A. Samoa welcomes Trump's reopening of fishing areas, but environmentalists vow to protect the marine sanctuary

By Jayvee Vallejera

President Donald Trump’s move to restore fishing waters will expand options for the U.S. tuna fleet out of Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa and revitalize the territory's fishery industry, according to Rep. Uifa’atali Amata Radewagen.

Radewagen, American Samoa's delegate to Congress, said the presidential proclamation boosts American commercial fishing presence and economic activity in the Pacific region and helps reduce illegal and unregulated fishing by foreign vessels.

“This sensible proclamation is important to the stability and future of American Samoa’s economy, but it also is fantastic news for U.S. food security,” said Radewagen.

Fishery is American Samoa's main industry, which the territory's officials said was adversely affected by the fishing ban around the marine monument.

But Trump’s latest move has provoked a firestorm of criticism from conservationists and environmental advocates.

“This is yet another attempt by President Trump to undermine decades of work to protect and preserve public lands and waters, endangered species and cultural heritage in favor of commercial interests," said David Henkin, an attorney in Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office. 

"This is one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world that already faces dire threats from climate change and ocean acidification. We will do everything in our power to protect the monument," he added.

Bob Richmond, a marine biologist, said freeing up the marine monument was "a wrong move at the wrong time."

"By raiding what amounts to our children’s marine bank accounts, we are denying them a future of sustainable food from the ocean," he said. "Scientific studies have shown that protecting the resources within protected areas like the monument increases the amount of fish available to commercial fishers in waters outside the protected areas."

During his first term, Trump signed an executive order that was intended to promote American seafood competitiveness. It made it a federal policy to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers restricting American fishermen and aquaculture producers.

That original order, Executive Order 13921, was signed on May 7, 2020, and remains in effect up to now. It is called “Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth.” 

Trump’s latest action doubles down on that first directive—this time opening up large swaths of marine protected areas in the Pacific to domestic fishing, saying the directive will enhance the United States’ seafood industry, reduce regulatory burdens, and ensure the integrity of the seafood supply chain.

It also says a host of federal protections now exist under current laws and are enough to provide any needed protections for at-risk resources, vulnerable species, and unique habitats, such as coral and seamount ecosystems.

The White House characterized Trump’s latest executive order and proclamation—both signed on April 17, 2025—as a vital move to “build upon our previous hard work” with new, additional measures to promote domestic fishing.

It was also a swipe at the previous Biden administration. Trump’s proclamation states that American fishermen were crushed during the past four years under the pressure of unnecessary regulations and unfavorable policies.

Trump’s proclamation—which he describes as restoring access for American fishermen—now allows commercial fishing in waters between 50 and 200 nautical miles offshore of Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Jarvis Island—all within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, or PIHMNM, formerly known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

The change is limited to just three islands of the PIHMNM and does not affect the main Hawaiian Islands or the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The other islands within PIHMNM—Howland & Baker Islands, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef—also remain untouched.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council clarified that commercial fishing is still prohibited within 0 to 50 nautical miles of all seven islands and atolls within PIHMNM.

These nearshore areas include coral reefs and provide essential habitat for protected marine species.

The council said that green and hawksbill sea turtles, which primarily inhabit lagoons and reefs within these zones, remain protected, and that seabirds, including nesting colonies on Palmyra, will remain unaffected by the proclamation.

It said the expanded area for commercial fishing—between 50 to 200 nautical miles offshore—are deep, open-ocean environment and “are well beyond the reach of fishing gear or shallow reef-dependent species.”

That’s not to say that nothing else will change.

Trump’s executive order directs U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to review all existing marine national monuments and recommend any areas that may be opened to commercial fishing.

The United States has five marine national monuments: the Mariana Trench in the Western Pacific (near Guam and Northern Mariana Islands), the PIHMNM (covering about 495,189 square miles), the Rose Atoll in American Samoa, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monuments (about 583,000 square miles in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

The marine monuments in the Pacific region encompass more than half of the United States’ exclusive economic zone. Before Trump’s proclamation, all monuments prohibited U.S. commercial fishermen from operating in these waters.

This move to expand commercial fishing in these areas is premised on what Trump says is the dismal state of fisheries in the United States. He says federal “overregulation” is restricting fishermen from productively harvesting American seafood.

Those include restrictive catch limits, selling the United States’ fishing grounds to foreign offshore wind companies, inaccurate and outdated fisheries data, and delaying the adoption of modern technology.

Trump insists that most American fish stocks are healthy and have viable markets. Despite these opportunities, seafood is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the United States, he added.

“As a result of the prohibitions on commercial fishing, American fishing fleets have lost access to nearly half of the United States’ exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Islands,” the proclamation states. 

This means American fishermen are forced to fish further in international waters, putting them at a disadvantage compared to poorly regulated foreign fleets.

“This is detrimental for United States territories like American Samoa, whose private sector economy is over 80 percent dependent on the fishing industry,” it added.

He also laments that nearly 90 percent of seafood on American supermarket shelves is now imported, and the seafood trade deficit stands at over $20 billion. “The erosion of American seafood competitiveness at the hands of unfair foreign trade practices must end,” his order states.

Trump also pointed out that the council’s management of the PIHMNM is doing little to guard fish populations against overfishing since tunas and other pelagic species found within the boundaries of the PRIMNM are migratory and do not permanently live within the PRIMNM.

Since the creation of the PIHMNM by President Bush on Jan. 12, 2009, all waters within 0–50 nautical miles of each island area have been closed to commercial fishing. This closure was later expanded under President Obama to include the monument boundaries out to 200 nautical miles.

That resulted in over 400,000 square miles in the Pacific Ocean that could not be touched.