A key interstate fishing commission is calling on the White House to shoot down or dramatically limit a proposal for a national monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

Environmentalists want President Barack Obama to protect the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts, a chain of undersea formations about 150 miles off Massachusetts.

A policy board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says Wednesday that it’s taking a position against the proposal. The commission manages fisheries in East Coast states.

The commission says Obama should only designate a “limited” area if he does so at all.

Environmentalists also wanted Obama to protect Cashes Ledge, an underwater mountain range and ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine. The White House Council on Environmental Quality said in March that such protection isn’t under consideration.


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