Tell NOAA: Expand California Sanctuaries for Whales, Seabirds, and Turtles
THE PETITION ASKING FOR PROTECTION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA'S SPECTACULAR COAST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR RESPONSE.
Nearly 3,000 of your comments were officially submitted to the Sanctuary Program on February 27, 2013, along with a letter from more than 12 national and statewide environmental organizations, and detailed technical testimony on the ecological value of expanding the California national marine sanctuaries.
BUT MARINE CONSERVATION INSTITUTE’S WORK IS NOT DONE. We have to make sure that the federal government listens to your voices and declares the spectacular northern coast of California off limits to drilling, seismic testing, and other threats. So, for the next two years, we will be following the process, organizing citizens to go to public meetings about the proposal, reviewing and commenting on the environment analysis, and telling the world why this place and its wildlife are so special and worthy of increased protection.
WE’RE GOING TO WORK ON THIS UNTIL IT’S DONE! We will occasionally need your help, financial support and voices, to accomplish this. Please follow our work at www.marine-conservation.org, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/MarineConservationInstitute, and on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SavingOceans. For now, THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS. We can’t win in this fight without your help.
Dear Dr. Blank:
I enthusiastically support the expansion of the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries to protect this magnificent marine ecosystem from threats like offshore oil drilling, ship pollution, and other harmful practices. I want to preserve this area of northern California’s ocean for the endangered blue whales, humpback whales, seabirds, and other wildlife that congregate to feed and give birth in its rich waters. Doubling the size of the existing sanctuaries is smart from an environmental and economic perspective as a healthy ocean is an important economic driver along this coast.
The proposed expansion area next to the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank hosts one of the four most productive ocean upwelling systems on earth. Nutrient-rich, cold water flows up from the deep ocean and nourishes a food web that extends down the California coast for hundreds of miles providing sustenance to marine communities. Protecting the Point Arena upwelling as a part of a national marine sanctuary means that this food engine will never be compromised by harmful activities. It means that blue whales, humpbacks, and tens of thousands of seabirds of seabirds will always find a meal there.
I want to add my support to the many dozens of environmental, fishing, business, and tourism groups and local country governments that have supported this proposal over the years that it has been in the making. Please listen to the wishes of my fellow citizens, governments and business interests who are asking you to expand the two sanctuaries as described in Federal Register Volume 77, Number 246 (published Friday, December 21, 2012, under Proposed Rules, Pages 75601-75602).
Thank you,
