Trump’s America – President Donald Trump has issued an executive proclamation allowing commercial fishing in parts of three national marine monuments in Hawai‘i, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—moves environmental groups and Indigenous leade
When Kekuewa Kikiloi boarded a research vessel to visit the northwestern Hawaiian islands in 2002. he didn’t know what to expect. Kikiloi grew up on O‘ahu. but like many Native Hawaiians. he had never had the chance to see the uninhabited islands and atolls scattered to the west of the main Hawaiian islands.
What he saw changed him. “There’s no places left in Hawai‘i. or very few places. where the environment is so wild and intact that you have your ancestors who are embodied in the environment communicating with you every second: birds hovering over you. monk seals swimming up to you. fish trying to bite you. ” Kikiloi told Grist. “It’s so raw, the experience up there.”.
Now, as President Donald Trump moves to open protected waters to commercial fishing, Kikiloi says he can feel that rawness—and the protections built to preserve it—slipping away.
Earlier this month. Trump issued an executive proclamation that would allow commercial fishing in parts of three national marine monuments in Hawai‘i. American Samoa. and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI): the Mau and Ho‘omalu Zones of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument. and the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The areas covered by the proclamation span roughly half a million square miles in the Pacific Ocean and. the proclamation’s coverage includes some of the most ecologically sensitive habitats—home to thousands of plant and animal species.
To Kikiloi and other advocates, these aren’t abstract boundaries on a map. These are places where Indigenous life is intertwined with the living ocean.
Trump’s proclamation is the latest step in what his administration portrays as an America-first push to expand industrial fishing. In April. the president signed a proclamation to open over 400. 000 square miles of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. He also issued an executive order intended to boost domestic seafood production, and his administration has increased several fishery quotas. This February, Trump signed another proclamation removing commercial fishing from the prohibited activities in two national monuments in the Atlantic.
After signing this month’s proclamation. the White House posted “AMERICA FIRST FISHING POLICY” on Facebook. calling it “MASSIVE WIN FOR AMERICA’S FISHERMEN!” During the Oval Office signing. Trump promised the move would generate “millions and millions of dollars in new business for our great. really great fishermen” and lower seafood costs.
For some politicians, the promise is jobs and local economic lift. Rep. Kimberlyn King-Hinds—the sole congressional representative from the CNMI—attended the signing. In a press release. she said she hopes the federal government will work with local officials and communities to implement the directive and that it creates jobs. “For the CNMI, ocean policy is local policy,” she said. “If American fishing activity grows in these waters. our goal should be to connect that activity to local jobs. local businesses. port activity. seafood infrastructure. and long-term food security for the Commonwealth.”.
But critics argue the administration’s approach benefits commercial operations while pushing Indigenous fishers aside.
Numerous commercial fishers and groups have praised the decision. Kitty Simonds. executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. told Grist. “We need to eat fish caught by our fishermen who follow US laws.” Eric Kingma. executive director of the Hawai‘i Longliners Association. told Honolulu Civil Beat that he welcomed a review from the federal government “guided by sound science” on the scientific. economic. and cultural significance of the area. along with management decisions that support “the long-term viability of Hawai‘i’s longline fleet.” After Trump signed the first commercial fishing proclamation last April. Kingma argued that ocean conservation and commercial fisheries can be compatible. saying at the time. “What we like about opening these up is the opportunity to fish there when the fish are there.”.
Yet even supporters of fishing openings say the legal questions are far from settled.
Henkin believes the shift emerged after a court fight forced changes to the administration’s approach. In spring 2025. just days after Trump’s April 2025 proclamation. NOAA Fisheries—known as the National Marine Fisheries Service—announced in a letter to permit holders that it had reopened commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. That reopening lasted nearly four months. until last August. when a federal district judge ruled in a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice that the move violated the federal rulemaking process.
After Trump’s Atlantic Ocean proclamation earlier this year. NOAA Fisheries went through formal rulemaking to change the regulation that had previously banned commercial fishing in those monuments. Henkin argues that Earthjustice’s lawsuit may have prompted the administration to revise its strategy for industrial fishing regulations.
But Henkin says a deeper question remains unanswered—one that could shape the legal fate of these new openings. While Congress has “absolute authority” over federal lands and waters. the Antiquities Act of 1906 also gave presidents authority to designate certain protected monuments over federal resources containing scientific. historic. or cultural value. Earthjustice’s attorney argues that no federal court has yet ruled whether the Antiquities Act allows a president to undo a national monument or its protections. though several cases are pending. Earthjustice is preparing to challenge the administration in court again. “It’s anyone’s guess what these folks are going to do. other than play fast and loose with the law. ” Henkin said.
For Indigenous communities, the concern is not only legal. It’s practical: who will be able to fish, and whose relationship to the ocean will be treated as expendable.
Steven Mana‘oakamai Johnson. Kanaka Maoli from the island of Saipan and an assistant professor at Cornell University. said. “If anyone gains to benefit from this. it’s not going to be the traditional Indigenous communities.” He added that the beneficiaries would be “businesses. corporations. and those who have these larger vessels.”.
The administration’s carve-outs—allowing subsistence fishing even as restrictions are stripped back—do not fully ease that worry. Indigenous fishers. the article notes. tend to practice smaller-scale. more sustainable fishing. and many are largely exempt from commercial fishing bans in protected waters. In the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. for instance. Indigenous fishers retained the right to subsistence fish under the protections Trump just stripped back.
Even in American Samoa, where tuna is described as the biggest export and support for commercial fishing is widespread, some lawmakers are concerned about how far the latest proclamation goes.
A year ago. congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata from American Samoa said of the Pacific marine monuments. “Neither presidents Bush. Obama. or Biden ever asked American Samoa what they wanted before they took away our Indigenous fishing rights without any science.” Her office now says she’s concerned about how fishing around Rose Atoll could infringe on Indigenous rights. “Amata remains convinced that Rose Atoll should be off limits. her longstanding position. especially as she respects the cultural rights of the people of Manu‘a. ” her office said in a press release.
Camilo Mora. a scientist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. disputes the administration’s argument that deregulation will create jobs and strengthen the fishing sector. Mora has studied the relationship between biodiversity. fisheries. and the global food system. and he argues that any short-term economic benefits will be offset by long-term ecosystem losses. Most US waters. he says. are already open to commercial fishing. and highly protected areas where all extractive activity is banned make up about 3 percent.
Mora points to Papahānaumokuākea as an example. He describes the monument as one of the largest marine protected areas in the world and a refuge for rare and ecologically significant species. In it. he says. the Hawaiian monk seal. humpback whales. and green sea turtles are among more than 7. 000 species found there. many of which are critically endangered.
Opening the Mau and Ho‘omalu zones to commercial fishing, Mora warns, could trigger a trophic cascade—when a change in the top predator’s population or behavior ripples through the food chain. He argues that kind of cascade could drive “all of these populations to collapse.”
“We are destroying the capacity of the oceans to make the food we need,” Mora said.
For Kikiloi, the fight over fishing policy isn’t only about food markets or stock assessments. He says it’s about whether Indigenous people in Hawai‘i can remain connected to their ancestors.
He’s not surprised that scientists like Mora have found some of the oldest living corals on Earth in Papahānaumokuākea. because Hawaiian oral histories describe the monument as the place where life began. “It’s the place where our souls return to after death,” Kikiloi said. “It’s hard to exist as Hawaiians nowadays if every aspect of your environment is degraded.”.
Trump America First fishing policy Papahānaumokuākea Rose Atoll Mariana Trench NOAA Fisheries Antiquities Act Earthjustice commercial fishing Hawai‘i American Samoa CNMI Indigenous fishing rights marine national monuments