Saving Seafood

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

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

 

Call for Obama to Declare First Alaskan Marine Monuments

August 31, 2015 — Washington, D.C. — President Obama’s first extended visit to Alaska coincides with release of a Care 2 petition signed by more than 100,000 people asking that he use his executive powers to designate the first Marine National Monuments in Alaskan waters, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). While more than half of Alaska’s lands enjoy permanent federal protection, none of Alaska’s federal offshore waters receive comparable protective status.

Half of the nation’s entire shoreline and three-fourths of its total continental shelf are in Alaska. This vast area hosts some of the most abundant populations of fish and marine life in the world ocean. But this ecological treasure trove is at growing risk from climate change, overfishing, pollution, increased shipping, and offshore oil drilling. In addition, many Alaska marine mammal, seabird, and fish populations are in decline, including some that have become threatened or endangered species.

The Care 2 petition was authored by Richard Steiner, a member of the PEER Board of Directors and a retired University of Alaska professor of marine conservation, who said “Designating marine monuments would be the only viable means for permanently shielding Alaska’s offshore waters, whales, polar bears, walruses, seals, sea lions, sea otters, seabirds, fish, cold-water corals, and coastal communities from the cascading effects of climate change combined with marine ecological degradation. President Obama cannot leave office with a complete environmental legacy without addressing Alaska’s fragile and unraveling offshore ecosystems.” The petition was forwarded today directly to The White House.

Read the full story at Yuba.net

 

Conservation groups eye protection for Cashes Ledge

August 31, 2015 — National groups this week plan to call for sprawling areas in off Cape Ann, Cape Cod and Rhode Island to be declared the first “marine national monument” on the Eastern Seaboard.

A January 2009 presidential proclamation established three Pacific Marine National Monuments — the Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll, which is on the Samoan archipelago 2,500 miles south of Hawaii and is the southernmost point belonging to the United States.

Now the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and partners such as the National Geographic Society, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council are seeking protections for the Cashes Ledge Closed Area, about 80 miles due east of Gloucester in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Canyons and Seamounts off Cape Cod — areas CLF describes as “deep sea treasures.”

A CLF official told the News Service on Monday that the Cashes Ledge area covers 530 square nautical miles in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Canyons and Seamounts encompasses 4,117 square nautical miles, for a total of 4,647 square nautical miles of protected areas.

The designation, according to CLF press secretary Josh Block, “ensures that this area remains permanently protected from harmful commercial extraction, such as oil and gas drilling, commercial fishing and other resource exploration activities.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

Environmental Groups Seeking National Monument in Cashes Ledge, Permanent Fishing Closures

Editor’s Note: The Conservation Law Foundation has advised Saving Seafood that this event was free and open to the public, but is now sold out.  Reports indicating that the event is private or “closed to the public” are inaccurate.

August 31, 2015 — National groups this week plan to call for sprawling areas in the Gulf of Maine and off Cape Cod and Rhode Island to be declared the first “marine national monument” on the eastern seaboard.

A January 2009 presidential proclamation established three Pacific Marine National Monuments – the Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll, which is on the Samoan archipelago 2,500 miles south of Hawaii and is the southernmost point belonging to the United States.

Now the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and partners like the National Geographic Society, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council are seeking protections for the Cashes Ledge Closed Area in the Gulf of Maine and the New England Canyons and Seamounts off the Cape – areas CLF describes as “deep sea treasures.”

A CLF official told the News Service Monday that the Cashes Ledge area covers 530 square nautical miles and the New England Canyons and Seamounts encompasses 4,117 square nautical miles, for a total of 4,647 square nautical miles of protected areas.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times