Today, the President signed a Proclamation to open the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument (NCSMNM) to commercial fishing. Created in 2016, this monument is the only unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System in the Atlantic Ocean, and protects fragile and pristine deep-sea environments.

One of the species protected in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world’s most endangered large whale species, with only about 400 whales remaining.

This announcement follows on the heels of the Executive Order yesterday that instructed federal agencies to waive environmental laws that might slow down or stop private and public industries seeking to maximize their profit from our nation’s public lands and waters as quickly as they can.

However, the President does not have the authority to make this change to the monument. The Antiquities Act of 1907 – under which the NCSMNM was created − allows a President to establish a monument, but the authority to manage monuments lies with the Secretary of the Interior. Interior Secretary Bernhardt may want to make these changes the President is demanding, but he can only do that if the changes (opening the waters for commercial fishing) are compatible with both the purpose of the monument and with the purposes of the Refuge System. We do not see how commercial fishing will benefit the monument in any way, and we, therefore, believe the Secretary’s and the President’s actions are unlawful.

With the accelerating threat of climate change and the constantly changing offshore fisheries due to the movement of ocean species northward, this is absolutely the wrong time to be rescinding ocean protections. Indeed, the greatest threat to the commercial fisheries in this region is climate change, not marine protected areas or wildlife refuges. The NCSMNM was created specifically to provide a place of protection for ocean species such as red crab, lobster, deepwater corals, the endangered right whale, turtles, and sharks.

Once again, this President has taken public lands and waters that belong to all Americans with the intent of handing them over to private industry for exploitation. The National Wildlife Refuge Association urges everyone to stand up and demand continued protection of our lands and waters.