US Opens Up Marine Protected Areas to Fishing: What This Means for Ocean Conservation

0:01 It seems as though every time I go away on vacation, there's some breaking news. And today on the breaking news is from the US that the US President Donald Trump wants to roll back fishery regulations in the Pacific remote islands of the National Monument so that they can be a bigger player in fisheries around the world. We're going to talk about why that's significant, why we're not surprised to hear this on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action.

0:48 On today's episode, we're going to be talking about the US fisheries rollback so that it allows for I guess what US President Donald Trump wants is global dominance, especially in the Pacific on fisheries latest announcement coming out of the White House saying that they want to fish more in the Pacific right now. They are contributing about 25% of the amount of fishing that goes on in the Pacific, and they want to open that up. And how are they going to open that up? They're going to open it up in their own waters that is protected. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. I've been rehearsing that I didn't really get it off the bat, but the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is going to be opened up.

1:34 It's 400,000 square acres of water, pristine coral reefs that's home to marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks, fish, coral reefs, seabirds, all sorts of things that make this wonderful habitat just beautiful. It was originally protected in 2009, designated in 2009, and then it was later expanded in 2014, which was amazing. People don't realize how long it takes for these national monuments to be designated. The planning, the workshops, the stakeholder engagement, the public comment, everything that goes into it. It takes years, if not decades, to be able to make sure that these are implemented and not only implemented properly and managed properly.

2:18 And that's what it's been doing. It's been managed properly for the last 10 years or even more since it was designated. So to see that the environmental regulations are going to be rolled back is really disappointing. We're going to see this happening more and more in the U.S. As they, you know, we know Donald Trump is not somebody who wants to have environmental regulations. This is a very common thing to see with Republicans or conservatives around the world where they think that economic prosperity is hindered by regulations. It does slow down the process, no doubt about it, as it should and as it's designed to do. It's designed to make sure that people are thinking about the environment, making sure that people do the proper assessments around the environment to ensure that they're not destroying the environment and their quest to get money or their quest to develop.

3:06 And that's what we have to be careful about. We've seen collapse of fisheries before. We will see collapse of fisheries again if they are not managed properly. Protected areas are there to make sure that fisheries can prosper, just not in certain areas. Marine protected areas are designed to enhance fisheries. I know it sounds weird, but when you protect an area of 400,000 acres, you allow fish within that area to prosper. And then that there's a spillover effect from the borders of that marine protected area that goes outside the borders and that allows fishermen to prosper. And I think that's what really people don't understand.

3:47 You need to protect and prevent extractive processes like fishing so that you can fish for a longer time and it's more sustainable. That's the key here, sustainability of fisheries. When you open up a marine protected area, it's like for fisheries, why bother protecting it? You're going to get destructive fisheries. You're going to get unmanaged fisheries. You're not going to have quotas. It sounds like you're not going to have management of any type of fisheries and you'll have short-term gain, but you're going to pay for it in the long term, which to be honest, a lot of governments don't really see. They look at the next four years. They look at the next five years in case of Canada's terms when we have our governments in.

4:29 It's so frustrating when you see governments do this over and over and over again. It's like they're not paying attention. It's like they don't really care about the environment. All they care is economic prosperity and being number one, which is what we're seeing in this case here. So if the US wants to be number one in their fisheries in the Pacific, they would have to increase their catch by 11.2 million metric tons. That's a lot of fishing. Currently in the Pacific, they sit about fourth or fifth in the standings, I guess behind China. They're number one, of course, and the US is currently probably taking out about two million metric tons estimated.

5:11 They would have to increase 11.2 to even match the 13.2 million metric tons that China is taking out every year. And we know that China's fleet has had problems in the past. They're very controversial. They go all over the world in the Pacific, like different countries or outside different countries in the international treaty area and they will fish and they will fish without regulations. They will fish as much as possible. And I guess to compete with that, you have to do the same. You have to fish without worrying about management, without worrying about a lot of things. And that's a problem. That's a problem right there to be able to try and just be number one. This is an ongoing thing that the US wants to do, that they want to increase their self-reliance in a number of areas.

5:55 And I guess now this is including fisheries. They currently import 90% of their fisheries. And so they want to increase their domestic take, I assume, and so that they can be more self-reliant. So that makes sense in a way. But to do it by opening up a marine protected area doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for long-term prosperity. It doesn't make sense to protect this wonderful area that is pristine. Beautiful coral reefs. Like I said before, marine mammals protecting like, monk seals protecting sea turtles, protecting sea birds, protecting sharks, all these different species that it protects. And it's working. And now they're just going to open it up and we're going to see devastation in that area because industry has been wanting to get into that area for a long time.

6:44 They haven't been able to. They've been strong proponents to be able to fish more and they're going to get it under this government. This is a time where you need to help. And to help is to contact your government representative. This is where it counts. If you don't want to see the Pacific remote islands marine national monument to be opened up to fishing, then it's time to contact your federal, your state, especially if you live in Hawaii. Representatives to say, hey, you know what? We don't want this. This is awful. This is a really bad idea. And there must be checks and balances to be able to open this up or to stop this from opening up. You know, maybe talk to your Congress person, talk to your senator.

7:24 This is where it counts. And if you're not in Hawaii and you want, you know, somebody in Hawaii to listen, then talk to them as well, whether you're in that state or not, talk to them because it matters. Tell them the stories of what you want to see in terms of a sustainable ocean, especially in the Pacific. So that's the episode here from Jamaica. I hope you think about what's being done in the U.S. and it goes to show that voting matters. And if you want to protect the environment, you want to protect fisheries, you want to protect pristine environments and marine protect areas that have already been designated. Then we need to really make sure that we vote properly and remember this in two years when the midterms come in and to start to make a change.

8:08 So that's it for today's episode. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Let me know in the comments below if you're watching this on YouTube. And if you're listening to this on Apple podcast or your favorite podcast that just let me know what you think. DM me at how to protect the ocean on Instagram. That's at how to protect the ocean. I want to thank you for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I am your host, Andrew Lewin from the Grail, Jamaica. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.