Debate Over Opening U.S. Atlantic Marine Monument To Fishing

A leaked memo draft indicates that current Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is considering allowing fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

The monument covers about 5,000 square miles off Cape Cod and it's the first national monument in the U.S.'s Atlantic waters, designated last year by the Obama Administration.

When President Obama first created the monument, he said he was doing it in a way that "respects the fishing industry's unique role in New England's economy." However many commercial fishing groups disagreed, as the monument designation banned most commercial fishing in the area, with red crab and lobster fishermen given seven additional years to fish there.

Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy. He tweets @aarosenbergucs.

Shannon Eldredge, commercial fisherman and board president of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, which tweets @whofishsmatters.

Editor's Note: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the scope of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument designation.