Tag Archives: proposed marine sanctuary
Proposed Bering Sea marine sanctuary draws pushback from fishing industry
The Aleut Community of St. Paul, the tribal government for the Pribilof Island community of around 500 people, says the sanctuary designation would give it greater authority to protect the region’s vast ecosystems and resources, including rich fishing grounds and habitat for the federally protected northern fur seal. NOAA accepted the tribe’s nomination last year, which set off panic bells in the commercial fishing industry. Many in the industry have voiced concerns that bringing in another co-manager could threaten the industry, even though NOAA and the tribe say the change would not affect fishing regulations. Commercial fishing representatives railed against the proposed sanctuary during an April 6 meeting in Anchorage, which NOAA hosted to clear up confusion within the industry. >click to read< 12:06
Push for 35-mile-long canyon off Virginia coast to become marine sanctuary is suddenly put on hold
For more than a year, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center built a case for naming a vast canyon in the Atlantic the next national marine sanctuary. There were dozens of meetings held, hundreds of letters written and thousands of signatures gathered from supporters on a petition. Suddenly and quietly last month, however, an aquarium task force that had been pushing to make the Norfolk Canyon a sanctuary put everything on hold indefinitely. To make a long story short, what happened was Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate was elected, and the chances for a lot of conservation initiatives suddenly looked much iffier. “We’re not really sure where this new administration is going to go with environmental protection,” said Mark Swingle, the Virginia Beach aquarium’s director of research and conservation. “The timing just doesn’t look right now. So we just decided to take a pause here to see what’s going to happen.” Read the story here 08:15
