Saving Seafood

Interior wrote proclamations scuttling ocean sites — emails

July 24, 2018 — Senior Interior Department officials prepared last fall to eliminate the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument — even as they had yet to agree on the public justifications for doing so, according to newly disclosed internal documents.

Interior last week accidentally released thousands of pages of unredacted internal emails in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Copies of those emails, provided to E&E News by the Center for Western Priorities, detail Interior’s strategy — including a focus on timber harvesting, mineral rights, and oil and gas extraction — as it reviewed the boundaries of more than two dozen national monuments under an executive order from President Trump.

The documents also disclose internal deliberations over the future of some marine monuments, including reintroducing commercial fishing to some sites and reducing the boundaries of others.

In [a] September email, [Interior official Randy Bowman] advised that Interior strike data on commercial fishing in the [Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument]. A deleted sentence states that four vessels in 2014-15 relied on the monument area for more than 25 percent of their annual revenues, while the majority of ships generated less than 5 percent of their revenues from the area.

“This section, while accurate (except for one sentence) seems to me to undercut the case for the commercial fishing closure being harmful. I suggest in the attached deleting most of it for that reason,” Bowman wrote.

Saving Seafood Executive Director Bob Vanasse disputed the idea that data didn’t support the repeal of the commercial fishing ban but said it instead was removed because it could be taken out of context.

“While it is generally accurate, if one looks at the entire fishing industry in the region, to make the statement that only a small number of vessels derive more than 5 percent of their revenue from the Monument area, for those vessels and fisheries that conduct significant portions of their operations in the monument area, the economic harm is significant,” Vanasse said in a statement.

He added in an interview: “The suggestion is that the administration is hiding the facts, and I don’t think that’s the case.”

Read the full story at E&E News

 

JONATHAN WOOD: Land ahoy! Fishermen challenge presidential designations of ocean monuments

Jule 2, 2018 — This month, the Antiquities Act turned 112 years old. Originally conceived to protect Native American artifacts in the Southwest, the law has, like so many federal laws, been twisted over time by power-hungry government officials.

Controversy over the law’s abuse is coming to a head in New England, where fishermen are locked out of a large section of their fishery by the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. After spending years working to recover fish stocks and promote more sustainable fishing methods, they rightly see this move as a betrayal that threatens their livelihoods.

Why is a 112-year-old law so controversial today? The answer lies in the aggressive reinterpretation of the law by presidents seeking to expand their power.

Consider that in the law’s first century, Presidents Teddy Roosevelt through Bill Clinton collectively designated 70 million acres of national monuments. That’s a lot, to be sure, but it pales in comparison to the last 12 years. From 2006 to 2017, an additional 700 million acres were designated — a ten-fold increase over the prior century’s total.

What explains this explosion? It’s the interpretation of a single word: “land.” Congress limited the president’s monument power to “land owned or controlled by the Federal Government.” Most of us would have no trouble figuring out what “land” means: If you look at a map, it’s the part that isn’t blue.

Read the full opinion piece at the Washington Examiner

MASSACHUSETTS: GOP Senate candidate Geoff Diehl outlines plan to help fishermen

June 22, 2018 — Geoff Diehl made his second visit to New Bedford this week to speak with fishermen.

The state representative and candidate running for U.S. Senate against Elizabeth Warren spoke to about five people within the fishing industry at Pier 3 on Thursday. It came just days after he attended a fishing roundtable discussion at the Whaling Museum, which discussed the groundfishing ban affecting the industry.

This second trip of the week was to unveil a set of guidelines he plans to follow to help fishermen if elected.

They involved repealing the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument Status, keeping Carlos Rafael’s fishing licenses in New Bedford and reducing the regulatory burden.

Diehl suggested establishing a NOAA headquarters in New Bedford to better facilitate discussions between the agency and fishermen in the nation’s most valuable seaport.

“They should at least have a satellite if not maybe move their main offices here,” Diehl said. “I think that would make a lot of sense to have them interact with the actual fishermen.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Marine Monument Case Aligns Trump, Conservationists

May 2, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Cautiously aligned with the government in support of America’s first marine monument, environmentalists urged a federal judge Monday to sink a challenge by fishing groups.

Designated by President Barack Obama in September 2016, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument encompasses 4,913 square miles off the coast of New England.

Cordoned off from oil and gas exploration, as well as commercial fishing, the seabed within the monuments boasts four underwater volcanoes and three canyons.

Obama’s proclamation creating the monument spoke to the scientific and ecological importance of this ecosystem, but a group of commercial fishers challenged the designation in March 2017.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

 

Why Trump is defending a marine monument made by Obama

April 23, 2018 — The Trump administration is defending an underwater national monument off the coast of New England designated by former President Barack Obama in 2016, but not because it likes what Obama created.

After all, President Trump last year issued a rollback of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, and his administration has argued that Obama and other recent presidents abused their authority in creating or expanding national monuments on large swaths of public land.

Trump wants fewer and smaller monuments, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended the president shrink the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument that the administration is now backing in court.

So, what gives?

It’s all about presidential power.

“If anything, I would not be surprised if we see President Trump issue an executive order down the line eliminating or diminishing this very same marine monument,” said Justin Pidot, a law professor at the University of Denver who served as the deputy solicitor for land resources at the Interior Department during the Obama administration.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

 

Trump administration defends Atlantic marine monument against lawsuit

April 20, 2018 — The Trump administration has gone on the record in defense of Barack Obama’s 2016 establishment of the 5,000-square mile Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, according to a defense filing in federal court this week.

Jeffrey H. Wood, acting assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division, entered a motion on Monday, April 16, to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Obama’s authority to make the monument designation filed by various fishing organizations. The lawsuit has been on hold since last spring after President Donald Trump ordered an official review of several National Marine Monuments established by Obama. That hold was lifted in mid-March and the plaintiffs are ready to pick up where they left off.

The lawsuit argues that Obama never had the authority to establish the monument under the the Antiquities Act, given that the ocean is not “land owned or controlled by the federal government,” as the act stipulates.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Trump administration seeks dismissal of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument lawsuit

April 19, 2018 — Despite its willingness to review the designations made by its predecessor, the Trump Administration is at least defending former President Obama’s ability to create national monuments. That’s according to a filing in federal court earlier this week.

Jeffrey H. Wood, acting assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division, entered a motion on 16 April to dismiss a lawsuit filed last year by the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. The Lobstermen and other fishing groups filed the suit in response to the Obama Administration designating the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in September 2016.

The Northeast Canyons was the first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, and with that designation, commercial fishing – with certain exclusions for red crab and lobster fishing – is not permitted in the nearly 5,000-square-mile area. Crab and lobster fishing would continue until a seven-year permit expires.

Last year, Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review the monuments, which were created under the Antiquities Act. While Zinke has not recommended removing any designation for marine monuments, he has encouraged Trump to open monuments for more commercial fishing opportunities.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Trump Administration Defends Obama’s Atlantic Monument

April 18, 2018 — The Trump administration is defending an underwater monument established by former President Barack Obama to protect marine life in the Atlantic Ocean and asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from fishermen trying to eliminate it.

President Obama established the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in September 2016, setting aside a 5,000-square mile are off of New England for protection due to the presence in the area of fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life in the area.

The move inspired a lawsuit by fisherman and lobstermen who claimed Obama “exceeded his power under the Antiquities Act” when cordoning off the ocean acreage from commercial use.

But on Monday, the Trump administration filed a lengthy defense of the monument in federal court in Washington.

The filing comes even as the White House continues to review several monuments created by President Trump’s Democratic predecessor.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service   

 

Trump Administration Defends Obama’s Atlantic Monument

April 17, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — The Trump administration on Tuesday defended an underwater monument off the coast of New England established by former President Barack Obama to protect marine life in the Atlantic Ocean and asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from fishermen trying to eliminate it.

The fishing groups sued in federal court in Washington, challenging the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument by the Democratic former president in 2016. It’s a 5,000-square-mile area that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life, such as right whales.

The Commerce Department argues the president has clear authority under the federal Antiquities Act to establish national monuments. The federal government is defending the monument at the same time it’s reviewing its creation as part of President Donald Trump’s review of several monuments created by Obama.

Trump, a Republican, has ordered drastic reductions to some monuments, saying they were part of a “massive federal land grab” by previous administrations.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New York Times

Response due from feds in lawsuit to end Atlantic monument

April 10, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government’s response to a lawsuit from fishermen trying to eliminate former President Barack Obama’s Atlantic Ocean monument is coming due.

The fishing groups sued to challenge the 2016 creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The monument is a 5,000-square-mile area off of New England and is the first monument of its kind in the Atlantic Ocean.

A federal court ordered the U.S. Department of Commerce to respond to the lawsuit by April 16. It was filed at U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald