NOAA Fisheries to hold hearing Wednesday on Northeast Canyons designation

NOAA Fisheries will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday 16 November to take comments on its plan to take a commercial fishing ban within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument area and incorporate that into Atlantic fishery management plans.

President Obama first declared the nearly 5,000-square-mile region off the coast of Cape Cod a national monument in September 2016, making the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts the first such monument in the Atlantic. The move was opposed by fishermen, who filed a lawsuit to prevent the sanctuary that was ultimately unsuccessful …

Photo courtesy of NOAA