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DECEMBER 23, 2016
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
HOLIDAYS OUR SCHEDULE The offices of Ocean City Today will be closed Friday and Monday for the holiday and will reopen 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
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Aquarium will drop petition if locals balk CEO says aim to reach understanding on marine sanctuary for Balto. Canyon
KARA HALLISSEY/OCEAN CITY TODAY
‘TIS THE SEASON That’s the message at Winterfest of Lights at Northside Park on 125th Street, where even the most humbuggiest of us all can capture a little of the holiday spirit.
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Dec. 23, 2016) The National Aquarium has heard and responded to the sports fishing industry’s outcry over the possibility of establishing the Baltimore Canyon as an urban marine sanctuary, and has not only promised to cooperate with the angling community, but will withdraw its application altogether if an agreement can’t be reached. “If the communities of our Eastern Shore feel a national marine sanctuary is not the right idea, we have little interest in pursuing such a course,” National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli said in an open letter issued to local publications. “We will only seek solutions that have the support and backing of the entire community and its leaders.” Months earlier, the National Aquarium launched a petition to name the Baltimore Canyon, 28-mile long submarine canyon roughly 60 miles off the Ocean City Inlet, as its first urban marine sanctuary. This would protect the ecosystem and restrict the offshore exploration of minerals, oil and gas. Local anglers and the charter boat community criticized the petition and feared it could lead one day to a prohibition of recreational fishing there. That could cost the resort economy millions of dollars, opponents of the designation argued. In the weeks since, the recreational fishing industry convinced the Ocean City Council to send a letter making its opposition clear. Last week, a coalition of congressmen, including Maryland’s representative Andy Harris, sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expressing concerns that there was no provision to protect fishing. It also said that the deep-sea corals are already protected through the MidSee DESIGNATION Page 3