President Trump is opening commercial fishing in one of the world's largest ocean reserves, ending years of strict protection for a region rich in marine life. The executive order issued Thursday involves the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, an area about 750 miles west of Hawaii that covers nearly 500,000 square miles. The monument—established by President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded by President Obama in 2014—contains more than 160 seamounts, coral atolls, endangered sea turtles, and whales. "The United States should be the world's dominant seafood leader," Trump said, describing the decision as an "easy one." He noted America's seafood trade deficit stands at more than $20 billion.
A second executive order instructs the Commerce Department to ease regulations for commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries and tasks the Interior Department with reviewing all marine monuments with an eye on opening others to commercial fishing. The AP calls it "a dramatic shift in federal policy on fishing in US waters by prioritizing commercial fishing interests over efforts to allow the fish supply to increase." Environmentalists decried the move as well as the administration's assertion that measures like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act would provide adequate protection for the area, reports the New York Times.
Trump was joined in the Oval Office by a fisherman from American Samoa and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, American Samoa's delegate to the House of Representatives. President Trump criticized previous protections, saying, "It's so horrible and so stupid. You're talking about a massive ocean and they're forced to go and travel four to seven days to go and fish in an area that's not as good," a reference to how long it takes fishermen to reach non-protected areas.
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Radewagen—who had requested the reopening in a letter to Trump in January, citing the territory's dependence on fishing, especially tuna—called it a "sensible proclamation" that "is important to the stability and future of American Samoa's economy, but it also is fantastic news for US food security." Environmentalists, however, noted that the number of fish stocks that appear on the federal overfished list jumped to 47 in 2023 from 40 a decade prior; many worry the number will only continue to grow in light of lessened protections. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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