May 26, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — A plan to protect deep sea coral from damage caused by fishing drew strong support from Maine’s lobstermen Thursday but mostly because planned fishing restrictions won’t affect them.
The New England Fishery Management Council has spent much of the past two years developing an “Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment” aimed at reducing the potential impacts of fishing on corals found in extremely deep water along the Northeast coast. As part of the process, the council proposed several alternatives that would prohibit all fishing in the affected areas. One plan would bar fishing in water depths ranging between 300 and 600 meters (about 985 to 1,970 feet). Another would ban fishing in 20 separate submarine canyons off the southern boundary of Georges Bank.
Some of those canyons lie within the boundaries of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument established by President Barack Obama last September.
While most of the areas that could be protected lie far offshore, two areas are situated within the Gulf of Maine. One is near Mount Desert Rock. The other is on Outer Schoodic Ridge.
Mount Desert Rock lies about 20 miles south of Mount Desert Island in Lobster Management Zone B. The council considered two alternative protection zones, primarily southwest of the rock, one of about 18 square miles and the other about 8 square miles, with water depths of 100 to 200 meters (330 to 660 feet).
The Outer Schoodic Ridge area lies about 25 miles southeast of MDI in Lobster Management Zone A. The protected area would be about 31 square miles in size.
Both areas are important lobster fishing grounds.