Donald Trump\u2019s latest fishing order is raising new concerns about US marine protections, as it directs federal agencies to prioritize recreational fishing while reconsidering the scientific standards and environmental regulations that govern American fisheries.<\/p>\n
The National Marine Fisheries Service hailed last Thursday\u2019s order, Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation<\/a>, telling the Guardian: \u201cBy addressing long-standing flaws in federal data collection, streamlining permitting, and expanding marine habitats, this action delivers long-overdue stability to America\u2019s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy.\u201d<\/p>\n However, conservation advocates say the order marks another step by the Trump administration<\/a> away from science-based marine management and conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cThat progress is now being dismantled, bit by bit,\u201d said Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, adding: \u201cThe current administration has moved to gut most ocean protections, threatening to take the US from a global leader in marine conservation to nearly a bystander.\u201d<\/p>\n The order directs the commerce department to review fisheries guidelines under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary 1976 law that governs marine fisheries management in US federal waters. The review of the guidelines should \u201censure they appropriately account for the \u2026 recreational fishery\u201d, the order says.<\/p>\n Gib Brogan, senior campaign director at Oceana, said the review is not inherently unusual. However, according to Brogan, the concern is how the Trump administration could reinterpret the standards.<\/p>\n \u201cThe concern comes in the way that this administration has been implementing the bedrock environmental and conservation laws,\u201d Brogan said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very concerned about how this administration will attempt to reinterpret things like overfishing and rebuilding, or what constitutes \u2018best available science\u2019,\u201d he added, pointing to language used<\/a> by Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n The order also directs the interior department to establish a program facilitating the conversion of decommissioned offshore oil and gas structures into permanent artificial reefs.<\/p>\n Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, called the provision \u201ca handout to the oil industry\u201d, saying that it is \u201canother blatant demonstration of Trump\u2019s desire to let the oil industry avoid any responsibility for the mess it continues to leave in our oceans\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOffshore platforms were never designed to function as healthy reefs and are known to serve as hubs for invasive species, including non-native corals and fish. They can also leach harmful chemicals into the ocean,\u201d Monsell said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA\u2019s ocean sanctuaries project lead, said some rigs could provide useful habitat but questioned whether converting them into reefs is appropriate in every location. \u201cYou don\u2019t just put [artificial reefs] anywhere just because there happened to be an oil rig there,\u201d he said, pointing to obstacles including rigs located in navigational lanes, areas with strong currents that may be unsuitable for artificial reefs, or places that already have abundant habitat.<\/p>\n Hemphill also cautioned that attracting fish to a structure does not necessarily mean creating new fish populations.<\/p>\n Fish swim beneath an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Photograph: Kip Evans\/Alamy<\/p>\n \u201cThey do have the potential to build the population by creating new habitats. But the first fish you\u2019re going to see are not fish that were created by that habitat being there. It\u2019s fish that were in all the surrounding area and then were drawn in by \u2026 a new habitat \u2026 It\u2019s just making them easier to catch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The order also calls for the establishment of an \u201cInteragency Shark and Pinniped Depredation Task Force\u201d to address cases where sharks and marine mammals take fish from anglers\u2019 lines.<\/p>\n The taskforce is directed to examine barriers to shark fisheries, including international agreements and listings under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES<\/a>).<\/p>\n Andrea Treece, deputy managing attorney for oceans at Earthjustice, said the provision appears aimed at easing restrictions on the shark trade, which has been largely prohibited<\/a> under US federal law.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems to be aimed at killing more sharks and that is really short-sighted,\u201d Treece said, pointing to the critical role sharks play in ocean ecosystems, including regulating food webs and supporting the health of coral reefs.<\/p>\n \u201cMost shark populations in the US are a fraction of what they were before the rise of industrial-scale fishing in the mid 1900s,\u201d Treece said, adding: \u201cTo the extent that recreational fishers in some places are experiencing more sharks biting fish off lines, it\u2019s worth asking why that is \u2026 We should be looking at, for example, is it that fish and increased recreational fishing numbers are competing for fewer fish?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be looking at \u2026 ways we can actually conserve and foster more abundant fish populations for everybody instead of just killing off the competing predators in the ocean, which is just going to destabilize the system in the end,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n Grace Casselberry, a postdoctoral shark depredation researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, also urged caution.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile some shark populations have seen various levels of recovery, we also have more people fishing recreationally than ever before, which creates a perfect storm for these encounters \u2026 It has taken decades to get to the point where sharks are beginning to recover, and that progress could be quickly undone,\u201d Casselberry said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must ensure that changes to the current strict harvest limits are based on the best available science and any adjustments continue to promote population growth and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n The executive order also directs agencies to \u201csuspend, revise or rescind regulations that overly burden boaters, anglers and outdoor businesses\u201d.<\/p>\n Monsell warned that the order\u2019s deregulatory push could threaten protections such as the vessel-speed rule<\/a> aimed at reducing deadly collisions between ships and endangered North Atlantic right whales. The measure requires ships to slow to 10 knots or less in certain areas and at certain times, reducing the risk of fatal strikes.<\/p>\n A North Atlantic right whale in the waters off New England on 25 May 2024. Photograph: Noaa via AP<\/p>\n \u201cThe speed rule is an effective, life-saving measure that reduces the risk of deadly strikes,\u201d Monsell said, adding: \u201cRight whales are facing threats from all directions, and the speed rule is one of their few protections.\u201d<\/p>\n The executive order is the latest move by the Trump administration to roll back environmental protections and reshape federal marine conservation policy. Since returning to office last year, the administration has expanded<\/a> deep-sea mining<\/a>, weakened protections<\/a> for marine national monuments<\/a> and dismantled<\/a> key protections for endangered species across the US.<\/p>\n \u201cIf every administration rollback proposed survives legal challenge, US waters could end up with just 4% under any form of protection \u2013 down from 26% \u2013 a number that is far too small to sustain marine biodiversity,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n \u201cCalling this a science initiative isn\u2019t an improvement, it\u2019s a giveaway of our fish and our ocean ecosystems, dressed up in credible-sounding language,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump\u2019s latest fishing order is raising new concerns about US marine protections, as it directs federal agencies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-860227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}