Overview
- On February 6, the president issued a proclamation revoking President Biden’s 2021 Proclamation 10287 and restoring management under Proclamation 10049 to allow commercial fishing.
- The action reopens roughly 4,913 square miles about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, an area known for deep-sea corals and endangered whales, according to federal agencies.
- The proclamation asserts that existing federal statutes—including the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act—make a blanket fishing ban unnecessary.
- Fishing industry groups praised renewed access as support for coastal economies, while organizations such as Oceana and NRDC condemned the move and said they will sue.
- Prior court decisions on marine monuments, including a Hawaii ruling against an earlier fishing rollback and a D.C. case upholding the monument’s creation, signal that litigation will shape the policy’s fate.