Tag Archives: Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Concerns about overfishing resurface despite new monument off Cape Cod
Located 130 miles off Cape Cod, the area spans more than 3 million acres and is part of the Biden Administration’s plan to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. Officially called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Debate over how to manage this vast marine environment has been ongoing. Former President Donald Trump lifted restrictions on commercial fishing in the monument area in 2020. The Biden administration reestablished protections one year later, in a move praised by environmental groups and condemned by fishermen, who said it would put more people out of work. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:30
Fishing on an ocean ‘antiquity’
The Seamen’s Bethel is a historic landmark: It’s included on the National Register of Historic Places, a list managed by the National Park Service. Some sites on that list are federally protected because they were designated National Monuments by a U.S. president under the Antiquities Act. The Seamen’s Bethel is not considered a National Monument. But bizarrely, President Barack Obama did declare 3.2 million nearby acres of ocean to be a National Monument, preventing fishermen from fishing there. That’s just one of many indignities dealt by the government to fishermen like Jimmy Kearney as they work to make a hard living at sea. The Antiquities Act “has been transformed into a power without any discernable limit to set aside vast and amorphous expanses of terrain above and below the sea,” the Chief Justice concluded. Why does it matter? Because the government is making life harder for commercial fishermen who work an already-grueling job. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:57
Fishermen challenge fishing ban, Antiquities Act abuse
Fishermen in New York and Vermont have filed a lawsuit against President Biden and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) challenging a ban on commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, as well as the unlawful creation of the monument itself. “President Obama abused his authority when he created this monument in 2016, President Biden abused his authority when he reinstated it in 2021, and now NOAA has abused its authority with this fishing ban,” said Frank Garrison, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “We’ve now seen three Supreme Court Justices express interest in taking a case on presidential abuse of the Antiquities Act. This case is another example of the presidential abuse that has the Justices’ attention.” more, >>click to read<< 14:36
Mayor Mitchell goes to bat for New Bedford’s fishermen, submits congressional testimony
In his written submission, the Mayor explained why the federal government’s approach to fisheries management within the recently designated marine monuments matters to New Bedford’s commercial fishing fleet–the top-grossing fleet in the nation: “The management of marine fisheries in federal waters within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a matter of vital importance to the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts – America’s top-valued commercial fishing port.” The Mayor encouraged Subcommittee members to take into account the unique role that New Bedford plays nationally in commercial fishing, saying “Our harbor serves not only the needs of the vessels that call New Bedford their home port, but also the needs of numerous East Coast vessels from North Carolina to Maine which land their catch in our port at different times during each fishing season. \The proper management of our nation’s marine fisheries is therefore crucial to the vitality of our port and our local and regional economy, but also to the nation, as we service the needs of an industry whose vessels operate up and down nearly the entirety of the East Coast.” >>click to read<< 14:54
Dear Ed Markey. I called your office this morning regarding our fishermen
First let me tell you who I am. I was a commercial fisherman and in seafood supply for over sixty years. I helped Pat Fiero run for state representative, and also was former Governor Mike Dukakis chairman for Cape Ann. I have severed on many fisheries boards and presently serve on the GF Commission. You helped me get the SKG money out of NOAA’s hands by voting in favor of Senator Sullivan bill to go back to advisory panel as was in 1954. I have supported you in the past and will continue. We need help now. I am going to list our problems and would like you to come to Fisheries Meeting here in Gloucester. We meet every third Thursday of the month at City Hall. >click to read< 21:11
Biden’s Latest Green Energy Victim: The Lobster Industry
One of President Joe Biden’s most disgusting “Nero fiddles while Rome burns” moments came when he hosted his first state dinner for visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. While the president and his guests gorged themselves on 200 live Maine lobsters poached in butter, his administration did everything it could to regulate the Maine fishing industry, particularly lobstermen. out of existence. And they’re making the fishing industry a scapegoat for the actual peril lurking in the waters off New England — offshore wind farms. >click to read < 15:04
Two commercial fishermen sue federal government to block ban on fishing near Gulf of Maine
David T. Malley of Massachusetts and Patrick Fehily of New Jersey are commercial fisherman who work near the Gulf of Maine, within the roughly 5,000 square miles that President Biden designated in October as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, according to court documents. Malley, a fisherman for more than 50 years, and Fehily, a fisherman for more than a decade, name Biden, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland as defendants in the suit, filed in US District Court in New Jersey, according to court documents. >click to read< 08:12
Fishing activity before, during, and after reopening of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Evaluation of the economic impacts of marine protected areas is hampered by the fact that it is impossible to observe what would have happened if the protected area had never been closed to fishing. Catch reports and vessel tracks are used to perform an analysis of the potential negative economic impacts of establishing the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument on three commercially important fisheries that were identified as having potential to be harmed. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a highly protected MPA off the east coast of the United States of America that was created by US President Barack Obama on September 15, 2016. >click to read< By John Lyman 07:43
New Bedford Ex-Fisherman: Marine Monument “ridiculous” and an “abuse of power.”
As conservation groups celebrate the White House’s restoration last week of a marine conservation area off the Cape Cod coast, one New Bedford fishing industry insider called the move “ridiculous” and an “abuse of power.” New Bedford Seafood Consulting Executive Director and former scallop fisherman Jim Kendall spoke out after President Joe Biden announced on Thursday the restoration of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. >click to read< 07:38
Another Stab in the Back
Reinstatement of excluding commercial fishing in Obama’s Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument by Joe Biden is another stab in our backs. It will hurt fishermen from Maine to Rhode Island. As if we don’t have enough problems with losing ground. Lobstermen and crab fishermen will also be excluded in 2023. A huge mistake has been made, based on the lack of evidence that fishermen have damaged reefs, corals, or hurt any whales. I fished those waters for twenty years, and never saw a piece of coral. The depth is 2.000 feet, but we’d set our nets at 600 feet, never touching bottom. This situation is not good, and will put more fishermen out of business. I don’t know what can be done to overturn this, but something needs to be done. Sam Parisi, Gloucester, Mass. 16:17
A Proclamation on Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. >click to read<
Biden to restore Obama’s marine national monument
President Biden announced that he will restore protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, The restored protections, which Biden will sign on Friday, will prohibit commercial fishing in the monument, with fishing for red crab and American lobster phased out by September 15, 2023. Recreational fishing in the monument will still be allowed. Former President Barack Obama originally established the conservation area in 2016, creating the country’s first and only marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean. President Trump re-opened large sections of the area to fishing in June 2020, calling the restrictions “ridiculous,” “terrible” and “deeply unfair.”(He was right) Advocates for the commercial fishing industry expressed dismay at Biden’s proclamation,,, “Prohibiting hard-working commercial fisherman from sustainably harvesting while allowing owners of luxury yachts to spear fish for the same species in the same location is hypocritical,” said Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood,,, >click to read< 10:00
Biden signs executive orders on first day as president
Several executive actions will make changes to the U.S. response to COVID-19 and try to ease some of the financial strain on Americans resulting from the pandemic. Other executive actions directly target and undo Mr. Trump’s actions on the environment, immigration, the U.S. census, and regulatory changes. Mr. Biden signed three executive orders in the presence of reporters, implementing a mask mandate on federal property, increasing support for underserved communities and rejoining the Paris climate accord. Mr. Biden also will reverse the 2020 decision by the Trump administration to allow land development at the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah and at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine national monuments in New England,,, >click to read< 07:00
Courts Need To Stop Presidents From Calling Oceans ‘National Monuments’ To Illegally Put Them Off-Limits
In Lewis Carroll’s classic “Through the Looking Glass,” Humpty Dumpty says to the befuddled protagonist, Alice, “When I use a word … it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.” Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association v. Ross, a pending cert petition filed by my colleagues at Pacific Legal Foundation, asks the justices to resolve a curious circuit court split to clarify that the ocean is not land, up is not down, and words have meaning. In 2016, President Barack Obama made one such designation: 3.2 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Cod, beyond our nation’s territorial waters. How Did We Get Here? >click to read< 09:45, Where are we headed? The ocean under Biden -“Big picture, a return to science on how we approach the ocean and ocean policy,,, Early steps include naming John Kerry as a cabinet-level climate czar and pledging to reenter the Paris Climate Accord that he signed. Climate change,,, >click to read< 09:56
USDA trade aid for lobster industry using coronavirus coffers
The Trump administration is committed to starting an aid program to help the struggling lobster industry, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday, but the funds to do so will come from the coronavirus stimulus package, not the aid used to bail out farmers after President Trump’s trade war with China. The lobster industry, like many others during the coronavirus outbreak, has seen losses as markets on cruise ships and restaurants evaporate.,, Trump has began paying considerable attention to Maine’s lobster industry starting this summer, traveling to Bangor in June to announce he would reverse protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. >click to read< 18:07
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument showdown reaches high court
The Obama administration exceeded its authority in 2016 when it designated the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and cut off access to key fisheries, attorneys for the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and other groups argued in their petition filed with the Supreme Court yesterday. A recent move by the Trump administration to preserve the monument but dissolve fishing restrictions has not erased the need for the high court to consider the case, the groups wrote. Those rollbacks are now subject to a separate lawsuit launched by environmental groups. >click to read< 12:28
Lawsuit Challenges Trump OK of Commercial Fishing in Atlantic Marine Monument
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C. by the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Biological Diversity and Zack Klyver, lead naturalist with the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company in Maine. “Trump’s order was illegal because he can’t just declare commercial fishing is allowed in a protected marine monument,” said Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Seamounts monument was created to permanently safeguard this amazing ecosystem and vulnerable species like the endangered sperm whale. Presidents can’t be allowed to gut protections by decree as a favor to commercial fishermen.” >click to read< 11:40
Point Judith fishermen optimistic as Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument restrictions ease
Removal of restrictions for an underwater national park sealed off from commercial fishing trawlers and lobstermen will now provide a bonanza of opportunities for fishing boats in Point Judith, said Fred Mattera, advocate for commercial fishing. According to Mattera, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, this once lucrative fishing spot will now again enable them to bring back large hauls to be sold to for restaurants, grocery stores and ingredients for other foods. Last Friday President Trump removed those restrictions and opened the area once more to fishing, but the decision has produced an outcry from various environmental groups warning of the potential destruction to unique marine life. >click to read< 14:49
Trump Rights a Wrong by Opening Marine Monument to Commercial Fishing
President Trump used the occasion of a visit to Maine last week to do right by an industry that hasn’t had much good news lately when he reopened to commercial fishing nearly 5,000 square miles of ocean south of New England that President Barack Obama closed in 2016. Stay tuned. In the process of righting a wrong,,, Obama created the area, known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, just a few months before he left office. He portrayed the monument, the only one in the Atlantic, as a hedge against climate change.,,, Obama also >considered the area around Cashes Ledge<, 80 miles off Rockland, for monument status, which would have been devastating for Maine fishermen. Ultimately, he took a pass, but environmentalists have not given up on the idea. By Jerry Fraser, >click to read< 08:00
Why New England Aquarium is fighting back against the Trump administration
Decades of work at the New England Aquarium went into securing special protected status for an area of underwater canyons and mountains off Cape Cod.,, During a visit to Maine last Friday, President Donald Trump announced he was signing a proclamation to allow commercial fishing in the nearly 5,000-square-mile ecosystem, which was declared a national marine monument by former President Barack Obama in 2016.,, Vikki Spruill, the CEO and president of the New England Aquarium, called the Republican president’s proclamation“irresponsible and shortsighted.” “The Trump Administration has chosen a moment of national vulnerability to take aim at the environment,” Spruill said in a statement Monday, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and the national protests against police brutality. >click to read< 13:00
Proclamation on Modifying The Northeast Canyons And Seamounts Marine National Monument
June 5, 2020 – In Proclamation 9496 of September 15, 2016, and exercising his authority under section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the “Antiquities Act”), the President established the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, reserving for the care and management of objects of historic and scientific interest approximately 4,913 square miles of water and submerged lands in and around certain deep-sea canyons and seamounts situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government. The President prohibited commercial fishing, with a phase-out period for American lobster and red crab fisheries, within the monument’s boundaries. This proclamation lifts the prohibition on commercial fishing, an activity that is subject to the Magnuson‑Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson‑Stevens), 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., and other applicable laws, regulations, and requirements. This proclamation does not modify the monument in any other respect. >click to read the Proclamation< 18:34
President Donald J Trump:“We are reopening the Northeast Canyons to commercial fishing”, Threatens New EU, China Tariffs Over Maine Lobster
President Trump on Friday announced that he will reopen the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Massachusetts for commercial fishing. “We’re opening it today. We’re undoing his executive order,””We are reopening the Northeast Canyons and the Seamounts Marine Region to commercial fishing.” >click to read<
Remarks By President Trump In A Roundtable On Supporting America’s Commercial Fishermen >click to read<
Trump Threatens New EU, China Tariffs Over Lobster in Maine Trip – President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on cars made in the European Union and on unspecified Chinese products unless the two regions reduce their duties on U.S. lobster, during a visit to Maine where he plans to lift Obama-era fishing restrictions. “If the European Union doesn’t drop that tariff immediately, we’re going to put a tariff on their cars, which would be equivalent,” Trump said in a roundtable event in Bangor, Maine, with commercial fishermen and the state’s former Republican governor, Paul LePage. “It’ll be the equivalent, plus,” he added. >click to read< 15:51
This is Big: President Donald Trump plans to open Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a proclamation on Friday that would open up a conservation area in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing, according to two sources familiar with the plan. The proclamation would allow commercial fishing to resume in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England, a sanctuary created in 2016 during the last year of the Obama administration. It is also expected to cancel the planned phase out of red crab and lobster fisheries that had been ordered in the 2016 designation, according to the sources. Trump could sign the proclamation during a meeting with commercial fishermen in Maine on Friday,,, >click to read< 12:58
March 27, 2018, Fishermen suit against Atlantic marine monument moves ahead – The fishing groups sued to challenge the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument created by President Barack Obama in 2016. It’s a 5,000-square-mile area off of New England that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life such as right whales. The fishermen’s lawsuit had been put on hold by a review of national monuments ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration in April 2017. But a coalition of environmental groups is also intervening in the case in an attempt to keep the monument area preserved. >click to read<
Hawaii Fish Council Urges Trump To Open Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument To Fishing
The council’s latest push comes on the heels of an executive order President Donald Trump signed on May 7 that’s meant to slash federal regulations and ease environmental burdens on American aquaculture and commercial fishing industries in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, two of Trump’s top advisors, Joe Grogan and Peter Navarro, said the president’s new order would “help reduce pain in the grocery checkout line — and also strengthen U.S. food production against foreign competition.” A provision in Trump’s order calls on the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils to submit “a prioritized list of recommended actions to reduce burdens on domestic fishing and to increase production within sustainable fisheries.” Skeptics, including U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman,, Trump’s order gave each council 180 days to submit recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce. >click to read< 12:42
Federal appeals court upholds Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Fishing groups sued over the creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile area that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life. The monument was established in 2016.,,, Attorney Jonathan Wood, who represents the fishing groups, said previously that the matter deserves to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court but that he would need to consult with his clients before making a final decision. >click to read< 15:03
D.C. Circuit gears up for busy environmental docket – Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association v. Ross,
A federal appeals court in Washington is starting to fill in its fall argument calendar and is already set to handle several major cases involving energy infrastructure, air pollution and environmental rollbacks from the Trump administration.,,, Marine monument — Oct. 22, In Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association v. Ross, D.C. Circuit judges will review the Obama-era designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The lobstermen and other challengers say the former administration overreached when it outlawed energy development and most commercial fishing in the protected area off the New England coast. They lost their case in lower court last year and swiftly appealed >click to read< 08:39
Letter: More awareness needed of fish farms
To the editor: I went to the screening of “Lobster Wars” that occurred at the Cape Ann Museum on June 4. In the panel discussion after the movie, Larry Stepenuck was the only one who brought up the devastating effects and disturbances on the lobstermen and fishermen by the fish farms. These polluting enterprises and associated infrastructure take out huge chunks of the ocean that the fishermen and lobsermen could otherwise fish in (both vertically and horizontally). What’s left is getting slimmer all the time. Here, NOAA wants the lobstermen to develop ropeless lobster traps in order to protect the right whales. Meanwhile, NOAA and the Army Corps of Engineers turned around last year and awarded one of the Saltonstall-Kennedy grants to the development of a fish farm in the Critical Zone. A must read by Sue Waller, Rockport. >click to read<14:13
60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue NOAA under the Endangered Species Act Regarding Sea Grant’s Funding of Offshore Aquaculture Projects – >click to read<
No monument changes planned, but up to Trump
U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Wednesday he has no plans for additional changes to national monuments,,, Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said its disappointing the administration won’t enact the recommendation to allow commercial fishing at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument off the New England coastline. That would reverse what she considers an unfair designation by President Barack Obama in 2016.,,,”It’s unfortunate that the secretary is unwilling to do anything at this time because these areas are extremely important for the domestic commercial fishing industry,” Brady said. “They are very fertile fishing grounds.”Zinke also recommended allowing commercial fishing at the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and at the Rose Atoll National Monument in the Pacific Ocean near American Samoa. >click to read<19:11
R.I. Legislators back Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Twenty-five members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, including the Jamestown delegation, are calling for President Donald Trump to preserve the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The statement is in response to threats made by the administration that would alter boundaries to allow industrial fishing and oil drilling in the area, which is about 100 miles off the coast of Rhode Island. >click to read<12:25
Lawmakers to Trump: Keep Marine Monument protections
More than a quarter of state lawmakers wrote to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, urging him not to roll back protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. None of Cape Ann’s representatives — Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, and Reps. Ann-Margaret Ferrante and Brad Hill — were among the signers. Nine of the 38 current state senators and 46 of the 153 representatives signed the letter, which said the monument “does not occur in a major fishing ground” and opening it to commercial fishing would “not help remedy the nation’s seafood deficit.” >click to read<09:23
Fishing Groups Lose Legal Battle Over Marine Monument
The national monument that former President Barack Obama established in the Atlantic Ocean survived a court challenge Friday. When Obama created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in 2016, he relied on a 1906 law passed in Roosevelt’s administration.,, A year later, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and four other groups filed suit to unravel the 5,000-square-mile designation,,, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg disagreed on Friday, dismissing their case.,, “I believe the public is being led astray in thinking the area in question is fragile and in need of more protection,” said Bonnie Brady, “It has always been protected while being commercially fished with federal sustainability and essential habitat regulations through the federal Magnuson Stevens Act and the regional fishery management councils.”>click to read<21:52
