NOAA Fisheries has reopened the public comment period on U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness for two weeks after initially cutting off feedback in mid-October.
The Trump administration claims the extension is warranted because the federal government shutdown – which began 1 October and stretched into November – overlapped with the tail end of the public comment period that closed 14 October. With the government now funded and reopened, NOAA Fisheries has decided “to allow interested parties additional time to prepare and submit comments.”
NOAA Fisheries will be accepting additional feedback submissions through 15 December.
Issued in April, Trump’s executive order directed the Department of Commerce and NOAA Fisheries to determine which fisheries regulations were impeding the commercial fishing sector and ought to be repealed or amended.
“Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce shall identify the most heavily overregulated fisheries requiring action and take appropriate action to reduce the regulatory burden on them in cooperation with the Regional Fishery Management Councils, interagency partners, and through public-private partnerships, as appropriate,” the executive order stated.
The U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils submitted their recommendations to the Department of Commerce already.
The U.S. House Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee also held a hearing on the executive order in June, but Democrat lawmakers and witnesses questioned whether the Trump administration’s actions in attempting to cut NOAA Fisheries’ budget and staff aligned with the goal of restoring American seafood competitiveness.
In August, NOAA Fisheries opened the 45-day public comment period, specifically seeking feedback on “fishery-related barriers, fisheries management, science, and other priority needs identified in the executive order.” The agency also expressed interest in any fisheries assessment technology that may be cheaper or more reliable than the government’s current methods.
