President Obama has designated 4,913 square miles of ocean, 130 miles off Cape Cod on the southern edge of George’s Bank, as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the nation’s first marine reserve in the Atlantic Ocean.

Lee Crockett at the Pew Charitable Trusts writes: The protected area includes three canyons and four underwater mountains, where scientists have documented hundreds of species. Brilliant cold-water corals, some the size of small trees, form the foundation of deep-sea ecosystems, providing food, spawning habitat, and shelter for fish and other marine animals. The region is also home to tunas, sharks, seabirds, dolphins, and other marine mammals, such as endangered sperm whales and rare North Atlantic right whales.

The designation will end commercial fishing, drilling, or mining in the area, although the red crab and lobster fisheries will have seven years before they’re required to cease activity within the monument. Recreational fishing will still be permitted within the monument’s boundaries.

“Teddy Roosevelt had the foresight to protect the treasures of America’s landscape. With that same boldness, President Obama is conserving the crown jewels of our nation’s seascape,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council to CNN. “This historic act will make our ocean more resilient to climate change. By preserving this rich diversity of marine life, it will also support New England’s coastal and ocean economy.”

In August, the Obama administration dramatically expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. The expanded sanctuary at more than 580,000 square miles is the largest in the world.  In 2014, President Obama also created what is now the world’s second largest fully protected marine reserve in the central Pacific Ocean by broadening the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument from almost 87,000 square miles to more than 490,000 square miles.