Protections sought for Gulf of Maine waters

BOSTON – Conservationists are calling for the creation of ocean parks and wilderness areas – similar to those on land – to protect the waters of the Gulf of Maine from overfishing and abuse.

Just like state or national parks that set rules on logging and hunting, the ocean preserves would determine where – and if – drilling, fishing or even sailing could occur in the Gulf, which runs from Canada to the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The Gulf of Maine was once one of the world’s most productive fishing grounds.

The Conservation Law Foundation planned to release a report Monday calling for the so-called marine protected areas to be established.

“On land we have many types of protection,” Priscilla M. Brooks, economist for the foundation, told The Boston Globe. “But we have nothing similar to protect this gulf.”

Ocean parks would be new to the United States, but they have already taken hold in Australia, New Zealand, England and the Philippines. In New Zealand, one conservation area allows only scientific research while another is closed only to commercial fishing.

Here, experts admit they haven’t worked out all the details of how such a park would function.

Offshore parks are “one of the hottest topics right now in marine conservation,” said Mike Connor, vice president of programs and exhibits at the New England Aquarium in Boston. “But no one knows how big they need to be to work yet, what is practical and how you enforce them.”

Authors of the report say it could take up to a decade to establish the areas. They say it will take time to give all parties a voice in mapping out what needs to be protected and deciding how to do so.