Obama puts North Atlantic zone off-limits to drilling, fishing
Obama puts North Atlantic zone off-limits to drilling, fishing:- President Obama will create a marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, taking executive action to protect 4,913 square miles of underwater habitats off the coast of New England.
The new marine preserve, known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, is similar in purpose — if not in size — to the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii, which was first created by President Bush and then expanded last month by President Obama. Both monuments protect marine life from drilling and commercial fishing.
Located 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, the Atlantic zone will prevent all drilling and other development. Recreational fishing will be allowed, but commercial red crab and lobster fisheries will have seven years to find new waters.
The White House made the announcement Thursday morning in advance of Obama’s speech to a State Department conference on oceans.
The White House said the designation will protect three underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and four underwater mountains known as “seamounts” — places where marine life thrives, with rare species of coral, fish, whales and turtles.
Obama is using his power under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows both the president and Congress to designate culturally or ecologically important sites as national monuments and permanently protecting them from development. Obama has used that authority more than any president in history.
Source:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/15/obama-puts-north-atlantic-zone-off-limits-drilling-fishing/90395300/
