PACIFIC TUNA INDUSTRY PREPARES TO FISH US MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Industrial fishing interests in the Pacific Ocean have responded to a statement made by President Trump requesting to open four Marine National Monuments to commercial fishing in response to COVID.

The request from the council arrived in Washington a day after Trump signed an Executive Order promoting American seafood competitiveness and economic growth and competitiveness of the U.S. seafood industry. A statement by NOAA, the agency that regulates US fisheries, added this plan will propel the United States forward as a seafood superpower by strengthening the American economy.

These claims are not supported by a scientific study published this year by a team of economists and scientists who determined that the Pacific marine protected areas in the the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and the Pacific Remote Islands (established by President GW Bush in 2005 and 2007, and expanded by President Obama in 2014 and 2016) had little if any negative impacts on commercial fisheries. In fact, the study determined that Hawaii’s longline fleet had actually caught more fish after the monuments were expanded.

With Earth Island Institute and the International Marine Mammal Project, Shark Stewards is prepared to sue the administration in Federal court to halt this violation of the Antiquities Act. Please share this petition, and if you can, donate to support this suit.