The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-09)

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY ANNA PHILLIPS

Long ago, the retreat of ice age
glaciers carved one of the largest
underwater canyons in the world
into the seabed about 100 miles
from New York City. Now, hun-
dreds of species live there, includ-
ing sperm whales, sea turtles and
deep-sea corals.
On Wednesday, the Biden ad-
ministration announced that it
intends to designate the area a
new national marine sanctuary,
which would give it some of the
same protections afforded to na-
tional parks.
The Hudson Canyon — span-
ning nearly 71 / 2 miles wide and
more than two miles deep in
some places — rivals the Grand
Canyon in scale. The push to add
it to the National Marine Sanctu-
ary System reflects the Biden
administration’s broader effort to
safeguard critical habitat threat-
ened by development and global
warming by conserving 30 per-
cent of the nation’s land and
waters by 2030.
“A sanctuary near one of the
most densely populated areas of
the Northeast U.S. would connect
diverse communities across the
region to the ocean and the can-
yon in new and different ways,”
Rick Spinrad, who heads the
National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration (NOAA),
said in a statement. “As someone
who grew up in New York City
and went on to a career in ocean
science, I am excited about how
this amazing underwater envi-
ronment can inspire shared in-
terest in conserving our ocean.”
Wednesday marks World

Oceans Day, when global leaders

often make commitments to pro-

tect areas off their nation’s

shores. Interior Secretary Deb

Haaland also plans to sign an

order to phase out the sale of

single-use plastic products in na-

tional parks, wildlife refuges and

other public lands by 2032. The

measure directs the department

to find compostable or biode-

gradable alternatives — an effort

to reduce the federal govern-

ment’s contribution to the 14

million tons of plastic that wind

up in the ocean every year.

Some national parks banned

the sale of plastic water bottles in

2011 to reduce pollution. Despite

evidence that the prohibition was

working, the Trump administra-

tion ended it six years later.

Environmentalists applauded

the Biden administration’s deci-

sion.

“The Department of Interior’s

single-use plastic ban will curb

millions of pounds of unneces-

sary disposable plastic,” said

Christy Leavitt, plastics cam-

paign director for the ocean con-

servation group Oceana.

The administration will also

announce plans Wednesday to

craft an ocean climate action plan

with guidance on renewable en-

ergy development, zero-emission

shipping and other ocean-related

efforts to mitigate the worst ef-

fects of climate change.

Biden officials have not deter-

mined the size of the proposed

marine sanctuary, which was

nominated for protection by the

Wildlife Conservation Society’s

New York Aquarium in 2016. The

contours of the sanctuary — in-

cluding what it will be called and

the types of activities permitted

there — will be subject to a public

comment period, during which

the NOAA will seek input from

conservationists, the fishing in-

dustry and offshore energy devel-

opers, among others.

Before the plan becomes final,

the agency must conduct an envi-

ronmental impact analysis and

write a management plan, which

could take a year or more to

complete.

The naturalist William Beebe

was the first to explore the Hud-

son Canyon during his 1925 deep-

sea voyage in the Bathysphere,

the first crewed submersible.

Since 2000 , scientists have

worked to map the canyon’s sea

floor, document the species that

live within its steep slopes and

investigate the seeps that release

methane gas from the seafloor.

Their explorations have re-

vealed an ecosystem teeming

with wildlife.

Researchers have found at

least 200 species of fish, includ-

ing Atlantic bluefin tuna and

dusky sharks, within the canyon.

During the summer months, en-

dangered sperm whales, bottle-

nose dolphins and threatened

loggerhead sea turtles have been

spotted in the canyon. Along its

steep walls, rocky outcrops and

boulders host anemones, sponges

and slow-growing coral colonies,

some of which are thought to be

more than 1,000 years old.

Humans have also made their

mark.

The canyon holds shipwrecks

and deep-sea communications

cables that connect the East

Coast to the rest of the world.

Massive container ships traveling

to the Port of New York and New

Jersey pass through its waters, as

do whale-watching vessels and

commercial fishing boats. Until

the 1990 s, when the region

changed its dumping practices,

the canyon suffered from expo-

sure to sewage flows and toxins

from New York City and northern

New Jersey. Canyon explorers

have documented corals covered

in plastic and other debris.

Supporters of designating the

Hudson Canyon as a marine

sanctuary say it would help fund

new research and support the

local economy by ensuring the

survival of fish, scallops and

squid that keep fisheries in busi-

ness.

In its nominating proposal to

the NOAA, the Wildlife Conserva-

tion Society said the canyon “re-

mains a mysterious deep ocean

wilderness.”

“Distance from land and the

depth of the Canyon have result-

ed in limited human presence

thereby protecting, in large part,

its ecological integrity,” it wrote.

The group has asked that the

canyon be permanently protect-

ed from oil, gas and mineral

development, but did not request

restrictions on fishing. And

though developers are planning

to build commercial wind farms

off the Atlantic coast, the can-

yon’s distance from shore and

extreme depths makes it an unde-

sirable location for industrial

wind projects.

John Calvelli, the society’s ex-

ecutive vice president for public

affairs, said in an interview that

the canyon has the potential to

become a haven for ocean crea-

tures threatened by climate

change.

“The thinking is this area could

really become a refuge for species

that need colder water,” he said.

“We want to make sure we’re

protecting it for the future.”

An Alaska Native tribe on a

remote island north of the Aleu-

tians also celebrated Wednesday

that its coastal waters in the

eastern Bering Sea have been

nominated for consideration as a

future marine sanctuary.

The Aleut Community of St.

Paul Island, a federally recog-

nized tribe, nominated Alagum

Kanuux (Heart of the Ocean), an

area off the Pribilof Islands that is

home to more than half the

world’s population of fur seals, as

well as Steller sea lions and nu-

merous birds.

The shores of the Pribilof Is-

lands have been buffeted by

ocean plastics and conservation

groups participate in regular

cleanups that yield tens of thou-

sands of pounds of discarded

fishing gear and other debris.

Josh Partlow contributed to this

report.

Biden plans to make Hudson Canyon a marine sanctuary

MEL EVANS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A computer-generated map, created by professor Peter A. Rona at Rutgers University, shows the

Hudson Canyon on the ocean floor in 200 6. The canyon is located about 100 miles from New York City.

Designation would give

area same protections

as national parks

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