NEW BEDFORD, MA – In letters sent in late August to President Obama and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and Monterey, CA Mayor Clyde Roberson each expressed “serious concerns” about the potential economic harm to their ports from the use of executive action by the Obama Administration to create new federal marine monuments off the coasts of New England and California.
The mayors also emphasized the need for “transparency” and “robust stakeholder input.”
The letters reflect a growing movement from fishermen and fishing communities across the country opposing the creation of marine monuments outside of the existing ocean management processes.
In his letter to CEQ Acting Director Christy Goldfuss, Mitchell praised the successes of the current fishing management process – a process that emphasizes including the voices of
all ocean stakeholders in its deliberations.
“The process is far from perfect, but it affords ample opportunity for stakeholders and the public alike to review and comment on policy decisions and for the peer reviewing of the scientific bases of those decisions,” he wrote.
“The use of a parallel process, however well-meaning, which has none of the checks and balances employed in the NOAA…
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