The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is now officially open to commercial fishing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service announced in a press release Friday that the agency rescinded the regulation that protected 4,913 square miles of ocean in the name of conservation. The decision is a result of a proclamation issued Feb. 6 by President Donald Trump that declared a rollback of protections first put in place by former President Barack Obama in September 2016. This was reversed by Trump once before in 2020, then flipped back again by former President Joe Biden.
It was previously unclear when the restrictions would officially be lifted; even Island fishermen weren’t sure whether or not the rollback was immediate.
“We look forward to fulfilling the president’s vision of making the U.S. the world’s dominant seafood leader, and we are committed to implementing the direction he has provided in the executive actions,” Rachel Hager, public affairs team lead for NOAA Fisheries, said in an email to The Times in February. She didn’t clarify when the area would be reopened. It’s official now, however.
The Friday press release stated NOAA Fisheries is proud to support the Trump administration’s “pledge to restore U.S. seafood competitiveness” and “increase economic opportunities” for U.S. fishermen.
“Restoring fishing in the Northeast Monument sends a signal that our fishermen are valued in the U.S.,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in the release.
But on the Island, there aren’t many vessels that travel out that far to harvest anymore. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts are an area the size of Connecticut, about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod. It is the only marine national monument, a protected area, in the Atlantic Ocean, and is 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, a webpage by NOAA Fisheries reads. The Northeast Monument provides grounds for migratory species, such as tuna, sharks, and some whale species, to feed. At the end of February, the New England Aquarium spotted an endangered blue whale at the base of Lydonia Canyon.
It is also “home to many desirable fishery resources,” such as Atlantic deep-sea red crab, squid, Atlantic mackerel, and Atlantic tunas and swordfish, the press release from NOAA Fisheries said.
Why not hunt every last fish down ? Out grandkids will do just fine eating Soylent green.
Don is back — the Town Crier of unrelated topics, bell in hand, facts somewhere else.
No one is proposing to “hunt every last fish down,” and the article itself says there are not many Island vessels harvesting there anyway.
So once again, he is not responding to what was written, but to its reflection in a circus funhouse mirror, where everything comes out stretched, distorted, and wildly out of proportion. “Soylent Green” may be dramatic, but drama is not an argument. It is just borrowed hysteria standing in for thought, dressed up as noise in a costume.