Deep -Sea Coral MPA Established Off Mid-Atlantic With Fishing Exemptions for Lobsters and Red Crabs
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] December 15, 2016
NOAA Fisheries and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council finalized the rule to establish the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area in the Mid-Atlantic. This designation is intended to protect a large area of deep-sea corals in the Mid-Atlantic and bans commercial fishermen from using most types of bottom-tending fishing gear such as trawls, dredges, bottom longlines, and traps.
This MPA encompasses areas of known or highly likely coral presence in underwater canyons or slope areas along the continental shelf edge, as well as deeper areas where the presence of corals is uncertain, but where little or no fishing effort currently occurs...
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