September 20, 2016 — President Barack Obama is certainly sensitive enough to know the difference between, say, Republican Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts.
So we assume partisan politics had nothing to do with the declaration last week of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which leaves us scratching our heads.
Gov. Baker sees the monument designation of nearly 5,000 square miles of ocean as undermining commercial fishermen. We imagine that he, like many of us, wonders why the action came while federal regulators and regional ocean planners were developing a plan that balances environmentalism with impacts on the fisheries.
Commercial fishermen have contributed a remarkably miniscule amount to climate change, yet they understand remarkably clearly “the changes that are taking place that will affect their livelihood.”
The president’s statement seems incongruous according to the actual fishing activity taking place in the canyons and seamounts area, where it takes place relatively high in the water column, not the “pristine underseas.”