The United States reopens a marine protected area to fishing
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
US President Donald Trump has cancelled fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
The United States reopens a marine protected area to fishing
US President Donald Trump has cancelled fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
The United States administration, led by Donald Trump, has announced the cancellation of fishing restrictions in the area of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The area was designated as protected on 15 September 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, and covers a surface area of over 12,700 square kilometres in the Atlantic Ocean.
Trump: "The economy needs to be strengthened"
The explanation put forward by the White House mirrors those used by Trump to justify the systematic dismantling of numerous other regulations protecting the environment, biodiversity and the climate: the rules currently in force are, in his view, "not necessary". Above all, "the United States economy needs to be strengthened, and coastal communities need to be supported".
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday reinstating commercial fishing in protected Atlantic waters. newsweek.com/donald-trump-m…
Not to be forgotten is the mantra that has underpinned the trade war launched by the American billionaire through waves of customs tariffs: "We must restore fairness to an industry disadvantaged by excessive regulation compared to foreign competition".
The area is home to rare and endangered species
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national park is located off the coast of New England, the far north-eastern tip of the United States encompassing the states of Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The area is rich in underwater mountains and features three canyons: places where endangered whale species and other rare species can be found, some of which have never been sighted anywhere else in the world. The park is home in particular to physeteroids, fin whales and Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
What poses the greatest threat to the most at-risk species is precisely overfishing (alongside climate change): this was the very argument Obama put forward to explain his decision to make the area one in which fishing vessel activity is restricted. A genuine tug-of-war has since emerged between the former Democratic head of state and the leader of the Maga movement, who had already reopened the area to fishing during his first presidential term.
President Trump issued a proclamation reopening a huge swath of protected sea off the New England coast to commercial fishing. trib.al/989T8Dj
According to Trump, flora and fauna are already sufficiently protected
In the statement in which he announced the repeal of the environmental protection rules, Trump also specified that the plant and animal species in question are already adequately protected by existing laws: "Appropriately managed commercial fishing does not endanger objects of historic or scientific interest," he declared.