Saving Seafood

Fishermen, Conservationists Go Head To Head Over East Coast Underwater National Monument

May 9, 2017 — New England fishermen are hoping President Donald Trump will reverse an undersea monument designation they say has cut them off from nearly 5,000 square miles of valuable fishing grounds off the coast of Cape Cod.

Trump last month directed the Department of the Interior to conduct a sweeping review of national monument designations over the last two decades, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, which President Barack Obama declared the first undersea national monument in the Atlantic Ocean in September.

The area is a “spectacular landscape” home to a “whole diversity of otherwordly creatures that most people are not familiar with,” said Peter Auster, a senior research scientist at Mystic Aquarium who helped secure the designation and has conducted research in the area. There are undersea canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and extinct underwater volcanoes “taller than anything east of the Rockies” with a variety of species of fragile coral, he said.

But Joseph Gilbert, owner of Stonington-based Empire Fisheries, said since the designation, “we’ve been pushed to other areas” creating unnecessary competition and pressure as more boats are fishing in a smaller area. Fishermen, who have been using the area for 200 years, Gilbert said, were given just two months to get out.

Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare the area a national monument, and that’s what’s at the heart of Gilbert’s objections, he said. Using the Antiquities Act circumvented the New England Fishery Management Council, the normal process for fishery management, and allowed for less input from the industry, Gilbert said.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant

Interior, Commerce Departments Seek Comments in Marine Monuments Review

May 8, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Department of the Interior announced Friday the public would be allowed to weigh in on several monument designations made under the Antiquities Act — including several marine monuments.

The Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of Interior, will review public comments related to marine monuments, all but one of which are in the Pacific Ocean. This action is related to President Trump’s executive order 13795, relating to offshore energy and monuments review.

The marine monuments slated for review include:

  • Marianas Trench, listed in 2009, at 61 million acres, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands/Pacific Ocean;
  • Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, listed in 2016 at 3.1 million acres, in Atlantic Ocean;
  • Pacific Remote Islands, listed in 2009 at 56 million acres;
  • Papahanaumokuakea, listed in 2006 and expanded in 2016 at 89.6 million acres, in Hawaii/Pacific Ocean; and
  • Rose Atoll, listed in 2009 at 8.6 million acres, in American Samoa/Pacific Ocean.

A public comment period is not required for monument designations under the Antiquities Act; however, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and President Trump both strongly believe that local input is a critical component of federal land management, Zinke said in a press release Friday.

“The Department of the Interior is the steward of America’s greatest treasures and the manager of one-fifth of our land. Part of being a good steward is being a good neighbor and listening to the American people who we represent,” Zinke said in the statement. “Today’s action, initiating a formal public comment process finally gives a voice to local communities and states when it comes to Antiquities Act monument designations. There is no pre-determined outcome on any monument. I look forward to hearing from and engaging with local communities and stakeholders as this process continues.”

In making the requisite determinations, the secretary is directed to consider the requirements and original objectives of the Antiquities Act, including the size of the monument; whether the areas are appropriately classified as landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures or other objects of historic or scientific interest; the effects of a designation on the available uses of the areas; the effects of designation on the use and enjoyment of non-federal lands within or beyond the monument boundaries; the concerns of state, tribal and local governments, including the economic development of affected states, tribes and localities; and the ability of federal resources to properly manage designated areas.

Comments may be submitted online after May 12 at http://www.regulations.gov by entering “DOI-2017-0002” in the Search bar and clicking “Search,” or by mail to Monument Review, MS-1530, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

Panel Outlines Devastating Social and Economic Consequences of Antiquities Designations

May 2, 2017 — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard testimony on the consequences of Executive Branch overreach of the Antiquities Act. The panel discussed national monuments designated without significant local input or support or that included excessively large or restricted areas of land.

Director of the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office and former head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Kathleen Clarke discussed the devastating economic consequences for Utah communities after President Clinton designated 1.7 million acres in Utah as the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in 1996.

“Families that have lived for generations in affected communities find their families torn apart due to lack of employment opportunities for the next generation. Populations are declining. In the twenty years since the creation of the Grand Staircase, school enrollment in Escalante has gone from 150 to 57 students,” Clarke said.

The monument included roughly 176,000 acres of Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) lands, which generate revenues for the state’s K-12 public education system. According to the Utah Geological Survey, the value of resources on school trust lands dropped by $8 billion immediately after the monument designation.

President Obama’s December 2016 Bears Ears National Monument designation similarly locked up 109,000 acres of SITLA land in southern Utah. “What impact will this have for SITLA as they try to grow their fund to benefit more schoolchildren in the state,” Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) asked Clarke.

This will “diminish opportunity,” Clarke responded, adding that it threatens Utah’s entire K-12 public education system.

Knox Marshall, Vice President of the Resources Division at Murphy Company, testified that President Obama’s January 2017 expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon and California has “devastated the social fabric of our rural communities and crippled county finances.”

“Douglas County in Oregon, for example, has recently closed its entire public library system because timber sale revenues that previously funded those libraries and a robust set of other public services have largely disappeared,” Marshall added.

Maine Governor Paul LePage outlined current and anticipated adverse impacts resulting from the August 2016 Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument designation by President Obama, including economic losses to the forestry industry and public access barriers such as the loss of connectivity for ATV trails in the region.

“Not long after President Obama designated the Monument, Maine residents started to feel the negative effects of having the federal government as their new master,” LePage stated.

“These designations were often imposed in spite of local opposition, without consultation with Congress, or the state or local government’s effected, and without regard for the economic damage these designations have had on surrounding communities,” Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) said.

After reading letters and resolutions from local tribes in Utah opposing the Bears Ears designation Chairman Bishop stated, “I hope that those listening today will remember these voices, the ones that have been excluded from this conversation and the ones that President Obama ignored when he designated Bears Ears National Monument.”

Click here to view full witness testimony.

Presidential Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy

May 1, 2017 — The following was released by the White House:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq., and in order to maintain global leadership in energy innovation, exploration, and production, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Findings.  America must put the energy needs of American families and businesses first and continue implementing a plan that ensures energy security and economic vitality for decades to come.  The energy and minerals produced from lands and waters under Federal management are important to a vibrant economy and to our national security.  Increased domestic energy production on Federal lands and waters strengthens the Nation’s security and reduces reliance on imported energy.  Moreover, low energy prices, driven by an increased American energy supply, will benefit American families and help reinvigorate American manufacturing and job growth.  Finally, because the Department of Defense is one of the largest consumers of energy in the United States, domestic energy production also improves our Nation’s military readiness.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It shall be the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, in order to maintain the Nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people, while ensuring that any such activity is safe and environmentally responsible.

Sec. 3.  Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.  To carry out the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, the Secretary of the Interior shall:

(a)  as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, including the procedures set forth in section 1344 of title 43, United States Code, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, give full consideration to revising the schedule of proposed oil and gas lease sales, as described in that section, so that it includes, but is not limited to, annual lease sales, to the maximum extent permitted by law, in each of the following Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas, as designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) (Planning Areas):  Western Gulf of Mexico, Central Gulf of Mexico, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic;

(b)  ensure that any revisions made pursuant to subsection (a) of this section do not hinder or affect ongoing lease sales currently scheduled as part of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program, as published on November 18, 2016; and

(c)  develop and implement, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce and to the maximum extent permitted by law, a streamlined permitting approach for privately funded seismic data research and collection aimed at expeditiously determining the offshore energy resource potential of the United States within the Planning Areas.

Sec. 4.  Responsible Planning for Future Offshore Energy Potential.  (a)  The Secretary of Commerce shall, unless expressly required otherwise, refrain from designating or expanding any National Marine Sanctuary under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq., unless the sanctuary designation or expansion proposal includes a timely, full accounting from the Department of the Interior of any energy or mineral resource potential within the designated area    including offshore energy from wind, oil, natural gas, methane hydrates, and any other sources that the Secretary of Commerce deems appropriate    and the potential impact the proposed designation or expansion will have on the development of those resources.  The Secretary of the Interior shall provide any such accounting within 60 days of receiving a notification of intent to propose any such National Marine Sanctuary designation or expansion from the Secretary of Commerce.

(b)  The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall conduct a review of all designations and expansions of National Marine Sanctuaries, and of all designations and expansions of Marine National Monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906, recently recodified at sections 320301 to 320303 of title 54, United States Code, designated or expanded within the 10-year period prior to the date of this order.

(i)   The review under this subsection shall
include:

(A)  an analysis of the acreage affected and an analysis of the budgetary impacts of the costs of managing each National Marine Sanctuary or Marine National Monument designation or expansion;

(B)  an analysis of the adequacy of any required Federal, State, and tribal consultations conducted before the designations or expansions; and

(C)  the opportunity costs associated with potential energy and mineral exploration and production from the Outer Continental Shelf, in addition to any impacts on production in the adjacent region.

(ii)  Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Interior, shall report the results of the review under this subsection to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

(c)  To further streamline existing regulatory authorities, Executive Order 13754 of December 9, 2016 (Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience), is hereby revoked.

Sec. 5.  Modification of the Withdrawal of Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from Leasing Disposition.  The body text in each of the memoranda of withdrawal from disposition by leasing of the United States Outer Continental Shelf issued on December 20, 2016, January 27, 2015, and July 14, 2008, is modified to read, in its entirety, as follows:

“Under the authority vested in me as President of the United States, including section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1341(a), I hereby withdraw from disposition by leasing, for a time period without specific expiration, those areas of the Outer Continental Shelf designated as of July 14, 2008, as Marine Sanctuaries under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, 16 U.S.C. 1431-1434, 33 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.”

Nothing in the withdrawal under this section affects any rights under existing leases in the affected areas.

Sec. 6.  Reconsideration of Notice to Lessees and Financial Assurance Regulatory Review.  The Secretary of the Interior shall direct the Director of BOEM to take all necessary steps consistent with law to review BOEM’s Notice to Lessees No. 2016 N01 of September 12, 2016 (Notice to Lessees and Operators of Federal Oil and Gas, and Sulfur Leases, and Holders of Pipeline Right-of-Way and Right-of-Use and Easement Grants in the Outer Continental Shelf), and determine whether modifications are necessary, and if so, to what extent, to ensure operator compliance with lease terms while minimizing unnecessary regulatory burdens.  The Secretary of the Interior shall also review BOEM’s financial assurance regulatory policy to determine the extent to which additional regulation is necessary.

Sec. 7.  Reconsideration of Well Control Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall review the Final Rule of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) entitled “Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf-Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control,” 81 Fed. Reg. 25888 (April 29, 2016), for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, and shall publish for notice and comment a proposed rule revising that rule, if appropriate and as consistent with law.  The Secretary of the Interior shall also take all appropriate action to lawfully revise any related rules and guidance for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order.  Additionally, the Secretary of the Interior shall review BSEE’s regulatory regime for offshore operators to determine the extent to which additional regulation is necessary.

Sec. 8.  Reconsideration of Proposed Offshore Air Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall take all steps necessary to review BOEM’s Proposed Rule entitled “Air Quality Control, Reporting, and Compliance,” 81 Fed. Reg. 19718 (April 5, 2016), along with any related rules and guidance, and, if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable and consistent with law, consider whether the proposed rule, and any related rules and guidance, should be revised or withdrawn.

Sec. 9.  Expedited Consideration of Incidental Harassment Authorizations, Incidental-Take, and Seismic Survey Permits.  The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law, expedite all stages of consideration of Incidental Take Authorization requests, including Incidental Harassment Authorizations and Letters of Authorization, and Seismic Survey permit applications under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq., and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

Sec. 10.  Review of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55.  The Secretary of Commerce shall review NOAA’s Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55 of July 2016 (Technical Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing) for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order and, after consultation with the appropriate Federal agencies, take all steps permitted by law to rescind or revise that guidance, if appropriate.

Sec. 11.  Review of Offshore Arctic Drilling Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately take all steps necessary to review the Final Rule entitled “Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf—Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf,” 81 Fed. Reg. 46478 (July 15, 2016), and, if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable and consistent with law, publish for notice and comment a proposed rule suspending, revising, or rescinding this rule.

Sec. 12.  Definition.  As used in this order, “Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas, as designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management” means those areas delineated in the diagrams on pages S-5 and S-8 of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, as published by the BOEM in January 2015, with the exception of any buffer zones included in such planning documents.

Sec. 13.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Trump orders review of national monuments, vows to ‘end these abuses and return control to the people’

April 27, 2017 — The following is an excerpt of a story published in the Washington Post on April 26:

President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday instructing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review any national monument created since Jan. 1, 1996, that spans at least 100,000 acres in a move he said would “end another egregious use of government power.”

The sweeping review — which Trump predicted would “end these abuses and return control to the people, the people of all of the states, the people of the United States” — could prompt changes to areas designated not only by former president Barack Obama but also by George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The review will also examine major marine areas that Bush and Obama put off limits. That includes Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which Bush designated in 2006 and Obama quadrupled in size a decade later.

James L. Connaughton, who chaired the Council on Environmental Quality under Bush, said that Bush criticized “the flawed process” that led to Clinton’s designation of Grand Staircase-Escalante and that his deputies solicited local input once he took office.

Although Connaughton defended the Antiquities Act as “one of the best balances between the two branches,” he said Obama had overreached in his expansion of Papahanaumokuakea and the creation of a controversial marine monument off New England’s coast.

“They fell short on the process and the substance underlying the justification for them,” Connaughton said of Obama administration officials. “As a result, it’s created legitimate criticism, which undermines the support for subsequent designations.”

Read the full story at the Washington Post

Trump review of national monuments includes New England Coral Canyons

Apri 27, 2017 — President Donald Trump’s latest executive order threatens newly won protections for an underwater national monument located 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.

With a stroke of a pen Wednesday, Trump ordered the Interior Department to review a number of monuments created by former President Obama under the Antiquities Act and identify ones that can be rescinded or resized as part of a push to open up more federal lands to drilling, mining and other development.

One of the monuments Obama created is the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, also known as the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts area.

It is a massive undersea area where the continental shelf drops off into the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean, In those deep waters, four extinct underwater volcanoes, called seamounts, provide habitat for a number of cold-water corals that are hundreds, and some thousands, of years old.

The ecosystem provides a breeding and feeding ground for a number of fish and other marine animals, including whales.

In an executive order signed on Sept. 15, Obama said, “These canyons and seamounts, and the ecosystem they compose, have long been of intense scientific interest.”

Read the full story at The Connecticut Mirror

Trump to review Maine monument designation, may expand offshore drilling

April 24, 2017 — President Trump will sign executive orders this week aimed at expanding offshore oil drilling and reviewing national monument designations made by his predecessors, continuing the Republican’s assault on President Obama’s environmental legacy.

The orders could expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and upend public lands protections put in place in Utah, Maine, and other states. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to declare federal lands of historic or scientific value to be ‘‘national monuments’’ and restrict how the lands can be used.

Administration officials on Monday confirmed the expected moves. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the president’s upcoming actions.

Obama used his power under the Antiquities Act to permanently preserve more land and water using national monument designations than any other president. The land is generally off limits to timber harvesting, mining and pipelines, and commercial development.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

PETER H. FLOURNOY: Benefits of Antiquities Act Don’t Extend to Marine Monuments

April 4, 2017 — The following was written by Peter H. Flournoy, a representative of the Western Fishboat Owners’ Association, in response to a March 31 op-ed in the New York Times:

I have represented U.S. commercial fishermen for about 35 years, primarily working in the Pacific Ocean. I believe the primary concern of Republicans and Democrats who oppose the Act stems from where the Antiquities Act has been used, primarily by Presidents Bush and Obama, to close large areas of the ocean on both coasts to U.S. fishermen. Sometimes the expressed rationale is to protect the ocean bottom or coral reefs in certain areas, however, too often this also ends all surface fishing, which has no contact with the ocean floor. Traditionally U.S. fisheries are managed under the Magnuson Stevens Act. The Councils formed under this statute are the entities with the fishery management expertise. When the Antiquities Act is used, they are closed out.

While it may be that the Antiquities Act should be used for land areas, for the ocean there is the Marine Sanctuaries Act, which has a very public, transparent, and inclusive process.

In your opinion piece you also frequently used the number of tourists who visit the national parks which have grown from Antiquities Act set asides. I doubt I could count more than a hundred visitors to the marine protected areas which have been established. These visitors are not your common middle class citizen that finds pleasure in taking his family to view nature’s majesty at minimum expense. The only people that can enjoy the marine sanctuaries that have been set up under the Antiquities Act are those rich enough to own cabin cruisers or dedicated sufficiently to enjoy the expensive sport of scuba diving.

I hope the next time you lecture your classes on the Antiquities Act you might mention some of the above concerns.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell Submits Additional Testimony on Marine Monuments to Congress

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – March 30, 2017 – On March 15, Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, Massachusetts delivered written testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee expressing serious concerns about the impact of marine monuments on fishermen and coastal communities, as well as the process by which president’s designate monuments using the Antiquities Act.

Yesterday, Mayor Mitchell submitted additional answers to questions from Rep. Doug Lamborn, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans. In his follow-up answers, Mayor Mitchell supported fisheries management under the Council process created by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

“I would argue that the Council has both the resources and the approach necessary to achieve ecosystem protection (while balancing economic productivity) commensurate with any protections that could be pursued in conjunction with a monument designation under the Antiquities Act,” Mayor Mitchell wrote. “I have witnessed firsthand the strengths of the of the Fishery Council’s deliberative- and decision-making processes.”

Mayor Mitchell went on to cite two recent examples of the Council process effectively being used to protect important marine resources. In the Mid-Atlantic, the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area, designated by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in 2015, brought together a broad range of stakeholders to protect over 38,000 square miles of federal waters. The resulting protected area was applauded by conservation groups and fishermen alike.

In New England, the Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, passed last year by the New England Fishery Management Council after more than a decade of work, used the most up-to-date science to protect essential and vulnerable New England habitats, while opening up areas no longer considered important for successfully conserving fish stocks. The development of this amendment was deliberative and collaborative, with input from federal and state regulators, environmental groups, scientists and academics, and members of the fishing industry, Mayor Mitchell wrote.

Read Mayor Mitchell’s letter here

Fish reps to Trump: Marine monuments make it harder to manage industry, fish reps say

March 28, 2017 — The issue of whether presidents should use the Antiquities Act to independently designate new marine national monuments is not going away any time soon.

The chairmen of the eight regional fishery management councils have weighed in, co-authoring a letter to President Donald J. Trump decrying the use of the Antiquities Act to create new marine national monuments and characterizing it as a disruptive end-run around traditional fishery management practices.

The letter and accompanying resolution from the Council Coordinating Committee are the most recent drumbeats in an escalating campaign to reverse marine national monuments designated by former President Barack Obama and dissuade future presidents from using the same procedural mechanism to create the protected areas.

The letter, which includes Chairman John F. Quinn of the New England Fishery Management Council as a signatory, flatly states the use of the Antiquities Act impedes the councils from performing their statutory duties as set out in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).

“Designation of marine national monuments that prohibit fishing have disrupted the ability of the councils to manage fisheries throughout their range, as required by MSA and in an eco-system manner,” the letter stated. “Our experience with marine monument designations to date is that they are counter-productive to domestic fishery goals, as they have displaced and concentrated U.S. fishing effort into less productive fishing grounds and increased dependency on foreign fisheries that are not as sustainably managed as United States fisheries.”

The designations, they wrote, not only curtail potential harvesting areas for commercial fishermen but also diminish the nation’s ability to watch over its waters.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times