Tag Archives: Northeast Canyons and Seamount Marine National Monument.
Fishermen support reversing marine monument designation
There’s a rich fishing ground a couple of hundred miles offshore used by fishermen from all over the East Coast called the Northeast Canyons. All kinds of commercial fish gather in the plankton-rich waters — from tuna to butterfish, from lobster to squid. “We have probably half our fleet that does all kinds of fishing out there,” said Rich Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance. It’s also a distinctive marine environment, with ancient coral and steep canyons.,,, Fuka said nets don’t go deep enough to affect coral and that “the fishermen are well-schooled and well-rehearsed and always participate in anything that has to do with migratory species like mammals, whales, they avoid them.”He pointed out the competition for fishing grounds now also includes offshore wind farms,, click here to read the story 10:34
Trump team nears decision on national monuments
As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke approaches the 24 August deadline for his recommendations to President Donald Trump on whether to alter dozens of national monuments, conservation proponents say it remains all but impossible to predict which sites the administration could target for reductions or even wholesale elimination.,,, Obama created the first Atlantic marine monument in 2016 when he designated nearly 5,000 square miles for preservation off the coast of Massachusetts.,, The Boston Globe reported that Zinke appeared sympathetic while meeting with about 20 representatives of New England’s seafood industry. “When your area of access continues to be reduced and reduced … it just makes us noncompetitive,” Zinke said at the time. “The president’s priority is jobs, and we need to make it clear that we have a long-term approach to make sure that fishing fleets are healthy.” click here to read the story 11:38
Lobster fishermen face a monumental problem
The Newport-based fishing vessel Freedom has been Marc Ducharme’s home away from home since it was built in 1984. And for the better part of those 32 years, Ducharme, the boat’s captain, and his crews of four to five men have spent their time pulling lobster traps from the waters around three underwater canyons near the edge of the continental shelf, about 125 miles southeast of Nantucket. The crew makes 25-30 runs a year — each lasting about a week — to the lucrative lobster grounds formally referred to as the Northeast Canyons on George’s Bank. Each trip nets them about 6,000 pounds of lobster, Ducharme said Wednesday, standing in the cockpit of the 72-foot-long vessel docked at the Newport state fishing pier. Using executive authority established by the Antiquities Act of 1906, President Barrack Obama on Sept. 15 designated a 4,900-square- mile area the Northeast Canyons and Seamount Marine National Monument. That area includes the sea canyons, where Ducharme plies his trade. The designation will eventually prohibit all commercial fishing there. Read the story here 12:41
