Saving Seafood

WTAS: Re-opening of the Northeast Canyons, Marine National Monument to Commercial Fishing

June 5, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT):

Today, President Trump announced the re-opening of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument for commercial fishing. Below is what they are saying:

“American fishermen work hard to support their communities, provide food security to the nation, and protect the environments where they make their livelihoods. President Obama swept aside a public, science-based fishery management process with the stroke of a pen. That was a mistake. Ranking Member Bishop deserves thanks for his work in opposing that sort of misuse of the Antiquities Act. We applaud today’s presidential proclamation on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument for restoring the open, collaborative, and science-based council management process that has made our fisheries a model for the world.” – Robert B. Vanasse, Executive Director, Saving Seafood

“We want to thank President Trump for recognizing the prior Administration’s actions pursuant to the Antiquities Act to unilaterally close nearly 5,000 square miles to commercial fishing operations were harmful to U.S. fishermen and their coastal communities and undermines our country’s seafood production.” Mr. Reichle added that “While everyone seems to agree our Nation’s fisheries management system achieves sustainability and our seafood production some of the safest and healthiest in the world — it is remarkable that anyone would prohibit access to large productive fishing areas with no scientific justification and the stroke of an executive pen. This President got it right and our industry appreciates the support.” – Jeff Reichle, Chairman, Lund’s Fisheries, Inc.

“Seafreeze extends our sincere thanks to President Trump for re-opening the Northeast Monument to our commercial fishing vessels. Our vessels have sustainably harvested product in the Monument area for over 30 years, and its closure meant a loss of millions of dollars a year to our company. We applaud President Trump’s decision to support our American commercial fishermen and the world’s most sustainable fisheries.” – Meghan Lapp, Fisheries Liaison, Seafreeze Ltd.

“Today, President Trump acknowledged the tremendous social and economic contributions our American Commercial Fishing Industry and the small businesses that support us provide to the American public. This Presidential support comes at a critical time for our Industry and the Nation as a whole. For this, Mr. President, we are grateful.” – Eric Reid, Rhode Island

Bishop Statement on Re-opening the Northeast Canyons, Marine National Monument to Commercial Fishing

June 5, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT):

Today, Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) released the following statement regarding President Trump’s announcement to re-open the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing:

“Today’s announcement by the President is yet another major shift in administrative policy to support America’s seafood industry and local economies. In June 2016, I spent the day in New Bedford, Massachusetts, meeting with dozens of industry representatives that focused on the economic impact that the then-pending marine monument designation would have on the local economy. Our conversation with industry lead to a compromise proposal that would both protect the environment and American jobs. Unfortunately, this compromise fell on deaf ears. I am grateful that President Trump has righted this injustice done to hard working Americans by the previous administration.”

Trump issues proclamation reopening national monument to fishing

June 5, 2020 — U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, located off the coast of New England, to commercial fishing.

The 4,913-square-mile protected area was created under the Antiquities Act in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, resulting in a ban on commercial fishing, mining and drilling there, though he made a seven-year exception for the lobster and red crab industries.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Rare blue whales spotted 130 miles east of Connecticut

February 27, 2020 — Blue whales have been spotted in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Connecticut shoreline.

This month, researchers from the New England Aquarium surveyed the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, according to a release from the aquarium

Within six hours, the researchers had counted 322 whales and dolphins, including two blue whales.

“As marine mammal researchers, it’s such a thrill to fly in this area and see such a great diversity of animals,” researcher Orla O’Brien said in a release.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association lists blue whales as endangered. The exact population size is not known, but there were only 440 confirmed sightings in the Atlantic Ocean between 1979 and 2009.

Read the full story at the Connecticut Post

Fishermen consider next move after court upholds Atlantic national monument

January 14, 2020 — A federal appeals court has upheld the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, affirming that the federal Antiquities Act can be applied at sea as well as on land.

The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and other fishing advocates challenged former President Barack Obama’s designation of the 5,000-square-mile area at the edge of the continental shelf south of Georges Bank in 2016. A lower federal court ruled against their lawsuit in 2018.

Conservation groups and environmental advocates joined the arguments in both the lower and appeals courts, portraying the monument protections as critical to protect deep-sea corals, whales and other marine life from future offshore oil exploration and “industrial fishing.”

In an opinion for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Circuit Court Judge David Tatel explained why the three-judge panel dismissed all of the fishermen’s arguments against the monument – starting with their contention that the Antiquities Act cannot apply to the sea floor.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Seamounts monument lawsuit appeal rejected by federal court

January 3, 2020 — A lawsuit against a national monument created by U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has been defeated once again after an appeal to an earlier ruling was denied.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has rejected the appeal of an earlier ruling that dismissed a lawsuit brought by fishermen against the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The monument, created in 2016, will be 4,913 square miles of ocean roughly 130 miles off of the coast of New England that will be closed to commercial activity, including fishing.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Court Upholds Creation of National Monument in Atlantic

December 27, 2019 — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld former President Barack Obama’s designation of a federally protected conservation area in the Atlantic Ocean, a move that commercial fishermen oppose.

Fishing groups sued over the creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile (8,000-square-kilometer) area that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life. The monument was established in 2016.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last year, and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the decision Friday.

The appeals panel brushed aside arguments that federal law governing monuments applies only to land, not oceans; that the area of the ocean is not “controlled” by the federal government; that it is not compatible with National Marine Sanctuaries Act; and that it is not the “smallest area compatible” with management goals.

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

Western Pacific Council Director: Marine Monuments ‘Major Impediment’ to U.S. Fisheries

WASHINGTON — May 1, 2019 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

In testimony before a House subcommittee today, Kitty Simonds, the Executive Director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) labeled the increasing number and size of marine monuments a “major impediment” to U.S. fisheries. According to Ms. Simonds, these designations force fishermen to travel farther, longer, and at greater costs, with little conservation benefit.

Members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities also submitted a letter to the Subcommittee, which was entered into the committee hearing record, asking that fishing inside of the marine monuments be managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and that future monument designations include input from commercial fishermen. The letter notes that previous monument designations were made “with no formal public hearings, cost-benefit analyses, or input from affected constituents, and despite no compelling reason or threat to marine resources.”

“The Council process allows for stakeholders, scientists, and concerned citizens to review and debate policy decisions in a transparent manner,” the letter states. “In contrast, the Antiquities Act authorizes the president to take away public areas and public resources with no public input. Using executive authority, the President can close any federal lands and waters in an opaque, top-down process that too often excludes the very people who would be most affected.”

The letter was signed by 20 fishing organizations and 8 fishing vessels, representing fishermen from 11 states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island.

Ms. Simonds cited other negative consequences of the policy, including making it harder to prevent illegal fishing by foreign vessels in the U.S. EEZ; limiting, along with other closures, fishermen to operate in as little as 17 percent of the U.S. EEZ; and a decrease in the number of longline vessels and the amount of their catch.

“These prohibitions have forced our fishermen out of more than half of the U.S. [Exclusive Economic Zone] EEZ in the [Western and Central Pacific Ocean] and onto the high seas, where they are forced to compete with foreign fleets on the fishing grounds,” said Ms. Simonds in her testimony, delivered before the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife. “Currently 70 percent of the Hawaii longline effort is on the high seas. We also know, based on expert scientific knowledge, that forcing U.S. vessels out of U.S. waters has no conservation benefit to tuna and highly migratory stocks or to protected species.”

 

Trump’s National Monument Changes Return to Spotlight

March 13, 2019 — As Democrats in Congress prepare to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s review of 27 national monuments, most of the recommendations made by ex-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke remain unfinished as other matters consume the White House.

Trump acted quickly in December 2017 on Zinke’s recommendations to shrink two sprawling Utah monuments that had been criticized as federal government overreach by the state’s Republican leaders since their creation by Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

But in the 15 months since Trump downsized the Utah monuments, the president has done nothing with Zinke’s proposal to shrink two more monuments, in Oregon and Nevada, and change rules at six others, including allowing commercial fishing inside three marine monuments in waters off New England, Hawaii and American Samoa.

Zinke resigned in December amid multiple ethics investigations — and has joined a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm. Trump has nominated as his replacement Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry and other corporate interests.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S News and World Report

Feds beat fishermen: Court dismisses challenge to Atlantic monument

October 10, 2018 — A federal judge upheld the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument last week, dismissing a lawsuit from commercial fishing groups that challenged presidential authority to establish the monument.

The national monument, created by former President Barack Obama, was authorized under the Antiquities Act. Representatives from the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association argued that the act does not include authorization to protect bodies of water and that the monument in question, an area of nearly 5,000 square miles, was too large.

But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument complied with the law and sided with the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the suit.

“In all, plaintiffs offer no factual allegations explaining why the entire monument, including not just the seamounts and canyons but also their ecosystems, is too large,” wrote Boasberg in his decision.

He also clarified that the Antiquities Act histories grant that waterways, as well as land, can be protected under the act.

Read the full story at National Fisherman