Saving Seafood

Judge blocks Trump bid to allow fishing at marine monument

August 12, 2025 — A federal judge in Honolulu blocked a NOAA guidance Friday that permitted commercial fishing around protected Pacific islands and atolls.

The ruling from Judge Micah Smith of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii said the Trump administration’s unilateral decision to open a large swath of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument violated the Administrative Procedure Act by forgoing public comments or hearings.

That notice to fishermen came one week after President Donald Trump’s proclamation declaring 400,000 square miles of the monument would no longer be subject to commercial fishing prohibitions that had been in place between 50 and 200 nautical miles of Wake and Jarvis islands and the Johnston Atoll. The areas, which have ecological, cultural and historical value, became subject to fishing bans when President Barack Obama expanded the monument in 2014 under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

Read the full article at E&E News

Fishing in vast Pacific nature area halted after judge blocks Trump order

August 11, 2025 — Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided this week with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of federal ocean protections.

The remote Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument is home to turtles, marine mammals and seabirds, which environmental groups say will get snagged by longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) or longer.

President Donald Trump’s executive order to allow this and other types of commercial fishing in part of the monument changed regulations without providing a process for public comment and rulemaking and stripped core protections from the monument, the groups argued in a lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Micah W. J. Smith granted a motion by the environmentalists on Friday. The ruling means boats catching fish for sale will need to immediately cease fishing in waters between 50 and 200 nautical miles (93 kilometers to 370 kilometers) around Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island and Wake Island, said Earthjustice, an environmental law organization representing the plaintiffs.

Read the full article at ABC News

Judge discontinues commercial fishing in Pacific monument

August 11, 2025 — A Hawaii judge vacated an agency letter on Friday that allowed commercial fishing in a Pacific Ocean monument following a proclamation from President Donald Trump that walked back Obama-era environmental protections.

U.S. District Court Judge Micah Smith, a Joe Biden appointee, ruled that the letter — issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service — violated the Magnuson-Stevens Act and Administrative Procedure Act when it opened up protected water of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.

Environmentalists had claimed that the government didn’t engage in any notification or comment process before issuing the letter on April 25, a week after Trump’s proclamation.

“Whether plaintiffs are right to contend that they are entitled to participate in a notice and comment procedure — the government has chosen to concede that they are,” Smith wrote, noting the government had opted not to argue the letter was an interpretive rule instead of a legislative one.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

MARYLAND: Offshore wind project for OC not impacted by federal action

August 8, 2025 — A decision to rescind all Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) located in federal waters will not affect an offshore wind project near Ocean City’s coast.

That’s the message City Manager Terry McGean delivered last week after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it was taking that action in areas located on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

“These are the ‘new’ lease areas that were being vetted back in 2022-24,” he explained. “It was known as the Central Atlantic planning area.”

On July 30, the Trump administration announced it was closing federal waters to new wind energy development, effectively reversing course on the Biden administration’s plan to build up the industry.

Read the full article at the OC-Today-Dispatch

Environmental lawyers, Trump officials meet in court over fishing in Pacific monument

August 7, 2025 — Was the process of allowing commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument followed properly?

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in April to open PIHMNM to commercial fishing, in part by ordering that the secretary of commerce “shall not prohibit commercial fishing” in the monument, located in the central Pacific Ocean.

About a week later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that commercial fishing is no longer banned in those waters, and just days after that, longline fishing boats were observed fishing in the monument.

But environmental lawyers in a legal battle to stop the fishing say a formal process, which includes public hearings, is required first.

Read the full article at Hawaii Public Radio

DELAWARE: Trump administration enters the Delmarva offshore wind debate

August 6, 2025 — The Trump administration’s opposition to offshore wind power is now taking aim at a controversial energy project off the Delmarva coast, potentially putting its future at risk.

Last week, the federal government revealed in court documents that it is reconsidering permits that the Biden administration had previously awarded to US Wind, a Baltimore-based company proposing to build an offshore wind farm within sight of beach communities in Maryland and Delaware.

The court documents are part of lawsuits filed by a local Delaware resident and Ocean City, Md., against the U.S. Department of Interior, challenging certain offshore construction approvals for the project.

“An extension in this case is necessary as Interior intends to reconsider its [Construction and Operations Plan] approval and move in the District of Maryland — the first-filed case — for voluntary remand of that agency action,” wrote Delaware U.S. Attorney Julianne Murray and Adam Gustafson, the acting assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The federal courts would have to sign off on a “voluntary remand,” which is a request to send a case back to an administrative agency for reassessment. If the permit approvals were to be reassessed by the Trump administration, it’s possible they could be denied, dooming the project.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

VIRGINIA: Biggest US offshore wind project marches ahead despite Trump attacks

August 6, 2025 — The largest planned offshore wind project in the U.S. is 60 percent complete and is on track to begin delivering electricity early next year.

Officials with Dominion Energy, the utility that’s building the project named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, said in an earnings call Friday that 134 foundations have been installed, along with all of the deepwater power cables. The project will have 176 foundations altogether. A newly built turbine installation vessel, the first American-flagged ship of its kind, is expected to arrive at the project site as early as this month, they said. It will be the vessel’s first project.

“This project remains consistent with the goal of securing American energy dominance and is part of our comprehensive, all-of-the-above strategy to affordably meet growing energy needs,” Dominion CEO Robert Blue told financial analysts on the call, echoing President Donald Trump’s energy priorities. “The project fabrication and installation are going very well, and CVOW continues to be one of the most affordable sources of energy for our customers.”

Read the full article at E&E News

Foundation challenges Vineyard Wind project, files petition

August 6, 2025 — The Texas Public Policy Foundation has filed an administrative petition challenging the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project, claiming the livelihoods of the local fishermen they represent have been severely impacted by the project.

“The Biden Administration violated at least thirteen provisions of federal law when it approved the Vineyard 1 offshore wind project,” said TPPF senior attorney Ted Hadzi-Antich. “In the process, they tacitly agreed to the destruction of a prime fishing area that has been used by commercial fishermen to feed Americans for generations.”

Read the full article at Legal Newsline

NEW JERSEY: Cancel Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Projects, LBI Group Asks Trump Admin

August 6, 2025 — A local anti-offshore wind group is petitioning the Trump Administration to cancel the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm projects.

Save LBI announced Tuesday that the group had formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to cancel the leases for the Atlantic Shores South and North offshore wind projects and rescind existing permit approvals.

“We are committed to permanently stopping the Atlantic Shores projects,” Save LBI wrote in the petition. The group called for an expedited lease cancellation.

Read the full article at the Patch

Wind industry doubts any new offshore projects in next year thanks to Trump

August 4, 2025 — The offshore wind industry cast doubt on any new projects starting construction in the next year, as the Trump administration has removed subsidies for and added restrictions on the renewable power source.

President Donald Trump harshly criticized the industry while visiting Scotland in late July, saying his administration would not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. As his public criticisms increase and various agencies have taken action to stifle growth, that promise appears likely to come true.

Read the full article at The Washington Examiner