President Trump today issued a Presidential Proclamation on “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific” that removes the prohibition on commercial fishing in the area located between 50-200 nautical miles from the landward boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
In explaining the decision, the Proclamation concludes that “appropriately managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of scientific and historic interest that the [monument] protects at risk,” adding that monument management to date “is doing little to guard fish populations against overfishing as tunas and other…species found within the…[monument]…are migratory in nature, and do not permanently reside within the [monument].” It adds that the commercial fishing prohibition has “driven American fishermen to fish further offshore in international waters to compete against poorly regulated and highly subsidized foreign fleets.”