Donald Trump’s latest fishing order is raising new concerns about US marine protections, as it directs federal agencies to prioritize recreational fishing while reconsidering the scientific standards and environmental regulations that govern American fisheries. The National Marine Fisheries Service hailed last Thursday’s order, Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation, telling the Guardian: “By addressing long-standing flaws in federal data collection, streamlining permitting, and expanding marine habitats, this action delivers long-overdue stability to America’s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy.” However, conservation advocates say the order marks another step by the Trump administration away from science-based marine management and conservation. The review of the guidelines should “ensure they appropriately account for the … recreational fishery”, the order says.
Gib Brogan, senior campaign director at Oceana, said the review is not inherently unusual. However, according to Brogan, the concern is how the Trump administration could reinterpret the standards. The order also directs the interior department to establish a program facilitating the conversion of decommissioned offshore oil and gas structures into permanent artificial reefs.
Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, called the provision “a handout to the oil industry”, saying that it is “another blatant demonstration of Trump’s desire to let the oil industry avoid any responsibility for the mess it continues to leave in our oceans”. They can also leach harmful chemicals into the ocean,” Monsell said. Meanwhile, Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA’s ocean sanctuaries project lead, said some rigs could provide useful habitat but questioned whether converting them into reefs is appropriate in every location.
Hemphill also cautioned that attracting fish to a structure does not necessarily mean creating new fish populations. But the first fish you’re going to see are not fish that were created by that habitat being there. It’s fish that were in all the surrounding area and then were drawn in by … a new habitat … It’s just making them easier to catch,” he said.
The order also calls for the establishment of an “Interagency Shark and Pinniped Depredation Task Force” to address cases where sharks and marine mammals take fish from anglers’ lines. The taskforce is directed to examine barriers to shark fisheries, including international agreements and listings under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Andrea Treece, deputy managing attorney for oceans at Earthjustice, said the provision appears aimed at easing restrictions on the shark trade, which has been largely prohibited under US federal law.
Grace Casselberry, a postdoctoral shark depredation researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, also urged caution. Monsell warned that the order’s deregulatory push could threaten protections su
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