President Donald Trump’s executive order to boost the US commercial fishing industry has drawn strong condemnation from environmentalists who fear the move will not strengthen but weaken the domestic industry by driving fish stocks into decline through overfishing.

Issued last week, the order represents a significant shift in federal policy on fishing in US waters, opening up previously off-limits, protected waters around the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

“Commercial fishing is currently prohibited within its boundaries” but “appropriately managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of scientific and historic interest that the PRIMM (Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument) protects at risk,” the US President claimed.

Donald Trump described the decision as “an easy one” that will improve the US commercial fishing industry by scaling back on regulations that have previously protected the area from commercial fishing. 

The executive order – which has been titled Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness – outlines a sweeping overhaul of the federal approach to regulating and promoting the domestic fishing industry, criticising what has been called ‘federal overregulation’ that has “restricted the ability of American fishermen to harvest seafood and compete globally”.

The order directs the Secretary of Commerce – working alongside other federal agencies and fishery councils – to identify and rescind burdensome regulations within 30 days. It also instructs federal officials to explore opening marine national monuments to commercial fishing and expand fishing permit programmes.

The same order also instructs on the pursuit of trade enforcement strategies against nations engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing or forced labour.

The administration’s argument that the order addresses unfair trade practices and promotes American competitiveness has been met with strong condemnation from environmental organisations for the long-term damage that could be caused to fish stocks already fragile – particularly salmon – while undercutting the scientific resources needed to sustain the industry.

Meredith Moore, the senior director of the Fish Conservation Programme at Ocean Conservancy has said that “between firing experts at NOAA, delaying fishing seasons and disrupting ocean science and data collection, the Trump administration is causing unprecedented chaos.”

She has warned that the executive order “would weaken, not strengthen” the domestic fishing industry “by increasing the risk that overfishing drives fish stocks to decline” and ultimately “taking healthy US seafood off the menu.”

“The US fishing management system already maximises catch to the limit that science says is sustainable. Regulations support sustainable access to these public resources, and removing them risks a future where healthy ocean fish stocks are a memory,” she said.

“Our fisheries need more investment and support in order to tackle the issues of seafood trade and markets, modernising our data systems and responding to real time ocean conditions. A weakened and understaffed NOAA will not be able to deliver on these promises.”

These are sentiments that have been echoed by some in the Senate, too including by US Senator Maria Cantwell, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and raking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, who warned: “You can’t manage and grow American fisheries when you fire the very scientists and fishery managers who are charged with supporting the more than one million jobs that rely on sustainable fisheries.”

The executive order was issued last week, hot on the heels of a leaked Trump Administration budget which would slash the National Marine Fisheries Service budget by 27% and eliminate the Habitat Conservation Programme and the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund – a fund relied upon by fishermen to restore salmon and other fish populations in domestic waters.

In a report via the Seattle Medium, Senator Cantwell said: “The administration’s actions are hurting fishing families, not helping them.”

Not all have condemned the move. The National Fisheries Institute of Virginia has welcomed the executive order and commended the President and his administration “for taking a thoughtful, strategic approach to supporting American seafood production and consumption.”

Lisa Wallenda Picard, president and ceo of the National Fisheries Institute, said: “NFI stands ready to support the Administration in advancing this important policy initiative and improving the lives of all those who depend on the commercial seafood industry.”

Click here for more from the Oceanographic Newsroom.