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\u201cWe congratulate NOAA Fisheries and the Trump Administration for these new efforts and stand as a resource as the agency begins implementation,\u201d said Lisa Wallenda Picard, president and CEO of NFI.<\/p>\n
Geographically, the most significant proposal is to fast-track the expansion and introduction of new commercial fishing operations at the Mariana Trench, Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea, Rose Atoll, and Pacific Remote Islands national monuments.<\/p>\n
These four protected areas currently shield \u201csome of the last remaining relatively pristine ocean ecosystems,\u201d according to NOAA.<\/p>\n
Covering over 1.1 million square miles\u2014an area almost double the size of Alaska\u2014these habitats are home to millions of acres of coral reef and endemic species found nowhere else in the world, such as the Mariana snailfish and the Hawaiian pigfish.<\/p>\n
Other backsliding includes applying new Endangered Species Act reforms that rescind longstanding interpretation of \u201charm,\u201d and reducing the use of the conservation standards of Habitat Areas of Particular Concern in regulatory actions to \u201censure protections are balanced with economic interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRegulation is the backbone of sustainable fisheries management,\u201d said Janet Coit, the former director of NOAA Fisheries under President Joe Biden. \u201cI worry about what [circumventing science-based limits] will do to the fish populations that future generations are counting on us to steward responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked for comment on these issues, a spokesperson for NOAA told Inside Climate News that \u201cthe best available information\u201d could be found in the press release. \u201cWe are moving away from regulations that treat domestic harvesters like a problem to be managed, and toward a science-based, common-sense system,\u201d NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Pi\u00f1eiro Soler wrote in the announcement.<\/p>\n
The agency did not respond to direct questions regarding what scientific protections will be kept in place and whether NOAA Fisheries now prioritizes commercial profits over environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n
For Coit, who directed the previous administration\u2019s seafood strategy and believes \u201c100 percent\u201d in supporting and promoting US seafood, short-term efforts to roll back protections miss the mark: \u201cWith climate change impacts reshaping our ocean ecosystems, now is not the time to avert our eyes and just go fish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Sturgeon is a London-based reporter covering fisheries and aquaculture. Joining us from the Outlaw Ocean Project, he has experience producing in-depth maritime investigations for nonprofit newsrooms. A former boatbuilder, he holds a BA in History & Politics from the University of Oxford and an MS from Columbia Journalism School.<\/em><\/p>\n