A new Executive Order issued by US President Donald Trump has opened the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) to commercial fishing, with the assertion that US environmental laws and regulation can adequately protect the islands’ marine ecosystem.
The move will allow fishing on more than 400,000 square miles west of Hawaii, declared a monument in 2009 by former president George W Bush and expanded in 2014 by Barack Obama. It includes an array of reefs and seamounts around Wake, Baker, Howland and Jarvis islands, the Johnston and Palmyra atolls and Kingman Reef.
According to Trump’s new order, as a result of the prohibitions on commercial fishing, American fishing fleets have lost access to nearly half of the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Pacific Islands. This, it says, has driven American fishermen to fish further offshore in international waters to compete against poorly regulated and highly subsidised foreign fleets.
“This disadvantages honest United States commercial fishermen and is detrimental for United States territories like American Samoa, whose private sector economy is over 80% dependent on the fishing industry,” it states.
Through the new proclamation of 17 April 2025, titled “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific”, the US President has mandated that only US-flagged vessels shall be allowed to commercially fish within the boundaries of the monument and the monument expansion, with the exception that permits may be issued to foreign-flagged vessels to tranship fish harvested by US fishermen.
It advises that the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior shall take appropriate action pursuant to their respective authorities under the Antiquities Act; the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; and such other authorities to regulate fisheries and to ensure proper care and management of the monument expansion.
Additionally, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shall “expeditiously publish” new proposed rules in the Federal Register to amend or repeal all burdensome regulations that restrict commercial fishing in the PRIMNM, it states.
NGO Greenpeace is among those condemning the Presidential order, saying it allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance and despite “overwhelming scientific consensus” that marine sanctuaries are essential for rebuilding fish stocks and maintaining ocean health.
These actions threaten some of the most sensitive and pristine marine ecosystems in the world, it said.
Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA project lead on ocean sanctuaries, commented: “Opening the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing puts one of the most pristine ocean ecosystems on the planet at risk. Almost 90% of global marine fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished. The few places in the world ocean set aside as large, fully protected ocean sanctuaries serve as ‘fish banks’, allowing fish populations to recover, while protecting the habitats in which they thrive. President Bush and President Obama had the foresight to protect the natural resources of the Pacific for future generations, and Greenpeace USA condemns the actions of President Trump today to reverse that progress.”
