NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries today announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, Aug. 8 on its intention to conduct scoping and prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary.
The proposed Sanctuary, which has been in the national sanctuary inventory since 2017, would cover ~2,900 square miles in an area ~100 miles offshore New York and New Jersey.
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said that the sanctuary “would connect diverse communities across the region to the ocean and the canyon in new and different ways” as well as “help advance the Administration’s commitment to conserve and restore special marine places.”
NOAA National Ocean Service Director Nicole LeBoeuf added that the sanctuary could be a sentinel site for monitoring climate change impacts on deep sea habitats.
