- The proposed rule, if finalized, would create the first protected area at the national level under the new deep sea coral provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
- The area proposed for protection by NOAA stretches along the continental shelf off the Mid-Atlantic coastline between New York and North Carolina and encompasses all of the area out to the boundary of the U.S.’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
- The proposed rule, also known as Amendment 16 to NOAA’s Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan, came less than two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the U.S.’s first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a new proposed rule last week that would create a new protected area in the Mid-Atlantic region in order to conserve deep-sea coral.
The proposed rule, if finalized, would create the first protected area at the national level under the new deep sea coral provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters, first passed in 1976. When the law was reauthorized by Congress in 2006, it was amended to allow for the designation of zones to protect deep-sea corals from damage caused by bottom-tending commercial fishing gear.
The area proposed for protection by NOAA stretches along the continental shelf off the Mid-Atlantic coastline between New York and North Carolina and encompasses all of the area out to the boundary of the U.S.’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (about 230 miles) out to sea. The proposed rule includes an exemption for American lobster and deep-sea red crab pots and traps from the gear prohibition.
John Bullard, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region, said in a statement that 15 deep-sea canyons with a total area of about 24 million acres, which is about the size of Virginia or 20 times the size of Grand Canyon National Park, would be protected by the rule.
The the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council worked with NOAA on the proposed rule. It has been recommended that the new protected area be called the “Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-sea Coral Protection Area” in honor of the late U.S. Senator’s contributions to the development and implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act’s coral protection provision.
The public comment period for the proposed rule lasts until November 1, 2016. Members of the American public can comment online or by mail.
Deep-sea corals are usually found at a depth between 200 and 6,000 feet on continental shelves and seamounts (underwater mountains) or in ocean canyons. They provide habitat for starfish, lobster, grouper, rockfish, snapper, and hundreds of other species, according to the NOAA. “These corals are extremely slow-growing, but can survive for thousands of years — some black corals have recently been estimated to be more than 4,200 years old — making them the oldest known living marine organisms,” the agency said.
“These deep-sea coral communities, which are hotspots of biodiversity, provide important habitat, refuge, and prey for fish and other marine life,” Dave Packer, a marine ecologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)’s Howard Laboratory at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, said in a statement.
NOAA Fisheries’ Bullard said that the proposal was informed by the latest research. “This is also a story of regional collaboration among the fishing industry, the Mid-Atlantic Council, and environmental organizations to protect what everyone agrees is a valuable ecological resource,” he added.
The proposed rule, also known as Amendment 16 to NOAA’s Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan, came less than two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the U.S.’s first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
The nearly 5,000-square-mile national monument lies 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod and encompasses several underwater canyons and mountains that are home to numerous rare and endangered marine species such as the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and deep-sea coral as well as sperm, fin, and sei whales, the White House said in a statement.
“Both the proposed Amendment 16 and the Monument recognize that canyons and seamounts support highly diverse ecological communities with deep-sea corals, as well as a wide array of benthic marine organisms not found on the surrounding deep sea floor,” according to NOAA.
“The canyons and seamounts provide gradients that allow marine species to slowly extend their geographic range from the deep Atlantic Ocean toward the North American continent.”
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to state that the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council developed the proposed rule with NOAA, not the New England Fishery Management Council, as was originally reported. Mongabay regrets the error.
