President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday overturning an Obama-era ban on commercial fishing in the nearly 500,000-
square-mile Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, fulfilling a years-long goal of fishing advocates from Hawaii and American Samoa in an Oval Office ceremony.
“We are very grateful in
Hawaii for this,” Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, told Trump.
Trump’s executive order opens commercial fishing access within 50 to 200 nautical miles of the monument, which will provide Hawaii’s longline fleet of 150 vessels access to sashimi-grade tuna and swordfish that could be consumed on the mainland, Simonds told Trump.
Neither the Pacific Fishery Management Council nor the Hawaii Longline Association immediately responded to
requests for comment.
Trump on Thursday also
issued another executive order that his administration said strengthens the U.S. fishing
industry “by reducing regulatory burdens, combating unfair foreign trade practices, and enhancing domestic seafood production and exports.”
Among other things, “It directs the Secretary of Commerce to immediately consider suspending, revising, or rescinding regulations that overly burden America’s commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries.”
It also “mandates the development of a seafood trade strategy to address
unfair competition, low
environmental and labor standards, and illegally sourced seafood from abroad, while expanding access to foreign markets for American seafood products,” according to the
administration.
The Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument was created by President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded by President Barack Obama in 2014.
It includes seven national wildlife refuges: Howland, Baker and Jarvis islands; Johnston, Wake and Palmyra atolls; and Kingman Reef,
according to Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office, which vowed to fight Trump’s order.
In a statement, Earthjustice said the monument includes “some of the most diverse aquatic life on the planet, including sharks, rays, marlin, tuna, giant clams, hawksbill turtles, ancient coral forests, and whales. Adjacent land areas provide the foraging habitat for several of the world’s largest remaining colonies of seabird species including Sooty Terns and Lesser Frigatebirds. While they are not inhabited today, Pacific
Island Indigenous Peoples wayfinders visited these
islands while navigating through the Pacific Ocean. These protected areas hold significant ancestral, historical, and cultural significance to the Pacific Island Indigenous Peoples.”
Obama had imposed the commercial fishing ban in 2014 to protect vulnerable species including whales, dolphins and sea turtles.
But fishing regulations by Obama and former President Joe Biden, Trump said, meant “they took away very fertile grounds. This is just crazy.”
The Center for Biological Diversity opposes lifting the ban; it said that would further deplete stocks of species, along with endangered and threatened marine life.
Some of the species have been “pushed to the brink,” said Maxx Phillips, Hawaii and Pacific island director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
And opening up the monument to commercial fishing does not guarantee that larger fleets from foreign countries — notably China — will not overrun it,
she told the Honolulu
Star-Advertiser.
“There’s a reason why these prohibitions were put in place,” she said. “The administration obviously does not understand science. These stock species need places where they can rebuild. The science is irrefutable. Marine protected areas work, so it’s infuriating.”
Phillips called Trump’s executive order “a full-on attack against environmental progress and Indigenous-led stewardship. All of us have a kuleana to do everything in our power … to restore protections. Now is the time to step forward.”
David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney, said in a
statement that lifting the commercial fishing ban represents “yet another attempt by President Trump to undermine decades of work to protect and preserve public lands and waters, endangered species, and cultural heritage in favor of commercial interests. This is one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world that already faces dire threats from climate change and ocean acidification. We will do everything in our power to protect the
monument.”
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz joined criticism of Trump’s executive order.
“At a time when the
climate crisis is threatening our fragile ocean ecosystem and costing us lives and livelihoods every year, President Trump’s response is to gut protections for some of our nation’s most important natural resources, including the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument,” Schatz said in a
statement.
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was unequivocal when he assured me during his confirmation hearing that consultation would take place prior to any actions on fisheries in the Pacific. No such consultation occurred in advance of today’s executive order. The public deserves answers, and I expect him to come before Congress to
explain this misguided
decision.
“We should be protecting the Pacific’s unmatched ecology and biodiversity for future generations — this
order does the opposite.”