June 22, 2021 — Federal regulators have signed off on new protections for thousands of square miles of deep-sea corals off New England.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday it has approved a final rule that designates the coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. The largest of the underwater areas is called the Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area and it is located mostly southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The protected zone places prohibitions on bottom-tending commercial fishing gear, with the exception of certain kinds of crab traps, NOAA officials said. It also creates a dedicated habitat research area called the Jordan Basin Dedicated Habitat Research Area south of the Maine coast.
NOAA said in a statement that the corals are “important sources of habitat for many species of fish and invertebrates, including commercially important fish species.”