On Friday, U.S. District Judge Micah W. J. Smith issued a very consequential ruling. He withdrew all commercial fishing from parts of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, home to one of the largest protected areas on the planet. Environmentalists expressed concern about the dangerous impacts fishing endeavors had on ecosystems and ancestral cultural practices. The outcome of that decision was….
President George W. Bush created the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument in 2009. This vast monument is nearly 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) in area, located southwest of Hawaii. It acts as a critical nursery and feeding ground for a rich array of marine life from turtles and marine mammals to seabirds. In 2014, President Barack Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to expand the monument, giving it stronger, more protective measures.
The recent legal challenge arose following an executive order issued by former President Donald Trump, which aimed to promote commercial fishing by loosening restrictions in previously protected areas. This executive order cleared the way for fishing to be reinstituted in some portions of the monument. It ignited fierce pushback from the environmental community and local Native Hawaiian communities. The lawsuit contends that such actions would jeopardize the “cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests” of these communities.
David Henkin, an attorney representing Earthjustice, the organization behind the lawsuit, noted that Judge Smith’s ruling mandates the government to evaluate what types of fishing can occur in the monument’s waters and under what conditions. The ruling requires that any vessel active in commercial fishing immediately cease their operations. This exception applies to the waters between 50 and 200 nautical miles (93 to 370 kilometers) surrounding Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island, and Wake Island.
In this latest ruling, Judge Smith ruled against the government’s expansive assertions. He ruled that the plaintiffs clearly had standing to bring the case and that the court certainly had jurisdiction. The judge’s ruling marks a major change in the way restrictions on fishing activities will be enforced in this unique and sensitive habitat.
Members of Hawaii’s longline fishing industry have gone on the record lamenting their exasperation at repeatedly moving goalposts in shifting regulations. They assert that they have made numerous adaptations to their fishing practices over the years, such as utilizing circle hooks to reduce bycatch of protected species.
