Trump restores – President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on June 11 restoring federally managed commercial fishing in parts of three Pacific marine national monuments—Papahānaumokuākea, the Mariana Trench, and Rose Atoll—actions aimed at boosting U.S. fisheries and loweri
By the time the proclamation was signed, the argument was already personal.
At an Oval Office ceremony on June 11 attended by fishermen. President Donald Trump restored commercial fishing access in parts of three marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean—areas that have long been treated as among the country’s most pristine underwater ecosystems. The White House says the decision will help the U.S. fishing industry and ease pressure on seafood prices. while also fitting into Trump’s broader effort to unwind environmental rules advanced during the Biden administration.
Trump’s speech carried the urgency of a fight over livelihoods. “When they destroyed your whole life and your family and your business, and everything else, did you ever think you would have somebody who would come along and save it?” he asked the fishing representatives gathered for the event.
The proclamation restores federally managed commercial fishing to about half a million square miles in the Pacific. It covers portions of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near Hawaii. the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument off the coast of Guam. and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa.
These monuments are three of the nation’s five marine national monuments. Their status reflects an assessment by scientists that the underwater areas are “some of the most effective tools for improving ocean ecosystems and threatened fish stocks. ” according to the National Parks Conservation Association. a nonprofit that advocates for environmental conservation.
Still, the opposition is rooted in a different set of concerns—ones tied directly to how fishery management works on the water.
The nation’s eight regional fishery management councils have argued that fishing prohibitions in the monuments undermine domestic fishing goals. In a June 2025 letter to Trump. the councils said the restrictions are “counterproductive to domestic fishery goals.” They also warned that removing American fishing vessels from U.S. waters would eliminate their role as “watchdogs” over U.S. fishing grounds that could be threatened by foreign fishing and other incursions.
The White House summary of the proclamation—reviewed during its release—takes the opposite view. It says prohibiting commercial fishing within the monuments is “not necessary” for the proper care and management of the areas because many fish species are highly migratory. not unique to the specific site. and are already protected through other federal laws.
That summary also argues that banning commercial fishing in these waters artificially restricts domestic fish supply. In turn, it says the United States becomes more reliant on foreign sources for food and that the change increases the cost of seafood for everyday Americans.
The decisions come as part of Trump’s deregulatory push against environmental rules and regulations advanced during the Biden years. Trump’s move to reopen parts of the monuments also follows a pattern of reversals: Biden had expanded protected marine monuments by creating marine sanctuaries.
Trump’s latest step isn’t an isolated action. He signed a similar proclamation in April 2025 restoring commercial fishing in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which the text says represents about 400,000 miles in the Pacific Ocean.
During Trump’s first term. he opened commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in New England. But Biden later reinstated a ban on commercial fishing in those monuments. Shortly after Trump was elected to a second term, he took executive action in February 2025 to reverse the ban.
What ties these moves together is the central conflict now playing out across policy and practice: conservation protections built around ecological value versus fishery access defended as essential for domestic supply and economic stability.
And while the administration frames the new access as a way to cut consumer costs, the councils’ warning still lands on the mechanics of enforcement—who is on the water, who can observe threats, and what happens when U.S. fleets are pushed out of places they would otherwise operate.
The White House also positioned the fishing rollback within a larger economic message. Trump ended a Biden EPA refrigerant rule and said rolling back that rule would cut grocery prices. shipping costs. and air conditioning expenses—an argument that the administration continues to link to consumer affordability as it moves to relax federal environmental rules.
Trump commercial fishing marine national monuments Papahānaumokuākea Mariana Trench Rose Atoll fisheries seafood prices EPA refrigerant rule deregulation Pacific Ocean