Saving Seafood

Fishermen move to intervene in Northeast marine monument case

August 5, 2026 — Two New England fishermen have asked a federal court to allow them to intervene in an ongoing lawsuit over commercial fishing access within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, adding another chapter to the years-long legal dispute over the protected Atlantic waters.

According to a July 31 press release from Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), fishermen Frank Green of New York and Bob Conrad of Vermont filed a motion to intervene in Conservation Law Foundation v. Trump. Represented by PLF, the fishermen are seeking to defend the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the commercial fishing ban within the monument and argue that the ban was unlawfully established under the Antiquities Act.

“Presidents have abused their power under the Antiquities Act for decades, drastically exceeding its narrow scope and disregarding Congress to restrict Americans’ right to productively use natural resources,” PLF attorney Frank Garrison said in the release. “The fishermen who work those waters shouldn’t have their livelihoods threatened by unilateral presidential decree.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

New England fishermen ask to weigh in on Seamounts marine monument lawsuit

August 4, 2026 — A pair of fishermen have asked a federal judge for permission to defend U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to reopen the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing in court.

The status of commercial fishing in the 5,000-square-mile area off the coast of New England has flipped multiple times over the last decade, with U.S. President Barack Obama initially banning all commercial fishing except for lobster and crab harvesting when he designated it a marine monument in 2016. A lawsuit brought by commercial fishers failed to succeed in overturning the ban, but Trump reopened the area to commercial fishing in 2020 via a proclamation. U.S. President Joe Biden reinstated the ban in 2021, but Trump again reopened the area to commercial fishing via a proclamation in February 2026.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA eyes potential changes to Alaska sea lion protections as Trump urges boosted seafood harvests

July 6, 2026 — Federal regulators plan to reevaluate fishing closure boundaries established to protect endangered Steller sea lions in Alaska, part of a national Trump administration push to cut regulation of U.S. commercial seafood harvests.

The Steller sea lion protections are among a series of rules that the administration is seeking to relax or change to carry out a mandate from President Donald Trump to increase catches, reduce regulation and ensure that the nation is “the world’s dominant seafood leader.”

The recommended changes were released on Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries service and are in response to Trump’s 2025 executive order titled “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” They could affect oceans from New England and the Caribbean to the tropical Pacific and the Bering Sea.

Several months of public consultations resulted in a list of recommendations that “we believe will reduce burdens on domestic fishing, increase production, stabilize markets, improve access, and enhance economic profitability,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler said in a statement.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

US bill would authorize commercial fishing in marine national monuments

June 4, 2026 — A bill being considered in U.S. Congress would prohibit presidents from prohibiting commercial fishing in marine national monuments, codifying that fishing activities in those areas must be regulated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).

Successive presidents’ administrations have used the Antiquities Act to unilaterally establish national marine monuments or to change the protections granted within them, and commercial fishing groups have long bemoaned the use of that power to ban fishing within their boundaries. Former U.S. President Barack Obama prohibited commercial fishing within the nearly 5,000-square-mile Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument when he established it in 2016, and later presidents have alternated between reallowing commercial fishing or banning it again; most recently, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order reauthorizing commercial fishing in the marine national monument.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Environmental groups sue over reopening of Northeast marine monument

May 7, 2026 — A coalition of environmental groups has filed suit against the Trump administration over its move to reopen the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, reigniting a long-running battle over access to the protected Atlantic waters.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with whale-watch naturalist Zack Klyver, challenged President Trump’s February proclamation allowing commercial fishing within the monument boundaries

Read the full article at National Fisherman

NOAA Reopens Northeast Canyons Nat’l Monument to Commercial Fishing

April 7, 2026 — NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has withdrawn a longstanding ban on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The action follows through on a proclamation to reopen the area, signed by President Donald Trump in February – but certain gear types are still restricted.

The monument area covers about 4,900 square miles, and it is home to high-value species like red crab, mackerel and swordfish. In a statement, NOAA said that it was following input it had received from fishing companies and acting on a desire to improve economic conditions for fishermen.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NOAA Rescinds Regulation Prohibiting Commercial Fishing in Atlantic Monument Area

April 3, 2026 — NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service rescinded a regulation that prohibited commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument boundaries. This action was necessary to align fishing regulations with President Trump’s Executive Proclamation Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic to reopen the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

NOAA is proud to support the Administration’s pledge to restore US seafood competitiveness through the America First Fishing Policy. The President’s Executive Proclamation and NOAA’s regulatory actions come as a direct result of feedback from the US fishing industry, and they will increase economic opportunities for American fishermen.

Read the full article at ECO Magazine

Free to Fish a Marine Monument

February 27, 2026 — The Trump administration’s move this month to allow commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off Cape Cod, was welcomed by commercial fishing interests last week.

The monument’s creation was a recent development, established by President Barack Obama in the last months of his administration in 2016, with a multiyear phaseout allowed only for American lobster and Atlantic deep-sea red crab fisheries. The area in question covers nearly 5,000 square miles and includes three underwater canyons and four underwater mountains, or seamounts. In 2020, during his first term, Mr. Trump lifted the ban on commercial fishing there, but President Joseph Biden restored it the following year.

“Because of the complex topography and oceanography within the monument, and the resulting high food production, there is a rich diversity of fishes” there, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the site with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Scientists consider the monument a biodiversity hotspot for deep-sea fishes.” Fish and Wildlife cites a 2003 study that found almost 600 fish species living below 650 feet in the New England shelf region of the monument.

Its canyons are home to various species of flounder, hake, skate, ocean pout, cusk, grenadier, and eel, some occurring in dense aggregations. “Larger pelagic fish like swordfish, tuna, and sharks also use the monument,” according to Fish and Wildlife.

Read the full article at The East Hampton Star

Trump reopens vast swath of waters off northeastern coast to commercial fishing

February 25, 2026 — One of the nation’s richest fishing grounds — put off-limits to commercial use by the Obama and Biden administrations — is once again open for business, courtesy of a proclamation issued by the Trump White House.

The Feb. 6 proclamation — “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic” —revokes an Obama- and Biden-era policy that prohibited commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Created in 2016 by the Obama administration, the marine national monument covers nearly 5,000 square miles on the edge of the continental shelf about 150 miles east of Cape Cod. The monument designation included a ban on commercial fishing, which Trump lifted in his first term. The Biden administration reimposed the ban in 2021, a step Trump 2.0 is now reversing.

When it reimposed the prohibition on commercial fishing within the marine monument’s boundaries, the Biden White House, like the Obama administration before it, cited the need to protect sensitive marine life in the area. “Restoring the prohibition on commercial fishing,” the Biden administration said, “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.”

Read the full article at CFACT