In 2015, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
was expanded to more than double in size,
and these are areas that nobody has ever seen
before, nobody has ever explored.
It's a very productive area of the ocean.
There's a high concentration of sea birds
and marine mammals that come there to feed.
There's also seafloor habitat that likely
includes some sensitive habitats and species.
A healthy ocean ecosystem provides so many
services to us, food, jobs, transportation,
carbon sequestration, and to protect the ocean
we need to understand what's there.
And right now there's about half of our sanctuary
that we've never even looked at, and that's
what this mission is all about, to go to these
new areas that we've never explored before.
And by doing this we'll be able to understand
the organisms, the habitat that's in our sanctuary,
and to be able to better manage and protect
it for the American people
