and J. W. Collins in 1887. National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle herself acknowledged this after a recent dive, stating, “I saw for myself what scientists have been raving about for years.” And in what turned out to be a harbinger of the National Monument effort, Dr. Earle stated, “Cashes Ledge is the Yellowstone of the North Atlantic.”

In addition to being superfluous to the effective management of Cashes Ledge, a National Monument designation would undermine the management system already in place. A designation of a National Monument necessitates unilateral action by the President under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Such action circumvents and strips away valuable democratic processes that protect these regions and sustain their important commercial fisheries. The council system by which areas like Cashes Ledge are managed – and through which such areas are already off limits to most fishermen – would diminish in importance, as would the expert input from all relevant stakeholders, including scientists, fishermen, and conservationists.

The current management structures and systems now in place under federal guidelines, including the management of the NEMFC and ASMFC, and other regulatory procedures – including proposals to change protections – are fundamentally democratic. They allow ample time for stakeholder input from all perspectives. If organizations such as CLF and the Pew Charitable Trusts want to alter current habitat protections, there is a decades-old, established public process to accommodate them.

These procedures have led to remarkable recent success stories. In fact, just two months ago, both CLF and Pew Charitable Trusts praised the very procedures they now seek to circumvent. In June, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to protect 38,000 square miles of marine habitat to preserve deep-sea corals. The same council process that produced such laudable results in the Mid-Atlantic is the same one that is in place New England. A unilateral marine monument designation, in contrast, would nullify existing management.

Recent history also demonstrates the risks and pitfalls of unilateral attempts to designate marine National Monuments of the exact sort as that being proposed for Cashes Ledge. The expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President Obama in 2014, for example, came under intense public scrutiny from native Pacific Islanders, commercial fishermen, and scientists alike, all of whom criticized the Administration for failing to consider crucial stakeholder input.

The current proposal for a National Monument on Cashes Ledge is a solution in search of a problem. It fixes a process that isn’t broken. It seeks an outcome that is already in effect. And it removes the public from the management of public resources.

Maine’s Governor LePage Writes Obama Opposing New England Marine Monument

September 1, 2015 — Gov. Paul LePage has written to President Obama opposing a move to protect Cashes Ledge, an area in the Gulf of Maine about 75 miles off the coast of Wells, which the governor says will hurt business.

According to the letter released by the governor’s office, LePage has heard that the White House is “actively exploring” new areas including Cashes Ledge and other underseas canyons in the Gulf of Maine for national monument status, and he says he wanted to voice his opposition to both the project itself and the process of selecting national monuments.

“These National Monuments serve only one purpose – excluding commercial fishing activity from certain segments of the ocean,” Gov. LePage wrote in his letter, saying that the regulations would hurt offshore lobstermen. “These types of designa- tions harm working Mainers the most.”

Cashes Ledge is a submarine mountain range located in the center of the Gulf of Maine that peaks near the surface of the water, making it dangerous for fisherman according to the Smithsonian. In April 24, The Associated Press reported that fishing regulators from the New England Fishery Management Council, or NEFMC, voted to keep a 2002 ban in the area on commercial fishing in place in the near future.

Gov. LePage wrote that he saw that the national monument process as a last ditch effort by environmentalists to close additional areas after the NEFMC ended its policy revision in April.

Read the full story at the Journal Sentinel