Court backs creation of monument in Atlantic Ocean

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld former President Barack Obama’s designation of a federally protected conservation area in the Atlantic Ocean.

Fishing groups sued over the creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile area that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life. The monument was established in 2016.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last year, and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the decision Friday.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Conservation Law Foundation applauded the legal decision.

The area is the only marine monument in the Atlantic and is one of five U.S. marine monuments.