Overview
- President Trump issued a Feb. 6 proclamation revoking the 2021 fishing ban at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and restoring the 2020 framework that permits regulated commercial fishing.
- Trump left the monument’s boundaries intact and argued that existing statutes, including the Magnuson–Stevens Act, provide sufficient protections for marine resources.
- The monument spans about 4,913 square miles roughly 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod and protects deep canyons, four seamounts, ancient corals, and habitat for endangered whales.
- Fishing groups and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council welcomed the decision, saying U.S. fisheries operate under rigorous, science-based management.
- Environmental organizations and some lawmakers vowed legal challenges, noting a federal judge in Hawaii has already halted a similar Pacific rollback while a lawsuit proceeds.