Lawsuit Challenges Trump Order Opening Pacific 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 illegal actions to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

The groups are challenging the April 17 proclamation by President Trump 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 (NMFS) to implement that illegal proclamation. The Trump administration seeks to strip vital protections that President Obama put in place in 2014, when he expanded the monument’s boundaries to include the waters from 50 to 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. 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,” said Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, Founding Member of Kāpaʻa.

On April 25, the NMFS sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them a green light to fish commercially within the monument’s boundaries, even though the monument regulations 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. 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,” said Jonee Peters, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i.

Both President Trump’s initial proclamation and the successive actions by the NMFS violate the law.

Even short-term commercial fishing can inflict long-term, irreparable harm on the pristine marine environment. The monument designations, and associated ban on taking marine resources, provide needed protection to scientific and historical treasures in one of the most spectacular and unique ocean ecosystems on earth. The monument’s status allows its waters to be havens for a vast range of marine wildlife including five species of threatened or endangered sea turtles, like the leatherback, that use these waters to feed and migrate. The waters are habitat for 22 species of protected and marine mammals, and several million seabirds congregate around or nest in the monument.

“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,” said Maxx Phillips, Hawai‘i Pacific Islands director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These waters are a climate refuge for a host of endangered species, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth. 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.”

President 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. This lawsuit challenges President Trump’s action as unlawful for exceeding the president’s constitutional authority and infringing upon the powers reserved to Congress.

The NMFS’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 NMFS 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 NMFS didn’t publish new rules in the Federal Register and failed to conduct any environmental review to assess the impact that opening this area to commercial fishing would have on endangered species and the ecosystem, as required by the Endangered Species Act and 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.”

Background

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 monument’s protections secure these major reservoirs of biodiversity and their populations, improving their resiliency against climate change. Deep water coral reefs, seamounts, guyots, submerged reefs and banks, and abyssal benthic communities also find protection within the monument boundaries. Many of these habitats are understudied, and there are likely others yet to be discovered.