The monument's commercial fishing restrictions were important for several reasons. “President Trump’s announcement today is complete political posturing,” said Bob Dreher, senior vice president of conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife, in a statement. “Opening up the nation’s only marine national monument in the Atlantic will help no one but a handful of fishers while risking irreparable damage to the marine wildlife that have no other fully protected areas off our eastern seaboard.” And some commercial fishing interests have fought the restrictions all along, going so far as suing over the designation. In 2017, former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommended opening the marine monument along with two others to commercial fishing. The fishing bans have not been without controversy. Lobster and red crab fisheries were give seven years to relocate their operations. Recreational fishing in the monument is still allowed, but commercial fishing was banned in the area beginning 60 days after the designation. Below the surface, a fantastical landscape of underwater mountains, gaping gorges, and deep-water coral reefs supports all manner of ocean life.
Declared a monument in 2016 by President Obama, the area is located about 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod and covers 4,913 square miles of ocean habitat. Today President Trump announced that he would open the Atlantic Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, a vital source of food for seabirds and where Atlantic Puffins overwinter, to commercial fishing.
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