September 29, 2015 — WASHINGTON — Jon Williams is hoping President Obama will think twice before establishing a National Marine Monument off the New England coast in waters where his five boats fish for Atlantic red crab.
“It’s very scary,” said Williams, owner of New Bedford’s Atlantic Red Crab Co. that employs nearly 150 people.
Should the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts Area be named a national monument, Williams said he would be cut off from fishing grounds that account for between 20 and 40 percent of his red crab haul – an annual loss of around $5 million.
“We have to fish these areas. That’s where the red crab live – at these depths,” he said.
Williams testified Tuesday before a House Natural Resources subcommittee that was examining the issue. Some House Republicans oppose the process of designating national monuments, which essentially leaves the decision solely in the hands of the president. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, has proposed giving Congress and affected governors a say.
A number of petitions are pending with the Obama Administration to designate areas off of Alaska and Cape Cod, which would permanently protect them from commercial fishing or oil exploration. And, the entire Connecticut delegation wrote President Obama earlier this month asking that he establish the Atlantic monument to safeguard “the abundance of fish, whales, dolphins and other marine creatures found in this spectacular undersea landscape.”
Read the full story at the Taunton Daily Gazette
Read Jon Williams’ testimony here