Atlantic Ocean’s Only Sanctuary Gutted
By Frank Carini / ecoRI News columnist
The Mad King has disemboweled protections for a marine
sanctuary some 130 miles southeast of the Cape Cod coast. His declaration is
moronically titled “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic.” He
likely wants his Feb. 6 proclamation printed out and displayed on
fisher refrigerators throughout the region.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I couldn't remember ever seeing Trump
at the beach or on a boat. I searched and found almost all AI-fakes,
like the one above showing Trump at "Trump Gaza"
with Israel's leader Benyamin Netanyahu. There were
some old articles about Trump's interest in super-yachts,
but I found no photos of him on a boat. He hates
"windmills" because he hates how they look to him at
his golf resort in Scotland. - Will Collette
Commercial fishing off the New England coast has been an
industry for four centuries. It has led to the “overexploitation and eventual
collapse of species after species,” according to NOAA Fisheries. Atlantic halibut, haddock, ocean perch, and
yellowtail flounder are now all but commercially extinct. NOAA Fisheries has
also warned Atlantic cod, “resilient to years of overfishing,” could join the
ranks of species written off as commercially extinct.
In September 2016 President Obama designated the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument as
the first Atlantic Ocean monument. It remains, kind of, the only national
marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean. There are four in the Pacific, kind of.
Similar to national marine sanctuaries, marine
national monuments are designated to protect biodiversity-rich ocean
areas. They are designated by presidential proclamation under the Antiquities
Act of 1906 to conserve pristine ecosystems, deep-sea habitats, and
sea life.
Monument rules prevent commercial fishing. Special interest
groups sued unsuccessfully to stop the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine
National Monument.
Less than four years later, in June 2020, the Mad King, then
self-serving in his first term, revoked the Obama-era commercial fishing
restrictions on the Atlantic monument in a nearly identical proclamation. President Biden then reversed the Mad King’s
proclamation with one of his own. Capt. Chaos has now reversed the reversal.
Commercial fishing is already regulated by the U.S. government under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other conservation laws provide specific protections to “plant and animal resources,” according to the resurrected proclamation.
Until the Mad King goes fishing for those regulations.
Everything and everyone is a resource to be used and abused by MAGA.
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| Formed millions of years ago by extinct volcanoes and sediment erosion, sea canyons and seamounts are biodiversity hot spots and home to many rare and endangered species. (NOAA) |
You can’t hike the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, but beneath the waves is a seascape as vibrant and diverse as a tropical rainforest. This ocean sanctuary supports endangered and rare species, fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, and a vast array of other life.
The sanctuary’s currents and eddies enhance biological
productivity and provide feeding grounds for whales, dolphins, leatherback and
loggerhead turtles, and highly migratory fish such as billfish, tuna, and whale
sharks. Some 10 species of shark, including great whites, are known to dine in
this rich feeding ground.
Toothed whales, such as the endangered sperm whale, and many
species of beaked whales are attracted to the environments created by marine
canyons. NOAA Fisheries has noted surveys show significantly higher numbers of
beaked whales present in canyon regions than in non-canyon ones. Besides sperm
whales, two additional species of endangered whales — fin and sei — have also been
observed in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
The monument’s canyons and seamounts are home to at least 54
species of deep-sea corals, some of which can live at depths of 12,800 feet
(2.4 miles). These corals, together with other structure-forming fauna such as
sponges and anemones, created a foundation for a vibrant deep-sea ecosystem
that provides food, spawning habitat, and shelter for all kinds of species,
according to NOAA Fisheries.
Allowing commercial fishing in the sanctuary could damage or
destroy these fragile ecosystems that can take centuries to grow. Commercial
fishing gear threatens a wide range of marine species, even those that aren’t
targeted, due to incidental catch, entanglement, and habitat destruction.
The 4,913-square-mile monument — more than four times the
size of Rhode Island — is the only area along the entire Eastern Seaboard that
is likely mostly free of fishing gear. It’s possible some of the 500,000 to a
million tons of fishing gear that is estimated to be lost at sea every year
travels through or gets stuck in the monument, or remains there from when
fishing was allowed.
Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, a fishing
advocacy group, hailed the Mad King’s proclamation and dismissed
criticism. He claimed objections are “not about protecting the ocean — it is
about controlling American commercial fishermen and pushing a broader,
extremist agenda that seeks to deny citizens the ability to responsibly use our
resources, regardless of science or sustainability.”
When it comes to using “our resources” to create energy,
Vanasse’s freedom tune changes. He has said wind projects off the coast of New
England could impact scalloping and other fisheries.
“There are a number of groups in various fisheries who have
raised concerns about the insufficiency of the planning and review effort,”
he said in August 2021.
A number of environmental and conservation groups, such as
the Conservation Law Foundation and the New England Aquarium, have been highly
critical of the move to reopen the monument to commercial fishing. The
reopening was ordered without a review process and no public hearings were
held. (When the Obama administration was considering creating the Northeast
Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, several public hearings were
held, including one in Providence.)
Vanasse also claimed “commercial fishing in the United
States is already governed by the most comprehensive, science-based, and
publicly accountable regulatory system in the world.”
The same could be claimed by offshore wind developers.
“The science shows that creating protected areas in the ocean increases fish abundance and catch,” Zack Klyver, a marine mammal naturalist and researcher for Blue Green Future, told Oceanographic. “The fish populations grow larger and older and then spill over outside the boundaries where they can be caught by fishermen.”
Science and data don’t matter. The Mad King rules out of
spite. He doesn’t care what his madness kills or destroys.
In April 2025 the Mad King signed an executive order
titled Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, directing
federal agencies to review all five marine monuments with the goal of reopening them
to commercial fishing. That review process, initiated by NOAA with a 45-day
public comment period in late summer 2025, has yet to be made public.
On the same day that executive order was signed, April 17,
the Mad King issued a proclamation opening the Pacific Islands
Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. A federal district
court in Honolulu later ruled that commercial fishing couldn’t legally proceed
there, finding that the regime failed to follow required public notice and
comment procedures.
The regime’s latest assault on a marine monument is also
likely headed to court.
The Mad King’s ire isn’t limited to the ocean and people of
color, however. Last week, in a gift to corporate polluters who have thrown
money at him, his family, and his ego-boosting ballroom, his regime revoked the 2009 Obama administration endangerment finding, the legal basis for regulating
greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The move will
significantly roll back federal climate rules and will likely result
in more air pollution and more climate-changing fossil fuel emissions.
During a Feb. 10 press briefing, White House press secretary
and compulsive liar Karoline Leavitt bragged, “This will be the largest deregulatory action in
American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in
crushing regulations.”
The Mad King called the endangerment finding a “giant scam”
and said people shouldn’t worry about it because “they’ll
have more money to spend for health care.”
The Mad King’s Department of Injustice recently sued California in hopes of blocking a state law
designed to prevent oil wells from being drilled close to schools, homes,
hospitals, and other sensitive locations that aren’t golf courses.
There’s no chance oil wells would be allowed to be drilled
anywhere near one of the Mad King’s gaudy private clubs. Let kindergartners,
pregnant mothers, and cancer patients enjoy the sights and smells of fossil
fuel extraction.
More than a decade ago, before the Mad King was elected the
first time, he sued to stop the development of an 11-turbine wind project off
the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where he owns a golf course. He lost.
The regime’s lawsuit against California comes after the
failure of an expensive effort by Big Oil to revoke the law by voter
referendum, which was rejected in a wave of community pushback and public
outcry. The law prohibits new drilling within 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) of where
kids learn, parents nurture, and nurses work.
Attorney General and serial liar Pam Bondi noted the lawsuit
was filed to advance the Mad King’s Protecting American Energy from State Overreach executive
order.
A day after Leavitt’s ignorant boast, scientists published
an assessment that warned continued global heating could
trigger climate tipping points, leading to a cascade of further tipping points
and feedback loops. They noted this would lock the world into a new and
hellish hothouse Earth climate far worse than the 2 to 3
degrees Celsius temperature rise the world is on track to reach.
We can’t keep rolling back environmental protections and
climate regulations and expect to thrive, or even survive. The super wealthy
and super selfish only make up a tiny fraction of the population, but they
leave their boot marks all over the planet, including on our throats and on the
necks of wildlife.
Frank Carini can be reached at frank@ecori.org. His
opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.
