Mystic Aquariums is widely known for our facility that helps visitors connect with and care about marine life. In the field and behind the scenes, we engage in the rescue and rehabilitation of marine mammals, sea turtles and much more. Equally as important is the protection of ocean treasures. Working alongside animal care specialists and veterinarians are a group of research scientists that includes Dr. Peter Auster. Work done by Dr. Auster and Dr. Scott Kraus from New England Aquarium has been pivotal in identifying amazing and diverse habitats in the Atlantic Ocean that if protected would serve as a living laboratory for study, education and conservation for all future generations.

We are incredibly proud of the role that we have been able to take in a collective effort toward the designation of an important and vulnerable habitat right here in our own waters. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and other members of the Connecticut Congressional delegation recently proposed designation by President Obama of the first marine national monument in the U.S. Atlantic. Such a designation would protect the region’s fragile and sensitive marine life from offshore oil and gas development, commercial fishing, cable laying and other disruptive human activity and allow us to continue to study — and educate our visitors about — this vulnerable and otherworldly part of our ocean.

After decades of research, together these renowned scientists released wide-ranging scientific analysis of an area located 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The New England submarine canyons and seamounts are a system of five massive undersea canyons and four submerged volcanoes constitutes New England’s marine equivalent of the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Supporting an extraordinary array of ocean marine life, the area is home to unusually high concentrations of whales, dolphins, sea turtles, birds and colorful deep sea corals, some estimated to be over 1,000 years old. In its deeper reaches dwell a bizarre and strange cast of deep sea creatures, from deep sea fish to bioluminescent jellies, to eerily waving fields of sea pens.

At Mystic Aquarium, our job is to introduce the public to our ocean world, educate them about the myriad of aquatic ecosystems, and inspire in them a love of the ocean and a conservation ethic. In addition to those habitats that are easier to reach like coral reefs, kelp forests and rocky shores, it is equally important to introduce our guests to remote places. Designating the coral canyons and seamounts of New England as the nation’s first Atlantic marine national monument would help do that, by granting official recognition to an area every bit as rich and spectacular as the Grand Canyon. Mystic Aquarium strongly supports Senator Blumenthal’s proposal, and look forward to showcasing New England’s ocean treasures.

Stephen Coan
Mystic, Conn.

The writer is president and chief executive officer of the Mystic Aquarium.