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Trump gutted protections for the Atlantic's only marine monument -- now what?
Boston Globe
By Miriam GoldsteinUpdated
June 9, 2020, 3:00 a.m.
In order to prevent the worst effects of climate change, scientists say 30 percent of America’s land and ocean must be protected by 2030, a goal supported by 86 percent of Americans.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, protests against police violence, and massive unemployment, President Trump somehow managed to leave his Washington bunker last Friday to gut protections for the Atlantic Ocean’s only marine monument — an extraordinary area filled with ancient deep-sea corals, whales, dolphins, and other fragile marine life.
Trump’s attack on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was not motivated by any real concern for the struggles — many of which he caused — of fishermen and coastal communities that he claims to be helping. Rather, the president made it clear the rollback was just the latest chapter in his quest to undo everything that former president Barack Obama had done.
Still, while this president is the most anti-nature president in history, the controversy over the monument started before he was elected, born from a New England fisheries management system that has failed the fishermen and the fish for nearly 100 years, leading to a toxic cycle of overfishing, financial ruin, and distrust. That is why even a monument far offshore, with few users and no negative economic impacts, was viewed by some commercial fishermen as a personal attack.
This cannot continue. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the rest of the ocean. Cod have failed to recover after more than 20 years of rebuilding, lobsters are moving north to Canada, and sea-level rise threatens the entire region. If Trump truly cared about New England fishermen, he would provide immediate coronavirus-related economic relief and take action on climate — but at this point, expecting climate action from this president is futile.
Trump’s attack on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was not motivated by any real concern for the struggles — many of which he caused — of fishermen and coastal communities that he claims to be helping. Rather, the president made it clear the rollback was just the latest chapter in his quest to undo everything that former president Barack Obama had done.
Still, while this president is the most anti-nature president in history, the controversy over the monument started before he was elected, born from a New England fisheries management system that has failed the fishermen and the fish for nearly 100 years, leading to a toxic cycle of overfishing, financial ruin, and distrust. That is why even a monument far offshore, with few users and no negative economic impacts, was viewed by some commercial fishermen as a personal attack.
This cannot continue. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the rest of the ocean. Cod have failed to recover after more than 20 years of rebuilding, lobsters are moving north to Canada, and sea-level rise threatens the entire region. If Trump truly cared about New England fishermen, he would provide immediate coronavirus-related economic relief and take action on climate — but at this point, expecting climate action from this president is futile.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/09/opinion/trump-gutted-protections-atlantics-only-marine-monument-now-what/
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