NOAA Fisheries just announced a plan that would open four of the most protected areas in the Pacific Ocean — the Mariana Trench, Papahānaumokuākea, Rose Atoll, and Pacific Remote Islands National Monuments — to commercial fishing. Together, these monuments span more than 1.1 million square miles of coral reef and deep-sea habitat that shelter endangered sea turtles, monk seals, whales, and species found nowhere else on Earth, like the Mariana snailfish.

The plan doesn't stop at the monuments. NOAA also wants to re-examine the core scientific standards, known as the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) national standards, that have guided sustainable fishing in the U.S. for almost 50 years — including rules meant to prevent overfishing, protect sensitive habitats, and cut down on accidental bycatch of endangered animals. At the same time, the agency is shelving a rule requiring ropeless fishing gear meant to protect the roughly 350 North Atlantic right whales still alive today from deadly entanglement.

"It's inexcusable for the administration to make it easier to destroy marine habitats and commit endangered species to extinction in the name of short-term profits," said Andrea Treece, senior attorney at Earthjustice's Oceans Program.

Weakening these protections won't just harm marine wildlife, it threatens the long-term health of the fishing industry itself. Healthy fish populations depend on healthy ecosystems, and once a species disappears, no policy change can bring it back.

These are some of the last truly wild places left in our ocean. Sign the petition to demand NOAA Fisheries reverse this plan and keep America's marine monuments and endangered species protections in place — before it's too late to undo the damage.