Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific

Key Points

• Trump is lifting commercial fishing bans across several major Pacific marine national monuments, including parts of the Mariana Trench, Papahānaumokuākea (near Hawaii), and Rose Atoll. This opens hundreds of thousands of square miles to U.S. fishing boats.
• Only U.S.-flagged vessels are allowed to fish commercially in these waters, with limited exceptions for foreign vessels transporting fish caught by American fishermen. This is designed to benefit American fishing communities and seafood producers.
• The proclamation argues that existing federal laws like the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act already provide enough environmental protection, making the monument fishing bans unnecessary.
• Some protections remain intact. Fishing is still restricted within 50 nautical miles of certain Northwestern Hawaiian Islands features and within 12 nautical miles of Rose Atoll, though those rules could be changed later through separate regulatory processes.
• The Secretary of Commerce must update or remove existing regulations that conflict with this new policy, and is directed to explore whether enforcement discretion can be used immediately to start allowing fishing before formal rules are rewritten.