President Trump today issued a Presidential Proclamation removing the prohibition on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, finding that “appropriately managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of scientific and historical interest that the monument protects at risk” and that a prohibition on commercial fishing is not now necessary for the proper care and management of the monument or its objects of historic or scientific interest.
Among other things, the Proclamation notes that the original 2016 monument designation allows for recreational fishing and acknowledges the importance of fishing to the Northeast region, many of the fish identified in the original designation are highly migratory and not unique to the monument and some are not of significant scientific interest, and that all of the fish described in the original designation are subject to protection under existing laws and agency management decisions.
