4 of 5 R.I. and Mass. residents support ocean protection

A RECENT POLL reveals the overwhelming majority of Rhode Island and Massachusetts residents favor protecting the ocean floor in the near Atlantic Ocean. Seen here is an orange coral fan hosting tiny yellow anemones growing on a steep rock wall edge approximately 2,700 ft deep in Nygren Canyon, which is 165 nautical miles southeast of Cape Cod. / COURTESY NOAA OKEANOS EXPLORER PROGRAM
A RECENT POLL reveals the overwhelming majority of Rhode Island and Massachusetts residents favor protecting the ocean floor in the near Atlantic Ocean. Seen here is an orange coral fan hosting tiny yellow anemones growing on a steep rock wall edge approximately 2,700 ft deep in Nygren Canyon, which is 165 nautical miles southeast of Cape Cod. / COURTESY NOAA OKEANOS EXPLORER PROGRAM

PROVIDENCE – The New England coral canyons and seamounts were among special ocean sites 80 percent of polled Rhode Island and Massachusetts residents voted to permanently protect from drilling, mining and fishing.

Priscilla Brooks, vice president and director of Ocean Conservation at Conservation Law Foundation, said: “We hope the people’s loud and clear voice calling for a marine national monument in New England’s waters will reach our region’s congressional leaders and the president.”

In the poll, which queried 403 Rhode Islanders and 400 Massachusetts residents, 87 percent of respondents said a healthy ocean is important to them, including 71 percent who categorized it as “very important.”

The poll found 78 percent of respondents favored protection for “unique deep-sea canyons, extinct volcanoes and deep-water corals.”

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“We often see strong support in polls for ocean conservation, and these results are among the most positive I have seen,” said Lisa Dropkin, a principal at Edge Research, the non-partisan marketing research firm that conducted the poll after being commissioned by Protect New England’s Ocean Treasures coalition.

Respondents represented all political affiliations and favored protection of these areas even after being asked if they favor the fact that the president is taking action to protect the described areas as a marine national monument and that an adverse economic impact could be felt after such protections were put in place.

Even considering negative economic impacts, less than one-third of respondents opposed protection.

New England’s coral canyons and seamounts, which lay more than 150 miles off New England’s coastline, include five canyons, some of which are deeper than the Grand Canyon, as well as four seamounts, the only such formations in the Atlantic Ocean. These structures support an ecosystem of tuna, sea turtles and seabirds, which scientists believe to be home to the highest diversity of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the North Atlantic.

The poll was conducted via telephone by Edge Research between June 21 and July 1, 2016. The margin of error is +/- 5 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

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