November 21, 2024 – A coalition of more than 150 fishing and seafood industry associations, businesses, and community leaders has sent a letter to President Joseph R. Biden, urging him to resist creating or expanding Marine National Monuments in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) during the final months of his administration. The letter warns of the potential negative impacts such actions could have on the fishing sector and highlights the significant contributions of U.S. fisheries to the economy, environment, and food security.
“Prohibiting the sustainable utilization of our nation’s waters via unilateral presidential action will harm the Americans we represent, employ, and feed while failing to advance effective and durable marine conservation,” the letter states.
The signatories emphasize that the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and the Regional Fishery Management Councils provide a proven, science-based approach to ocean conservation. These processes, they argue, offer the flexibility and stakeholder engagement necessary to address dynamic ocean management challenges, which are essential as ocean ecosystems undergo rapid changes.
The letter also highlights the economic importance of U.S. fisheries, which “generate $321 billion in sales, support nearly 2.3 million jobs, and are vital to countless American communities where alternative employment opportunities may be limited.” It continues, “the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) requires U.S. fisheries to be managed to sustainable harvest rates and to achieve broader marine biodiversity goals.”
The letter is also concerned about use of the Antiquities Act to designate Marine National Monuments. According to the letter, “Marine National Monuments are created using static area-based protections and without the rigorous impact review required by the normal rulemaking process. They are a tool that will more often prove ill-suited to the dynamic ocean management challenges that lie ahead.”
The signatories argue that the unilateral establishment of prior Marine National Monuments “has also alienated stakeholders in ways that have fundamentally undermined legitimacy and thus durability.”
The letter references a March 2021 statement from Chief Justice John Roberts, which raised concerns about the Antiquities Act:
“A statute permitting the President in his sole discretion to designate as monuments ‘landmarks,’ ‘structures,’ and ‘objects’—along with the smallest area of land compatible with their management—has been transformed into a power without any discernible limit to set aside vast and amorphous expanses of terrain above and below the sea. … The scope of the objects that can be designated under the Act, and how to measure the area necessary for their proper care and management, may warrant consideration [by the Supreme Court]—especially given the myriad restrictions on public use this purely discretionary designation can serve to justify.”
The coalition concludes its letter by urging President Biden to avoid further designations:
“We believe that the negative impacts Antiquities Act designations threaten to coastal communities, fishery participants and U.S. seafood producers—together with the important concerns raised by Chief Justice Roberts—are compelling reasons to avoid any such designations during the remainder of your time in office.”
The letter is signed by a diverse group of associations, businesses, and community leaders representing the U.S. fishing and seafood sectors.