Saving Seafood

Hawaii Lawmakers To Obama: Don’t Grow Marine Monument

May 13, 2016 — Amid the flurry of final votes on hundreds of bills last week, Hawaii lawmakers privately weighed whether to sign a letter to President Obama that Rep. James Tokioka was circulating during the last few days of the legislative session.

The letter called on the president not to consider expanding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, stating that “there is no scientific justification or conservation benefit in doing so.”

In all, 30 House lawmakers, including Speaker Joe Souki, signed the May 3 letter. Just days earlier, Hawaii Senate President Ron Kouchi sent Obama a nearly identical one.

This opposition, which lawmakers kept out of public view, has been overshadowed by a strong public push to expand the monument, officially designated by President George W. Bush as Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in 2007.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Atlantic Sea Scallop group opposes an Atlantic Marine Monument; says it contradicts the President’s own order

WASHINGTON – May 4, 2016 – The organization representing the Atlantic sea scallop industry, one of the most economically valuable fisheries in the nation, has written to the White House opposing the creation of an Atlantic Marine Monument, noting that such an action subverts public processes, and contradicts the President’s own executive order on public participation in the regulatory process.

The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), an organization that comprises the majority of the Limited Access Atlantic sea scallop fleet, is one of the many stakeholders that frequently participates in the public fisheries management process. FSF opposes any attempts to circumvent this process, as noted in the letter.

“We strongly urge the President to not designate any marine monuments in New England, but rather to allow the public process to continue moving forward,” states the letter, which was sent to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Let the President’s legacy be that he allowed the public to have a voice in how we manage our shared resources.”

The White House has been considering designating an offshore monument in the Northeast Atlantic at the behest of several environmental groups, an authority granted by the Antiquities Act. President Bush previously used this authority to create two expansive monuments in the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands.

As argued in the letter, “Public areas and public resources should be managed in an open and transparent manner, not an imperial stroke of the pen.” In fact, several regulations have already been developed through the Council process that ensure fisheries are properly conserving and managing marine resources.

FSF’s position mirrors that of Executive Order 13563, authored by President Obama himself, which states in part that regulations must be based on the best available science, involve public participation, and include greater coordination across agencies. The current management system is more consistent with these standards than a monument designation, which could be abused by a few select insiders. Through regional councils, the government is already protecting Cashes Ledge and deep-water corals.

If the Administration insists on the designation of a monument, the President should accept recommendations made by members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Rhode Island Delegation, in consultation with other regional fisheries organizations, and approved unanimously by the ASMFC. Their proposal would ensure the protection of deep-water corals and ocean canyon substrates while allowing for fishing that would not affect the protected areas.

Read the full FSF letter to the White House here

Marine monuments proposal near Cape Cod stirs debate

April 1, 2016 — In September of 2014, President Barack Obama expanded on a national marine monument created by President George Bush in 2006.

The protection of more than 490,000 square miles of ocean surrounding a group of remote Pacific islands from commercial fishing remains the largest marine reserve in the world.

This week, marine scientists and a battalion of environmental groups made their case for a similar presidential designation of two more national marine monuments, Cashes Ledge, to the north of Cape Cod, and the Coral Canyons and Seamounts Area, a collection of five deep-water canyons and four extinct volcanoes 150 miles southeast of the Cape.

Environmentalists gathered over 150,000 comments, as well as letters from hundreds of marine scientists and more than 50 state legislators from New England states in support of the designations. Proponents believe the change would be relatively painless for the fishing industry.

“When you look at a map of fishing effort, you couldn’t choose anyplace in New England that has less,” said Peter Baker, the Pew Charitable Trusts director for U.S. Oceans Northeast. “Cashes is the last best example of an intact ecosystem.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

SALEM NEWS: Cashes Ledge decision a victory for open government

March 29, 2016 — The decision by the Obama administration to pass on a proposal to make a large swath of the Gulf of Maine a national monument is not only a victory for fishermen. It’s also a win for those who favor open government.

News came late last week that the administration would not, in fact, use the federal Antiquities Act to make the the area around Cashes Ledge a permanent “maritime national monument” by executive decree.

Such status is set aside for for areas of outstanding scientific, cultural, conservation and aesthetic value. President George W. Bush established four and Obama expanded one, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, according to the Associated Press.

Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, provides a habitat to sharks, dolphins and sea turtles and migrating, endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The area, more than 520 square nautical miles, is certainly worth protecting. However, there are already rules in place doing just that. The area is currently off limits to fishing, and there are no plans for that to change.

Read the rest of the column at The Salem News

BOSTON HERALD: Drowning in regulations

November 6, 2015 — President Obama is poised to designate two large areas off the New England coast as national marine “monuments,” to the delight of conservationists who seem much more interested in protecting the ocean than they are in protecting people.

Gov. Charlie Baker has written to President Obama to express concern about the impact on the region’s fishermen if the federal government turns part of the New England coastline into a sort of undersea museum — one that only scientists are likely ever to lay eyes on. Baker in his letter raises reasonable concerns about the process — or lack thereof — that led to this point.

Yes, Obama has the authority to take this step under the Antiquities Act (and has done so for other areas in the Pacific, as did President George W. Bush). But Baker notes there has been little public input into the decision to designate areas known as Cashes Ledge and the New England Canyons and Seamounts as national monuments, making them off limits to commercial fishing and such activities as oil or gas exploration or extraction — permanently.

Read the full editorial at the Boston Herald