President Biden today issued a Presidential Proclamation reversing a decision by the Trump administration in order to restore a prohibition on commercial fishing activities in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument (other than for red crab and American lobster, which may be permitted until Sept. 15, 2023 under the terms of the original 2016 monument designation).
In reversing the previous decision, Biden said that the prohibition “will ensure that the unique, fragile, and largely pristine canyons and seamounts, and the dynamic ocean systems and marine life they support…will be safeguarded and will continue to provide an important venue for scientific study and research,” providing “necessary, additional, and lasting protections for…objects of historic and scientific interest.”
The proclamation further stated that commercial fishing “has the potential to significantly degrade the monument’s objects of historic and scientific interest,” citing threats from bottom-contact fishing gear, fixed fishing gear with buoys, submerged lines, and associated traps, mesh, or hooks, and added that other laws enacted since the Antiquities Act are insufficient to address threats to the designated area.
In public remarks during a signing ceremony restoring the commercial fishing prohibition and two onshore national monuments, Biden called national monuments and parks “part of…our identity as a people” and “more than natural wonders; they’re the birthright we pass from generation to generation – a birthright of every American.” As part of the rationale for his decision, Biden also cited estimates by scientists that protecting and restoring national lands and waters “can provide nearly 40 percent of the solutions to climate change.”
A White House Fact Sheet on the announcement noted that the President has “set the first-ever national conservation goal, which the Administration is pursuing by supporting locally-led and voluntary conservation efforts across the country and creating more equitable access to the outdoors, including by investing in urban parks.”
