Strengthen the Northeast Canyons & Seamounts Marine Monument

Located 130 miles off the coast of New England, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument encompasses some of the most productive and sensitive ocean habitat in the Atlantic Ocean. The Monument includes three undersea canyons and four seamounts, and is home to deep sea corals, endangered whales, sea turtles, and many species of fish and marine life.

On June 4, 2024, the Biden Administration released the final management plan for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, marking a critical step to ensuring the proper care and management of fragile monument resources. The new plan restores critical protections that were weakened under the Trump administration in 2020.

To restore protections for this special designation, Surfrider worked with our coalition partners to advocate for a new management plan that includes the original management provisions delineated in the Presidential Proclamations of 2016 and 2021. The new management plan and regulations restore prohibitions on commercial fishing that were included in the original designation document.

Surfrider Foundation actively supported the federal government's plans to restore protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine Monument. We conducted outreach to our Northeast Chapter Network on the issue and the opportunity to participate in the public comment period. We educated our supporters and the public through our Instagram page @surfridernortheast and other channels. Our Northeast Regional Manager, Isabella DeFrancesco, delivered public testimony in support of the Draft Management Plan during an official public meeting. Finally, Surfrider submitted a comment letter to USFW and NOAA on behalf of our U.S. network (see here). 

“We are thrilled to see that the Biden Administration released a final management plan for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts. As this is the only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, ensuring it is protected is key to our mission at Surfrider. Our Northeast Chapters look forward to continuing to work with coalition partners to spread community involvement to achieve the future goals of the plan," said Isabella DeFrancesco
Northeast Regional Manager of the Surfrider Foundation.

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