On August 8, a Hawaii Federal district court ruling determined that a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Services under NOAA authorizing the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument did not have legal authority to open the protected area to fishing. The ruling was in response to a direction under NOAA by the Administrationʻs direction for the removal of protected status by Executive Order from Donald Trump. Since the original announcement, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the body responsible for commercial fishing in US and International waters in the Pacific, greenlit fishing in Johnson, Jarvis and Wake islands.
The court’s order declares unlawful and cancels the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) April 25 letter that purported to authorize commercial fishing in the portions of the monument established under President GW Bush in 2009, and increased under President Obama in 2014. It is expected this will be appealed by NMFS but is a positive sign for the other two monuments under review.
These arguments focused on NMFS’s failure to follow the lawful process to change commercial fishing regulations within the monument’s boundaries under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This law requires public notice and an opportunity for public comment (including expert input) before any changes to fishing regulations take effect.
Scientific studies have demonstrated that restricting fishing within protected areas like the monument increases the abundance of fish within the reserve, and increases the abundance of fish available to commercial fishers in waters outside the protected areas by as much as 50%.
This is positive news for maintaining marine protection in US waters, but appeals and pending recommendations by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council still leave Americaʻs healthiest coral reefs and marine ecosystems at risk.
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