Biden proposes making underwater canyon off New York a marine sanctuary

 

Long ago, the retreat of ice age glaciers carved one of the largest underwater canyons in the world into the seabed about 100 miles from New York City. Now, hundreds of species live there, including sperm whales, sea turtles and deep-sea corals.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it intends to designate the area a new national marine sanctuary, which would give it some of the same protections afforded to national parks.

The Hudson Canyon — spanning nearly 7½ miles wide and more than two miles deep in some places — rivals the Grand Canyon in scale. The push to add it to the National Marine Sanctuary System reflects the Biden administration’s broader effort to safeguard critical habitat threatened by development and global warming by conserving 30 percent of the nation’s land and waters by 2030.

Wednesday marks World Oceans Day, when global leaders often make commitments to protect areas off their nation’s shores. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland also plans to sign an order to phase out the sale of single-use plastic products in national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands by 2032. The measure directs the department to find compostable or biodegradable alternatives — an effort to reduce the federal government’s contribution to the 14 million tons of plastic that wind up in the ocean every year...MORE

Wow. Seven and one/half miles wide. Sounds huge.

But take a look at this: The Organ Mountains/Desert Peaks National Monument is anywhere from 40 to 70 miles wide.

Either ours is way too big or theirs is way too small.