Deep Sea Canyons

Deep Sea Canyons

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recently voted to protect more than two dozen undersea canyons that cut into the continental shelf off the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. These are very fragile ecosystems and preserving and protecting them is going to serve the sport fishing community. Brad Sewell, fisheries policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council: "Is this action good for the sport fisherman? If these canyons get a full set of protections, it would be a tremendous value to sport fishermen. They already are places where the sport fishermen love to go because there are these upwellings of currents caused by the significant drop off in the ocean bottom so the upwellings and temperature changes attract baitfish and then the baitfish attract the larger billfish, swordfish, Marlin and tuna. So the sport fishermen love these places right now and these sorts of protections will only increase their value going forward. If we can more holisticly protect these canyons including protecting from oil and gas, deep water cable and other intrusions then the sport fishermen will be the better off." 38,000 mi.² are being protected.
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