Environmental groups are planning to sue President Trump over his plans to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.
The president signed an executive order Thursday that cleared the way for fishing operations, writing that “The United States should be the world’s dominant seafood leader.”
The nearly 500,000-square-mile monument, formerly known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, is located around 750 miles west of Hawaiʻi and is meant to protect and preserve the covered marine environment. It covers Baker, Howland and Jarvis islands; Johnston, Wake and Palmyra atolls; and Kingman Reef.
Commercial fishing is banned in the monument as part of that effort.
In a separate presidential proclamation Thursday, Trump wrote "I find that appropriately managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of scientific and historic interest that the PRIMNM protects at risk," adding that "Management of the PRIMNM is doing little to guard fish populations against overfishing as tunas and other pelagic species found within the boundaries of the PRIMNM are migratory in nature, and do not permanently reside within the PRIMNM."
For years, fishing industry leaders have made that same case, while proponents of the monument have said that protecting waters from fishing pressures has helped fish populations and reef environments.
In a statement, Hawaiʻi U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said, “We should be protecting the Pacificʻs unmatched ecology and biodiversity for future generations — this order does the opposite.”
Environmental activists are already talking about suing to stop Trump's actions.
“This is one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world that already faces dire threats from climate change and ocean acidification,” said David Henkin, an attorney in Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office, in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to protect the Monument.”
The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was first established by President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded by President Obama in 2014.
In 2023, President Biden initiated a process to designate the monument as a sanctuary, which would have expanded it to around 770,000 square miles by covering the entire U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone around the monument’s islands and reefs.
Meanwhile, the order would be a boon for U.S. commercial fishing, according to industry leaders and advocates.
The PRIMNM is one of the biggest marine protected areas in the world, trailing slightly behind the nearly 600,000-square-mile Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary that covers the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
Fishing advocates have argued that current protections haven’t led to meaningful environmental benefits, and that the commercial fishing industry in the U.S. is highly monitored and already sustainable.
But they say that banning fishing has devastated Pacific island nations' fishing industries, which are important economically, culturally and socially to those communities.
“This is recognition that sustainable fisheries and ocean protection can be achieved and balanced within US national waters,” said Hawaii Longline Association Executive Director Eric Kingma in a statement. “Previous presidents have mishandled the Antiquities Act to create huge closed areas that banned commercial fishing, with most of these closures occurring in the US Pacific Islands."
Hawaiʻi’s commercial longline fishing fleet is one of the state’s largest food producers, and brings in $100 million a year, mostly through landed tuna.
The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council has been opposed to monuments, sanctuaries, and expansions to protected areas in the Pacific for years because of their impact on commercial and noncommercial fishing.
Its director, Kitty Simonds, said that the proposed sanctuary designation for the PRIMNM would further harm American Samoa’s skipjack and albacore cannery operations, which drive its economy.
Simonds was at the White House on Thursday during Trump’s executive order signing ceremony.
Fishing advocates also said that protections and other regulations disadvantage U.S. fishers and help fishers from other countries, who they say are government-subsidized and don’t have to follow as many restrictions.
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