How would you feel if the most significant underwater ecosystem on the Eastern Seaboard was at risk of overfishing, oil drilling, and sand mining?

Cashes Ledge, an underwater kelp forest and mountain range the size of Rhode Island, is home to hundreds of species that are currently under threat from these environmental and political issues. This amazing ecosystem is home to native species including North Atlantic cod and puffin, as well as the North Atlantic right whale.

Cashes Ledge is in a state of extreme distress, and we can do something about it. This issue goes beyond protests, signing petitions, and an online media presence.

To save this  treasure of the North Atlantic, it needs serious legislative attention, and that’s exactly what we students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst involved in the MASSPIRG campaign “Protect our Oceans” are trying to do.

We are urging state representatives, town officials, and district representativess to support our cause in a plea to liberate Cashes Ledge from ecological destruction.

President Biden has a chance to save Cashes Ledge by permanently and federally preserving this ecosystem, making it illegal for overfishing, oil drilling, and sand mining. We call on President Biden to help us federally protect the “Yellowstone of the North Atlantic” (National Geographic) and save hundreds of species and this amazing underwater mountain range and kelp forest.

KELLSIE McKEOWN

Amherst