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Obama admin mulls marine monument off New England

September 17, 2015 — The Obama administration appears to be considering a marine monument off the coast of New England, with federal officials holding a “town hall” meeting on the idea earlier this week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration organized the meeting in Providence, R.I. More than 100 people attended — with some estimates exceeding 300 — to debate the protection of deep-sea canyons and underwater mountains 150 miles offshore.

Environmental groups proposed the monument just two weeks ago, urging President Obama to use the Antiquities Act to permanently protect almost 5,000 square nautical miles (Greenwire, Sept. 1). Such requests are not unusual as Obama nears the end of his term and ramps up his use of the act.

But this time, the proposal came from a coalition of some of the largest conservation groups. Among them: the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Environment America. Other groups also voiced their support.

Within days, NOAA announced a town hall to “discuss permanent protections” off New England. The agency has been vague on details; it has not specified that the discussion will inform the White House for a possible marine monument.

But the agency is not proposing a marine sanctuary, according to spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton. Such sanctuaries, which are created and managed by NOAA, can take years to materialize.

“NOAA hasn’t proposed anything,” Clayton said in an email before Tuesday night’s public meeting. “We’re holding this town hall because there’s been interest from a number of groups on many types of protections. The public meeting is an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input.”

Read the full story at E&E Reporter

Proposal to create ‘marine national monument’ off New England coast up for discussion in Providence

September 13, 2015 — Federal officials on Tuesday will present a proposal to permanently protect three deep-sea canyons and nearby underwater mountains off New England in a move that would create the first “marine national monument” on the eastern seaboard.

Although environmental groups and marine scientists have been pushing for the special designation for the area that starts about 100 miles southeast of Cape Cod at the edge of the Outer Continental Shelf, they say the current proposal under consideration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration doesn’t go far enough.

At the upcoming Town Hall meeting in Providence, the groups’ focus won’t be so much on Oceanographer, Gilbert and Lydonia canyons and the seamounts that lie south of them but on other areas in the region that haven’t been included for protection in the plan.

At the top of the list for the Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Pew Charitable Trusts and others is Cashes Ledge, a swath of waters in the Gulf of Maine that they describe as a one-of-a-kind fish nursery and feeding ground for important species that range from cod to tuna to endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full story from the Providence Journal

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