On June 5, 2020, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation rolling back an Obama-era order and opening approximately 4,913 square miles of water and submerged lands off the coast of New England to commercial fishing.
The proclamation states:
After further consideration of the nature of the objects identified in Proclamation 9496 and the protection of those objects already provided by Magnuson-Stevens and other relevant law, I find that a prohibition on commercial fishing is not, at this time, necessary for the proper care and management of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, or the objects of historic or scientific interest therein.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act is the principal law ruling marine fisheries management in United States federal waters. It promotes fishing in line with conservation principles and enforces the protection of essential fish habitat, among many other things. Other relevant laws still in effect include the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Refuge Recreation Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Oil Pollution Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and Title I of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (Ocean Dumping Act).
The proclamation gives examples of how these laws enforce conservation:
The Endangered Species Act generally prohibits the taking of fish and wildlife species listed as endangered, and also generally ensures that Federal actions, including fisheries management, are not likely to jeopardize the existence of any such species. The Marine Mammal Protection Act provides protections for marine mammals and prohibits their take, subject to some exceptions. Numerous other statutes, including the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, and Ocean Dumping Act, address both land-based and ocean-based sources of pollution and help ensure that water quality continues to support plankton and other pelagic organisms.
With that as justification, Trump declared during a roundtable talk in Maine with commercial fishers and the state’s former governor Paul LePage:
We’re opening it today. What reason did he have for closing 5,000 miles? That’s a lot of miles. Five thousand square miles is a lot. He didn’t have a reason, in my opinion.
And we want conservation. I’m a believer in conservation. But they’ve gone crazy. And then, other countries, they don’t have the same, so you have a much more expensive product. You have a better product, but you’re not allowed to even get it, in many cases. Right?
So America is blessed with some of the richest ocean resources anywhere in the world — except when they close it up — and yet we have a 16.6-billion-dollar seafood trade deficit and import over 85 percent of the fish we consume. No wonder. You have 5,000 miles that’s closed up. Who would think that we — so we import 85 percent of the fish from other countries that are your competitors, and we have the best fishing areas in the world.
And we want conservation. We want good environmental practices — very important. But we also want something that’s fair to you. They’ve taken your livings away.
Ms. Raymond replied:
The management of fisheries within our exclusive economic zone is rightfully managed under the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. So, we have a process to do that. We don’t need the Antiquities Act to be establishing monuments that restrict fishing.
However, conservation groups fear environmental protection measures are not enough, and environmentalists warn the modification could further imperil hundreds of endangered species and protected habitat. They say that the reason behind the establishment of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in 2016 was to shield endangered species and their ecosystem from damaging intrusion and irreversible damage for the sake of profit.
The Defenders of Wildlife’s senior vice president of Conservation Programs, Bob Dreher, said:
Opening up the nation’s only marine national monument in the Atlantic will help no one but a handful of fishers while risking irreparable damage to the marine wildlife that have no other fully protected areas of our eastern seaboard. Ancient and slow-growing deep-sea corals, endangered large whales and sea turtles, and an incredible array of fish, seabirds, sharks, dolphins, and other wildlife—these are the species and habitats that will pay the price.
Meanwhile, there are people ready to put up a fight. Brad Sewell, senior director of oceans for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is willing to take legal action against the Trump administration. He will do whatever necessary to protect the marine treasures and guard them against exploitation by commercial fishing.
He said:
Commercial fishing poses a range of threats, such as harm to deep-sea corals from heavy fishing gear, and entanglement of bycatch and marine mammals. These fragile, extraordinary ocean areas are full of thousand-year-old corals, endangered whales, and other precious marine life. They belong to all Americans, and they are held in trust for future generations.
The roll-back is likely happening now in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is one of many measures taken to help the country’s economy recover. But environmentalists point out that the moves could fix one problem while potentially causing another even more devastating one.
