Removing National Monuments Removes Ecosystem Protections for Billfish
Reading Time 3 minutes By Jehan Segal and Theresa Labriola
On June 11th, President Trump signed Presidential Proclamation 11035 “Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific,” and revoked protections for three Marine National Monuments in the Pacific Ocean under the guise of supporting commercial fisheries. The Papahānaumokuākea, Mariana Trench, and Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments were established in the early 2000s by President George W. Bush and were designed to preserve ecosystem biodiversity and protect at-risk species. President Trump’s Executive Order will unnecessarily subject these symbols of marine and cultural conservation to destructive industrial fishing practices.
This proclamation will not provide any benefits to fisheries; US tuna fisheries already reach their catch limits every year without access to these areas. In fact, opening these spaces may have the opposite effect; research from the University of Hawai’i shows that Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument has increased the catch rate of yellowfin and bigeye tuna in nearby waters, boosting resources for the surrounding fisheries. This decision exists only as a symbolic gesture of anti-regulation and anti-conservationism.
The president argued that highly migratory species do not benefit from protected areas. This assertion is patently false. Migratory species return to the same areas to spawn year after year. The waters surrounding Hawai’i are critical for overfished species such as striped marlin and favorite sportfish such as blue marlin and shortbilled spearfish. Kona is widely recognized as an important spawning and nursery region for multiple istiophoridae billfish. Protected areas such as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument provide benefits on both species and ecosystem levels, shielding individual striped marlin, blue marlin and shortbilled spearfish from longline fleets, as well as preserving habitats and prey that holistically support marlin stocks. Before the designation of the National Monument, the U.S. longline fleet caught istiophoridae billfish in this area while targeting other pelagic species like swordfish and bigeye tuna. This proclamation will once again increase the catch rate of billfish in the Hawaiian Islands and will have ecosystem-level impacts on stock health.
Research has shown that despite their migratory nature, closure areas can help rebuild declining and overfished stocks and increase stock resilience. As we look to the future of highly migratory species conservation, dynamic time-area closures in spawning grounds and along migratory routes are an essential tool to rebuild and maintain billfish stocks while minimizing the impact on commercial tuna fisheries. Marine National Monuments such as Papahānaumokuākea, Mariana Trench, and Rose Atoll were an important first step in this process. What we need right now is to move towards closure areas that benefit cultural and marine resources – not just for the sake of striped marlin, blue marlin and shortbilled spearfish, but for the overall health of our ecosystems and fisheries.
