GROTON, Conn. (AP) - Nygren and Heezen canyons aren’t familiar natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, nor are Bear and Retriever seamounts the kinds of peaks that inspire throngs of sightseers, hikers and photographers to the slopes of Mount Washington every summer.
But Peter Auster, retired University of Connecticut marine sciences professor and now senior research scientist at Mystic Aquarium, has been doing his part to make more people aware of what these deep-sea landscapes hold.
“It’s not a pile of data, but showing people the wonders of our natural world that spurs people to support preserving our natural heritage,” he said last week in his office at UConn Avery Point, showing photographs of the undersea canyons and mountains 150 miles east of Cape Cod that may become the next Marine National Monument.
If President Barack Obama designates the area a monument before he leaves office in January, it would be the nation’s fifth such area, and the first in the Atlantic.
It would encompass an area of about 4,180 square miles, with canyons 2½ miles deep and seamounts that soar 7,700 feet from the sea floor.
Auster recently gave a presentation at the aquarium about what is being called the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts Area to a mixed audience of supporters and opponents of the monument plan.
That plan is backed by more than 40 environmental groups but opposed by commercial fishermen and their advocates, who are concerned about losing access to fishing grounds.
If the area of eight canyons and four seamounts just past the North American Continental Shelf becomes a monument, commercial fishing, mining, undersea cables and other industrial uses would be prohibited, but recreational fishing, diving and whale- and bird-watching cruises would be allowed there, Auster said.
For the people on the various sides of the issue- whether they favor the monument, oppose it or prefer the compromise of a smaller area for the monument, as some fisheries representatives propose -the photos shown by Auster during his presentation revealed a world undeniably strange and beautiful that only became fully visible to humans in the last 15 years.
“I’ve been to all four seamounts and all the canyons,” said Auster, referring to his participation in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research trips from 2001 to 2014, including taking on the role of principal investigator.
For some of those trips, he was on a NOAA vessel, monitoring oboard screens showing views from cameras attached to research submarines and undersea robots exploring the canyons and seamounts.
For other trips, he was stationed at screens onshore connected to ships with remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.
Auster first explored the area in the 1980s, he said. But it wasn’t until the last two decades when submersible research vessels that could explore deep-ocean regions like the canyons and seamounts area became available that the full breadth of the uniqueness and biodiversity of the life there began to be appreciated.
“This is about conserving a place that’s still relatively pristine,” he said. “Conservation is about keeping all the pieces, all the biodiversity. This isn’t a question of fishery management.”
As more explorations of the area showed more of its wonders- like 9-foot bubblegum corals that are more than 1,000 years old, rare ancient shark relatives with electrode receptors across their foreheads and gardens of golden sea fans -Auster and his fellow researchers shared the images with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups to suggest an effort begin to make it a National Monument.
Working with a colleague at the New England Aquarium in Boston, he “did the detailed analysis of all the available data” to further convince the groups of the area’s value.
Once they were on board, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., was enlisted to support the effort further, leading the rest of the Connecticut congressional delegation in writing an Aug. 2 letter to Obama urging he designate the area a Marine National Monument.
To leave the area unprotected, Auster believes, would risk seeing a fragile ecosystem ruined by commercial interests.
As supplies of precious metals used in cellphones, computers and other electronic devices become scarcer on land, mining companies increasingly are interested in exploiting areas like the New England seamounts where these metals also occur, he said.
In addition, methane seeps in these areas have been identified as potential new sources of energy.
“We have an obligation to preserve these areas for current and future generations,” Auster said. “Human activities all over the world are going deeper and deeper into the oceans, and conservation actions are not keeping up.”
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Information from: The Day, https://www.theday.com
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