Overview
- President Trump signed the proclamation Thursday, restoring commercial fishing to specific zones in the Papahānaumokuākea, Mariana Islands unit, and Rose Atoll monuments and reopening roughly half a million square miles of U.S. Pacific waters.
- The order allows only U.S.-flagged vessels to fish in the reopened areas with narrow permits possible for foreign-flagged vessels used to transport U.S.-caught fish, and it directs the Secretary of Commerce and NOAA to amend or repeal regulations that conflict with the proclamation.
- NOAA and the White House framed the action as an economic measure to boost coastal jobs, increase domestic seafood supply, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness in tuna and other pelagic fisheries.
- Conservation groups and scientists warned the change risks damage to pristine habitats and 'fish bank' refuges and said legal challenges are likely, citing past court rulings that halted similar rollbacks when agencies skipped public procedures.
- What happens next depends on NOAA rulemaking, monitoring and enforcement capacity under Magnuson–Stevens, and the outcome of expected lawsuits, and this action follows prior monument openings the administration carried out in 2025 and early 2026.