Trump Administration Allows Commercial Fishing in Home of Endangered Turtles – ryan

On April 17, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation opening the waters of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to U.S. commercial fishing.

According to a fact sheet regarding the ordertitled “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific,” the monument was established by President George W. Bush in 2009. The Washington Post noted that President Barack Obama expanded the protected area in 2014.

Until Thursday’s executive order from the White House, the close to 500,000 square miles that make up the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument — an area of the central Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii that is twice the size of Texas — was closed off to commercial fishing to protect the marine life and migratory birds that call the area home.

The White House’s fact sheet claims, “the ban on commercial fishing” set up for the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument did “little to guard fish populations against overfishing” as the species are “migratory in nature” and don’t stay at the monument permanently. Under the Trump administration’s new order, U.S.-flagged vessels are allowed to fish commercially within 50 to 200 nautical miles of the boundaries of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.

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Alan Friedlander, a former chief scientist for National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project, told The Post that in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, the “vast majority of the species are resident,” not migratory.

The area is home to seven wildlife refuges, which are made up of coral reefs, island habitats, and open ocean. Sharks, fish, and two endangered species of sea turtles — hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley —use the area.

“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,” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said in a written statement obtained by The Hill.

“We should be protecting the Pacific’s unmatched ecology and biodiversity for future generations – this order does the opposite,” he added.

The changes to the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument follow news that endangered sea turtle populations are rebounding. According to The Associated Pressa global survey of 48 sea turtle populations found that over half of the groups are experiencing a decline in threats, which is bolstering the species’ populations.

Based on the data, sea turtles in the Atlantic Ocean are faring better than those in the Pacific Ocean, but entanglement in fishing gear remains a major threat to all sea turtle species.