"More than 35,000 square miles (90,650 sq km) of ocean habitat along the U.S. Atlantic coast gained protection on Wednesday from trawl and dredge fishing that could harm deep-sea ocean corals, according to an environmental group supporting the restrictions.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to protect an area of the Atlantic Ocean stretching from Long Island, New York to the border of southern border of Virginia.

The protected zone encompasses an open water space as large as Kentucky, according to Oceana, a environmental nonprofit based in Washington."

Harriet McLeod reports for Reuters June 11, 2015. [2]