A group of conservation organizations has launched a lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in response to his reopening of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument to commercial fishing.
Trump revoked restrictions on commercial fishing in the monument in February, marking the fourth time that the status of commercial fishing in the region changed since the monument was first created by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016. At this point, the monument has seen three different presidents make four different management decisions, with each decision being met by lawsuits by either fishing groups opposing commercial fishing closures or environmental groups suing over the monument being reopened again.
The latest lawsuit, brought by the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, and naturalist Zack Klyver, aims to block the reopening of the monument.
“Conservation Law Foundation campaigned to establish this monument because the life it shelters is unique and irreplaceable. The last time the Trump administration tried to strip away protections, we sued and kept fighting until protections were restored. We’re ready to do it again,” Conservation Law Foundation Staff Attorney Chloe Fross said in a release.
Conservation groups have made protecting the region in the seamounts a priority due to the unique environment it contains, and the conservation groups called it a hotspot for biodiversity and undiscovered deep-sea life.
“Northeast Canyons and Seamounts is a living scientific laboratory and a refuge for species as varied as cold-water corals and sperm whales. Only the Trump administration would think it makes sense to open it up to damage and harm from commercial fishing,” Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Attorney Devon Flanagan said. “That decision is clearly unlawful, and we will be fighting it in court until we win.”
The lawsuit claims Trump has no authority to abolish or diminish a national monument established by a prior president.
A study released in 2022 examined the fishing prohibitions at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and found that the closure had little to no negative impact for fisheries in the region. The study, authored by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Professor of Economics John Lynham, found fishing activity in the squid/butterfish, mackerel, and tuna fisheries was the same before closure, during closure, and after reopening.
