PORTLAND, Maine - A federal appeals court on Friday upheld former President Barack Obama’s designation of a federally protected conservation area in the Atlantic Ocean, a move that commercial fishermen oppose. Fishing groups sued over the creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile (8,000-square-kilometre) area that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life. “Like one of America’s very first national monuments, the Grand Canyon, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts is a natural treasure. The area is the only marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean and is one of five marine monuments nationwide. The appeals court “gets the law wrong and ignores critical arguments“ and conflicts with a decision from another appeals court, “creating an important split which the Supreme Court may need to resolve,” Wood wrote in an email.

Source: thestar December 27, 2019 18:11 UTC