Mark
Rabago, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the
Northern Marianas correspondent
Top Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) officials have welcomed
US President Donald Trump’s executive order, which will open
up nearly half a million square kilometres of protected
Pacific waters for commercial fishing, despite warnings from
conservation advocates the move could weaken protections for
culturally and environmentally significant
waters.
Trump’s ‘Restoring American Commercial
Fishing in the Pacific’ executive order, signed on 11
June, applies to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National
Monument around Hawai’i, the Islands Unit of the Mariana
Trench Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine
National Monument around American Samoa.
CNMI Governor
David Apatang, Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality
asdministrator Floyd Masga, and former Western Pacific
Regional Fishery Management Council vice chair John Gourley
have welcomed Trump’s proclamation, which will reopen parts
of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument to commercial
fishing.
Apatang said it restores access to designated
fishing grounds while maintaining federal fisheries
management and environmental safeguards.
“For
generations, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands have
relied on the ocean for sustenance, culture, and economic
opportunity,” Apatang said.
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“This proclamation
acknowledges the importance of America’s Pacific territories
and supports opportunities for responsible fisheries
development while maintaining strong conservation
standards.”
Apatang said the CNMI shares common
interests with other Pacific jurisdictions in supporting
local fisheries, improving food security, and pursuing
economic opportunities tied to ocean resources.
He
also said that existing protections for marine habitats,
coral reefs, and protected species remain in
place.
Masga said critics have raised concerns about
whether economic benefits from expanded commercial fishing
would remain in the CNMI, but noted the issue deserves a
balanced discussion.
“Although proponents speak of
jobs and food security, much of the commercial fishing
industry is controlled by large companies based elsewhere,”
Masga said.
He noted concerns that fish could be
landed and processed outside the CNMI, local employment
gains could be limited, and profits could flow elsewhere
unless investments are made in local
infrastructure.
Gourley said the proclamation restores
rights that many Pacific Islanders believe were taken away
through previous monument designations.
“I am very
happy to hear that President Trump has returned fishing
rights to Pacific Islanders within some areas of the Western
Pacific Marine National Monuments,” Gourley
said.
“Fishing rights were unilaterally taken from us
by presidents who thought their vision of marine
conservation was more important than Pacific Island
culture.”
Gourley said the current approach balances
conservation with the interests of island
communities.
He said the executive order means
sustainable commercial fishing rights are being restored in
certain waters of the marine monuments.
“These marine
resources will be managed and protected by the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, while also recognising the fishing
rights of US Pacific Island communities and US
citizens.”
Fishermen support
The Saipan
Fishermen’s Association (SFA) also supports the
proclamation, according to its president Tony
Scragg.
“Overall, we are in agreement with this as
long as we have input on how it is managed and any economic
benefits from these activities flow through the CNMI. Brief
review of comments from members of the SFA are all in
support,” he said.
Opposition
to the proclamation remains strong among conservation
advocates.
The Friends of the Mariana Trench said the
decision threatens protections established for waters that
are culturally and environmentally significant to the
Chamorro and Refaluwasch people.
“True conservation
requires persistence. Since 2007, our advocacy for the
Mariana Trench has been unyielding, and it will remain so,”
the group said in a statement.
“We stand in solidarity
with Pacific communities whose cultural heritage is
currently being eroded by the Trump administration-from the
access granted to commercial vessels in sacred areas, to the
leasing of our seabed for deep-sea mining and the threats of
nuclear waste.”
The group said waters set aside to
honour traditional fishing practices were now being
“sacrificed for industrial gain.”
“While this is a
significant setback, our fight for healthy oceans and the
communities that depend on them is far from
over.”
Trump’s proclamation removes monument-based
prohibitions on commercial fishing in the Islands Unit of
the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument while leaving
existing federal fisheries and environmental laws in
place.
The administration said the action will expand
economic opportunities while maintaining science-based
conservation and resource management.
CNMI’s delegate
to the US Congress Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who attended the
White House signing ceremony, said implementation of the
proclamation should involve local fishermen, the CNMI
government, scientists, environmental stakeholders, and the
wider community.
“The CNMI respects the Mariana Trench
Marine National Monument and the environmental importance of
the waters around our islands,” King-Hinds said.
“At
the same time, the people who live closest to these waters
should have a meaningful voice in how they are
managed.”
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