Canada announced on Wednesday that it has enacted a statutory moratorium on offshore oil and gas activity in Canada’s portion of Georges Bank to protect a coral habitat and one of the world’s most productive fishing grounds.
Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia. It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.
The decision was taken by the country’s federal minister for natural resources, Jim Carr, and by the province of Nova Scotia’s minister of energy, Michael Samson.
Their joint ministerial notice established the moratorium effective from April 15 and thought to the year 2022.
