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VIDEO COURTESY THE WHITE HOUSE
With a presidential proclamation signed in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump removed the fishing limits within portions of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near the Hawaiian Islands.
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GREG MCFALL / NOAA
As the largest protected place on the planet, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument covers more than a half-million square miles of islands and atolls in the Pacific Ocean. With a presidential proclamation signed in the Oval Office, Trump removed the fishing limits within portions of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near Hawaii.
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REUTERS/DANIEL HEUER
President Donald Trump holds a proclamation for restoring American commercial fishing in the Pacific, after signing it today in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump today opened protected Pacific Ocean waters to commercial fishing, lifting restrictions that barred the activity within three marine national monuments.
With a presidential proclamation signed in the Oval Office, Trump removed the fishing limits within portions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument near the Hawaiian Islands, the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument near Guam and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument near American Samoa, an administration official said.
All three of the marine monuments were first designated by former President George W. Bush, a Republican. The monument in Hawaii was subsequently expanded by both former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“With today’s action we are officially reopening nearly half a million square miles of water around the northwestern Hawaiian islands, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa,” Trump said. “Why the hell did they close it?”
“It ruined a big industry, by the way,” Trump added.
The proclamation marks the latest Trump administration policy shift in favor of fishermen, who have sought higher catch limits and access to more waters. The president has already signed proclamations lifting commercial fishing restrictions in other marine monuments in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
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Fishermen in the Oval Office with Trump on Thursday urged the president to go further and expand opportunities for scallop fishing in Georges Bank near Massachusetts, where catches are limited in order to support sustainable harvests.
Supporters of the move said marine monument restrictions pushed commercial fisherman further offshore into international waters, where they competed against foreign fishing fleets subject to fewer regulations.
“By restoring commercial fishing in the remote Pacific, we are creating new economic opportunity for coastal communities and restoring U.S. seafood competitiveness,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a news release.
Opponents called Trump’s decision a short-sighted attempt to plunder waters prized for their biodiversity.
“This is a reckless attack on the world’s greatest ocean sanctuaries,” said Maxx Phillips of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “Opening all these protected waters to commercial fishing ignores science, undermines Native stewardship and risks irreparable damage to our oceans for no public benefit.”