Lawsuit challenges Trump order that opens protected marine monument to commercial fishing

Kāpaʻa, the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i and the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration today challenging its actions to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

The groups are challenging President Trump’s April 17 proclamation that would allow U.S.-flagged vessels to fish commercially in an area that’s long been preserved to protect marine ecosystems, as well as steps taken by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to implement that illegal proclamation.

The Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, formerly known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, was established by President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded by President Obama in 2014.

The Trump administration seeks to strip vital protections that President Barack Obama put in place in 2014, when he expanded the monument’s boundaries to include the waters 200 nautical miles around Jarvis Island, Wake Island and Johnston Atoll, banning commercial fishing in those waters.

“The islands within the monument are part of Moananuiākea, a term used to describe the Pacific Ocean and its connection to Hawaiian culture, traditions, and values,” said Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, founding member of Kāpaʻa. “The practice of commercial fishing and the unavoidable and significant waste of marine resources caused by bycatch is an affront to Native Hawaiian practices and beliefs. President Trump’s proclamation threatens the ability of future generations to survive and thrive.”

On April 25, the Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them a green light to fish commercially within the monument’s boundaries, even though the monument protections implementing the longstanding fishing ban remain on the books.

“President Trump’s proclamation threatens to destroy one of the world’s last healthy and wild ocean ecosystems,” said Jonee Peters of the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i. “Commercial fishing would remove large numbers of fish, sharks, turtles and other marine life as both intended catch and unintended by-catch. This would completely disrupt the underwater ecosystem and wreak havoc on the food chain.”

“Many of these creatures and areas are culturally important to the people of Oceania, for traditional and modern navigation, and as a valuable food source,” Peters continued.

Both Trump’s initial proclamation and the successive actions by the Fisheries Service violate the law.

Even short-term commercial fishing can inflict long-term, irreparable harm on the pristine marine environment. The monument’s ban on commercial fishing ultimately protect scientific and historical treasures in one of the most unique ocean ecosystems on earth.

The monument’s protections secure these major reservoirs of biodiversity and their populations, improving their resiliency against climate change.

Several million seabirds congregate around or nest in the monument and the waters are habitat for 22 species of protected and marine mammals, including five species of threatened or endangered sea turtles, like the leatherback, that feed and migrate.

“Trump’s illegal move is a direct assault on the Pacific’s cultural heritage and biodiversity, and we won’t let one of the ocean’s last truly wild places be gutted for short-term profit. These waters are a climate refuge for a host of endangered species, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth,” said Maxx Phillips, Hawai‘i Pacific Islands director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “For generations Pacific Islanders have revered these ocean areas as sources of food, knowledge and spiritual connection. Dismantling these protections threatens not only marine life but the cultural practices that are inseparable from this place. These waters deserve protection, not plunder.”

Trump’s proclamation violates the Antiquities Act. This 1906 law allows presidents to designate and protect public lands as national monuments but does not grant them the authority to strip vital protections from established monuments. Today’s lawsuit challenges Trump’s action as unlawful for exceeding the president’s constitutional authority and infringing upon the powers reserved for Congress.

The Fisheries Service’s attempt to green light commercial fishing violates several key American environmental laws, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Among other violations, the Fisheries Service bypassed a clear, longstanding legal requirement that it first publish rules in the federal register before amending or repealing existing regulations so that affected parties can have input on how best to protect public marine resources.

The Fisheries Service didn’t publish new rules in the federal register and failed to conduct any environmental review to assess the harm that opening this area to commercial fishing would have on endangered species and the ecosystem, as required by the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

“We will not stand by as the Trump administration unleashes highly destructive commercial fishing on some of the planet’s most pristine, biodiverse marine environments,” said David Henkin, deputy managing attorney in Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific office. “Piling lawlessness on top of lawlessness, the National Marine Fisheries Service chose to carry out President Trump’s illegal proclamation by issuing its own illegal directive, with no public input. We are counting on the courts to put a stop to the Trump administration’s disregard for the rule of law and to preserve the monument’s precious and vulnerable resources for future generations.”