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By Lou Rosado Burch - June 19, 2020
Open spaces and protected natural sites offer unparalleled opportunities to find solace and restore our sense of balance during these challenging times. The beauty and grace of our natural resources reminds us that some things remain untouched, holding promise and comfort as we navigate into the future.
Unfortunately, this administration has advanced a series of detrimental rollbacks to some of our most vital environmental protections — including dismantling our precious national monuments. In fact, on World Environment Day (Friday, June 5), President Trump signed an executive order undoing commercial fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument. This brings the federal government’s attacks on our environment right into our own backyard.
The marine national monument is the only one of its kind in the Atlantic Ocean, and it’s situated just a few hundred miles from our own shores. It consists of a series of underwater canyons and mountains covering an area about the size of Connecticut. This unique area was given its National Monument designation in 2016, and it stands today as a shining part of New England’s natural heritage. As the only protected area off the continental U.S. where all commercial extraction has been prohibited, the monument once offered scientists a unique opportunity; it provided a pristine environment which could be used to study climate change and its effects on our oceans.
Unfortunately, this most recent attack on our oceans puts the future of this marvelous site in jeopardy. It permits unsustainable fishing practices to return to the monument, which could carry disastrous consequences in this once flourishing environment. These rollbacks will inevitably put hundreds of marine species in close contact with commercial fishing vessels — potentially causing irreversible damage to the sea floor and devastating hundreds of threatened and endangered marine species including sea turtles, dolphins and endangered right whales.
Recent scientific research conducted in the monument has created invaluable educational opportunities and have even contributed to major health science advancements. Some of the deep-sea life found in the monument (such as rare sponge species) have been used in developing anti-cancer drugs and other remarkable uses. And yet, no one knows what future breakthroughs remain undiscovered within the canyons and seamounts.
Lifting the commercial fishing ban in the monument puts the most precious aspects of this underwater treasure trove in harm’s way. Indeed, it is the latest indicator that this administration has little regard for ecological health, or the preservation of our most precious natural resources. The decision to sign the executive order to undo the fishing ban on World Environment Day reinforces this, and it comes across as a slap in the face to researchers and advocates that spent years working to establish and defend our national monument.
The Northeast Canyons and Seamount National Monument and its visually spectacular and complex ecosystems are invaluable tools for educating future generations about the natural world around us and yet, their status as a pristine ocean environment may soon be lost for good. Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation have been consistent champions for the monument, first proposing its designation to the national monument system by the Obama administration, and then stepping forward in protest when it has been threatened. We must call upon them to use every tool at their disposal to combat these rollbacks. Their support was essential in creating the marine national monument, and we need their help in defending it once again.
Louis Rosado Burch is Connecticut Program Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.