Washington, D.C. – Today, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that opens up protected waters around the remote Pacific island territories to industrial fishing fleets. This move would undo protections granted under the Obama administration and reduce the size of the protected areas in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to those set in 2009. In response, Angelo Villagomez, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, conservation chair for the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument community group, and Ocean Co-lead for the America the Beautiful for All Coalition issued the following comments:
“Opening up marine monuments to industrial fishing fleets sets a dangerous precedent that our public lands and waters are for sale to the highest bidder. The United States controls nearly five million square miles of ocean, and there is room for us to have the world’s best managed fisheries and networks of marine protection, safeguarding the most threatened, iconic, and special places in our ocean. Pitting them against each other is a false choice.”