Only a few days ago, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, an area the size of Connecticut and 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, was the only marine national monument, a protected area, in the Atlantic Ocean. That changed late Friday afternoon when the federal government rolled back protections for the underwater landscape.
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation Feb. 6 that removed the prohibition on commercial fishing in the 4,913 square miles that consist of two separate areas, which together have three canyons rivaling the depth of the Grand Canyon, and four seamounts, or underwater mountains, larger than any on land east of the Rockies.
The monument was originally designated by former president Barack Obama in a presidential proclamation in September 2016, under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to protect “unique ecological resources” from overfishing. Commercial fishing was then removed from the list of prohibited activities within the monument by Trump in 2020. Former president Joe Biden reversed that in October 2021, and now, Trump’s flipped back the rules again.
“The whole episode is more posturing than substance on both sides,” said Fred Khedouri, owner of Martha Rose Fisheries, which operates the Martha Rose and Menemsha Rose out of Menemsha.
Island fishermen are constantly forced to balance profit and conservation as they harvest from the sea, because they rely on the resources for their livelihood. The monument is located right off of Georges Bank, once one of the most lucrative grounds for commercial fishermen. Schooners out of Edgartown fished Georges Bank from the early years of the 20th century to the late 1930s, and there were sword boats out there post-World War II, Bowdoin Van Riper, research librarian for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, said. Vineyard lobstermen used to set traps in the canyons and pulled huge numbers, he added. That changed, however, as regulations tightened, fish values dropped and fuel costs rose, and the Island’s commercial fishing fleet shrank. A study out of the University of Hawaii found that only a small percentage of historical fishing grounds were lost because of the monument, and catch didn’t decline for three main species harvested in New England and prevalent in the monument, when the area was closed to fishermen.
On a webpage by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, which manages activities and species in the monument through federal law, the federal agency said that the canyons and seamounts are home to at least 54 species of deep-sea corals and other fauna that live at depths of 3,900 meters and promote a vibrant deep-sea ecosystem for fish and invertebrate species. It is also a crucial area for phytoplankton and zooplankton that form the basis of the food chain. The underwater canyons — Oceanographer, Gilbert, and Lydonia — start at the edge of the outer continental shelf and provide habitat for squid, octopus, skate, flounder, and crabs. They also provide grounds for migratory species, such as tuna, sharks, and some whale species, to feed. The seamounts run “like a curved spine from the southern side of Georges Bank to midways across the western Atlantic Ocean,” NOAA Fisheries wrote, and are home to rare species.
The NOAA Fisheries information page on the monument hasn’t been updated yet to include Trump’s rollback of protections, but the agency plans to implement his proclamation.
“This executive proclamation builds on the administration’s pledge to restore U.S. seafood competitiveness,” Rachel Hager, public affairs team lead for NOAA Fisheries, said in an email to The Times. “We look forward to fulfilling the president’s vision of making the United States the world’s dominant seafood leader, and we are committed to implementing the direction he has provided in the executive actions.”
It remains unclear whether the proclamation rolled back the restrictions immediately and fishermen could start to harvest in the monument as early as this past weekend, but Hager didn’t respond to follow-up questions by deadline.
Ian Andres, co-captain of the nearly 80-foot Martha Rose, which fishes out of Menemsha, said he had received a call in the last few days from a buddy who asked whether or not he was allowed to fish inside the monument. Andres still isn’t sure.
Andres has worked on the Martha Rose, which stays busy through the scallop and squid fishery all year, for about a half-decade. He doesn’t like being on land much, and said, “The worst thing for a boat is for it to sit on the dock.” As far as Island vessels go, other than rod-and-reel tuna fishermen, Andres said the Martha Rose is probably the only crew that would go out far enough to fish in the monument.
Andres said he is in favor of regulations and knows that the monument was created to protect deep-water corals, but said he’s never caught any, and added that he never heard that any old-timers came across that problem, either.
The Martha Rose, as one of the last big trawlers, is one of the only vessels from the Island that could make that trip. Andres said that they’ve fished around that area already on weeklong trips and would check the weather closely before a nearly 150-mile attempt, but he said there could be squid out there. Weather has kept the trawler at the dock, and the boat is currently being worked on by Andres — a lot, this season.
He added that the protections did hurt commercial longline fishermen, who use a line of baited hooks to catch fish, even though these really only work near the surface of the water.
Otto Osmers, an Island commercial fisherman who’s scalloped on the Martha Rose, said he thinks there are mostly pelagic species, or those that inhabit waters below the continental shelf, out in the canyons. He added that he doesn’t think that fewer protections is a good idea, but said other fishermen might disagree. Some fishermen are frustrated that the protected area was created outside of the framework of the fisheries management structure and instead has been instituted and taken away multiple times by U.S. presidents.
Conservation groups and scientific institutions have also expressed concern over the decision.
“The region is home to [a] wide range of rare, endangered, and commercially important marine animals that thrive in a healthy ocean,” Suzanne Pelisson, director of public relations for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, wrote to The Times. “By protecting this critical region, the monument helps sustain fish populations that in turn provide long-term economic benefits for coastal communities.”
Trump previously attempted to strip protections from the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument on April 17 and reopen an area that spans almost 500,000 square miles in the central Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing. Environmentalists challenged Trump’s executive order, and a district court in Honolulu found that commercial fishing could not legally proceed before further discussions in court.
The same could happen on this side of the country. The Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy organization out of Boston, called the move by Trump “unlawful” and promised to fight in the courts to protect the monument from exploitation.
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts deserve serious, consistent management — not presidential back-and-forth every four years.
There is no denying the ecological value of the monument. Deep-sea corals, migratory species, and long-term fish stocks matter. Healthy oceans are not optional for coastal communities like ours.
At the same time, working fishermen deserve regulatory stability. Boats, crews, fuel costs, insurance — none of that operates on political cycles. Opening and closing access repeatedly through executive proclamations creates uncertainty that makes long-term planning nearly impossible.
The larger concern here isn’t simply whether the monument is open or closed. It’s that decisions of this magnitude are being toggled outside the traditional fisheries management framework. Regional councils exist for a reason: to weigh science, economic impact, and sustainability in a structured way.
Island history shows we can balance conservation with livelihood. But balance requires durable policy, not symbolic reversals.
If protections are warranted, they should be grounded in transparent science and stable governance. If access is appropriate, that too should be decided through established management channels.
Our fishermen — and our oceans — deserve more than political ping-pong.
“Still, this decision from Washington throws politics onto an already complicated debate between profit and conservation, which fishermen live with everyday.”
I would say this removes the politics from the ‘already complicated debate’ and let’s the fishermen become the rightful stewards for the region. Remember the people that want to ban fishing are the same ones that have approved ruining the seascape with low productivity and water polluting windmills.