Saving Seafood

Hudson Canyon Marine Sanctuary Council To Meet For First Time

July 6, 2023 — Things can move fast at sea — even the wheels of bureaucracy.

The newly established advisory council for proposed Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary will hold its first meeting on July 13.

The step means that federal protections for a key marine habitat and resource are closer than ever to becoming a reality.

In June of 2022, NOAA announced it was launching the designation process to name the Hudson Canyon as a National Marine Sanctuary.

The Hudson Canyon is located offshore about 100 miles southeast of the Statue of Liberty. The undersea geographic formation is the largest canyon off the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. and one of the largest submarine canyons in the world.

Read the full article at the Patch

A canyon-sized power struggle is developing 100 miles off New Jersey’s coast

May 8, 2017 — It makes little sense that these two groups would be fighting at all.

On one side are the environmentalists, who wish to keep marine life safe from the harmful effects of gas and oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. On the other are the fishermen, who want precisely the same thing — to protect their catches and their business.

Yet a divide between the groups has been created, approximately 100 miles east of the mouth of the Hudson River off the New Jersey coast. That’s where the two sides are waging war over the future of the Hudson Canyon, an almost-mile-deep crack in the sea floor.

It’s a battle that has become even more pitched, especially since President Trump has moved to bring oil and gas drilling back to the Atlantic Ocean.

So how did this power struggle develop, and what exactly are the two groups disagreeing about?

In November 2016, the Wildlife Conservation Society nominated Hudson Canyon to be designated a National Marine Sanctuary. The WCS selected the canyon, the largest submarine crevice on the Atlantic Coast, due to its wide biodiversity. The canyon is home to more than 20 protected species, including the North Atlantic right whale, according to the conservation group.

“This is a canyon the scale of the Grand Canyon,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, the Vice President of the WCS and the director of the New York Aquarium. “It seemed like something that could really benefit from awareness and protection.”

Commercial fishermen in New Jersey fear losing access to a profitable fishing ground. According the Greg DiDomenico, the executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, $48 million worth of seafood was caught in the Hudson Canyon in 2014. That’s almost a third of the $149.3 million catch landed by New Jersey fishermen that year, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Council against Hudson Canyon sanctuary

April 18, 2017 — A Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary proposal got little to no support from the Mid-Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council.

In fact, the council voted 15-4 against it when it met in Avalon last week for its regular scheduled spring meeting.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, operators of the New York Aquarium, nominated the canyon under the marine sanctuary program, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The aquarium’s goal is to advance marine conservation for the sensitive species and habitats in the canyon, including the permanent restriction oil, gas, and other mineral exploration and extraction.

However, fishermen have not been behind it because of the potential to be shut out of fishing the canyon. Advocates for fishermen said management of the canyon is best left to proven science-based management tools that include fishermen in the future.

They contend protections such as those that safe-guard deep sea corals, and regulations on fish are already in place.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press