April 24, 2025 • 8 mins
Fisheries: In this episode, we see the surprising news that the U.S. government is opening up parts of its marine protected areas (MPAs) to commercial fishing. This rollback of protections in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument has sparked debate about the future of sustainable fisheries and marine biodiversity.
Ocean: We explore what this decision signals for global ocean governance and why it could undermine years of conservation progress. Focusing on political motivations and international implications, we ask the hard questions: Are MPAs truly protected if they can be so easily undone? And how should ocean advocates respond?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It seems as though every time I go away
on vacation, there's some breaking news.
And today on the breaking news is from
the US that the US
President Donald Trump wants
to roll back fishery regulations in the
Pacific remote islands of
the National Monument so
that they can be a bigger player in
fisheries around the world.
(00:23):
We're going to talk about why that's
significant, why we're not
surprised to hear this on this
episode of the How to
Protect the Ocean podcast.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
the podcast where you
find out what's happening
with the ocean, how you can speak up for
(00:43):
the ocean, and what you
can do to live for a better
ocean by taking action.
On today's episode, we're going to be
talking about the US
fisheries rollback so that it
allows for I guess what US President
Donald Trump wants is
global dominance, especially
in the Pacific on fisheries latest
announcement coming out of
(01:03):
the White House saying that
they want to fish more
in the Pacific right now.
They are contributing about 25% of the
amount of fishing that
goes on in the Pacific, and
they want to open that up.
And how are they going to open that up?
They're going to open it up in their own
waters that is protected.
The Pacific Remote Islands
(01:24):
Marine National Monument.
I've been rehearsing that I didn't really
get it off the bat,
but the Pacific Remote
Islands Marine National
Monument is going to be opened up.
It's 400,000 square acres of water,
pristine coral reefs
that's home to marine mammals,
sea turtles, sharks, fish, coral reefs,
seabirds, all sorts of
(01:46):
things that make this wonderful
habitat just beautiful.
It was originally protected in 2009,
designated in 2009, and
then it was later expanded in
2014, which was amazing.
People don't realize how long it takes
for these national
monuments to be designated.
The planning, the workshops, the
stakeholder engagement, the
(02:07):
public comment, everything
that goes into it.
It takes years, if not decades, to be
able to make sure that
these are implemented and
not only implemented
properly and managed properly.
And that's what it's been doing.
It's been managed properly for the last
10 years or even more
since it was designated.
So to see that the environmental
regulations are going to be rolled back
(02:28):
is really disappointing.
We're going to see this happening more
and more in the U.S.
As they, you know, we know Donald Trump
is not somebody who
wants to have environmental
regulations.
This is a very common thing to see with
Republicans or conservatives
around the world where they
think that economic prosperity is
hindered by regulations.
(02:49):
It does slow down the process, no doubt
about it, as it should
and as it's designed to do.
It's designed to make sure that people
are thinking about the
environment, making sure
that people do the proper assessments
around the environment
to ensure that they're not
destroying the environment and their
quest to get money or
their quest to develop.
And that's what we
have to be careful about.
We've seen collapse of fisheries before.
(03:12):
We will see collapse of fisheries again
if they are not managed properly.
Protected areas are there to make sure
that fisheries can prosper,
just not in certain areas.
Marine protected areas are
designed to enhance fisheries.
I know it sounds weird, but when you
protect an area of 400,000
(03:32):
acres, you allow fish within
that area to prosper.
And then that there's a spillover effect
from the borders of that marine protected
area that goes outside the borders and
that allows fishermen to prosper.
And I think that's what
really people don't understand.
You need to protect and prevent
extractive processes like
fishing so that you can fish
(03:53):
for a longer time and
it's more sustainable.
That's the key here,
sustainability of fisheries.
When you open up a marine protected area,
it's like for
fisheries, why bother protecting
it?
You're going to get
destructive fisheries.
You're going to get unmanaged fisheries.
You're not going to have quotas.
It sounds like you're not going to have
management of any type of fisheries and
(04:15):
you'll have short-term
gain, but you're going to pay for it in
the long term, which to be
honest, a lot of governments
don't really see.
They look at the next four years.
They look at the next five years in case
of Canada's terms when
we have our governments
in.
It's so frustrating when you see
governments do this over
and over and over again.
It's like they're not paying attention.
(04:37):
It's like they don't really
care about the environment.
All they care is economic prosperity and
being number one, which
is what we're seeing in
this case here.
So if the US wants to be number one in
their fisheries in the
Pacific, they would have
to increase their catch by
11.2 million metric tons.
That's a lot of fishing.
(04:58):
Currently in the Pacific, they sit about
fourth or fifth in the
standings, I guess behind
China.
They're number one, of course, and the US
is currently probably
taking out about two
million metric tons estimated.
They would have to increase 11.2 to even
match the 13.2 million
metric tons that China is
taking out every year.
(05:19):
And we know that China's fleet has had
problems in the past.
They're very controversial.
They go all over the world in the
Pacific, like different
countries or outside different
countries in the international treaty
area and they will fish
and they will fish without
regulations.
They will fish as much as possible.
And I guess to compete with that, you
have to do the same.
(05:39):
You have to fish without worrying about
management, without
worrying about a lot of things.
And that's a problem.
That's a problem right there to be able
to try and just be number one.
This is an ongoing thing that the US
wants to do, that they want
to increase their self-reliance
in a number of areas.
And I guess now this
is including fisheries.
They currently import
90% of their fisheries.
(06:01):
And so they want to increase their
domestic take, I assume, and so that they
can be more self-reliant.
So that makes sense in a way.
But to do it by opening up a marine
protected area doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make sense
for long-term prosperity.
It doesn't make sense to protect this
wonderful area that is pristine.
(06:22):
Beautiful coral reefs.
Like I said before, marine mammals
protecting like, monk seals protecting
sea turtles, protecting sea birds,
protecting sharks, all these different
species that it protects.
And it's working.
And now they're just going to open it up
and we're going to see
devastation in that area
because industry has been wanting to get
(06:42):
into that area for a long time.
They haven't been able to.
They've been strong proponents to be able
to fish more and they're going to get it
under this government.
This is a time where you need to help.
And to help is to contact
your government representative.
This is where it counts.
If you don't want to see the Pacific
remote islands marine national monument
(07:04):
to be opened up to fishing, then it's
time to contact your federal, your state,
especially if you live in Hawaii.
Representatives to say, hey, you know
what? We don't want this. This is awful.
This is a really bad idea.
And there must be checks and balances to
be able to open this up or
to stop this from opening up.
You know, maybe talk to your Congress
person, talk to your senator.
(07:24):
This is where it counts.
And if you're not in Hawaii and you want,
you know, somebody in Hawaii to listen,
then talk to them as well, whether you're
in that state or not, talk
to them because it matters.
Tell them the stories of what you want to
see in terms of a sustainable ocean,
especially in the Pacific.
So that's the episode here from Jamaica.
(07:44):
I hope you think about what's being done
in the U.S. and it goes to
show that voting matters.
And if you want to protect the
environment, you want to protect
fisheries, you want to protect pristine
environments and marine protect areas
that have already been designated.
Then we need to really make sure that we
vote properly and remember this in two
years when the midterms come in and to
(08:06):
start to make a change.
So that's it for today's episode.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Let me know in the comments below if
you're watching this on YouTube.
And if you're listening to this on Apple
podcast or your favorite podcast that
just let me know what you think.
DM me at how to protect
the ocean on Instagram.
That's at how to protect the ocean.
I want to thank you for joining me on
today's episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I am your host, Andrew
(08:27):
Lewin from the Grail, Jamaica.
Have a great day.
We'll talk to you next
time and happy conservation.
It seems as though every time I go away
on vacation, there's some breaking news.
And today on the breaking news is from
the US that the US
President Donald Trump wants
to roll back fishery regulations in the
Pacific remote islands of
the National Monument so
that they can be a bigger player in
fisheries around the world.
(00:23):
We're going to talk about why that's
significant, why we're not
surprised to hear this on this
episode of the How to
Protect the Ocean podcast.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
the podcast where you
find out what's happening
with the ocean, how you can speak up for
(00:43):
the ocean, and what you
can do to live for a better
ocean by taking action.
On today's episode, we're going to be
talking about the US
fisheries rollback so that it
allows for I guess what US President
Donald Trump wants is
global dominance, especially
in the Pacific on fisheries latest
announcement coming out of
(01:03):
the White House saying that
they want to fish more
in the Pacific right now.
They are contributing about 25% of the
amount of fishing that
goes on in the Pacific, and
they want to open that up.
And how are they going to open that up?
They're going to open it up in their own
waters that is protected.
The Pacific Remote Islands
(01:24):
Marine National Monument.
I've been rehearsing that I didn't really
get it off the bat,
but the Pacific Remote
Islands Marine National
Monument is going to be opened up.
It's 400,000 square acres of water,
pristine coral reefs
that's home to marine mammals,
sea turtles, sharks, fish, coral reefs,
seabirds, all sorts of
(01:46):
things that make this wonderful
habitat just beautiful.
It was originally protected in 2009,
designated in 2009, and
then it was later expanded in
2014, which was amazing.
People don't realize how long it takes
for these national
monuments to be designated.
The planning, the workshops, the
stakeholder engagement, the
(02:07):
public comment, everything
that goes into it.
It takes years, if not decades, to be
able to make sure that
these are implemented and
not only implemented
properly and managed properly.
And that's what it's been doing.
It's been managed properly for the last
10 years or even more
since it was designated.
So to see that the environmental
regulations are going to be rolled back
(02:28):
is really disappointing.
We're going to see this happening more
and more in the U.S.
As they, you know, we know Donald Trump
is not somebody who
wants to have environmental
regulations.
This is a very common thing to see with
Republicans or conservatives
around the world where they
think that economic prosperity is
hindered by regulations.
(02:49):
It does slow down the process, no doubt
about it, as it should
and as it's designed to do.
It's designed to make sure that people
are thinking about the
environment, making sure
that people do the proper assessments
around the environment
to ensure that they're not
destroying the environment and their
quest to get money or
their quest to develop.
And that's what we
have to be careful about.
We've seen collapse of fisheries before.
(03:12):
We will see collapse of fisheries again
if they are not managed properly.
Protected areas are there to make sure
that fisheries can prosper,
just not in certain areas.
Marine protected areas are
designed to enhance fisheries.
I know it sounds weird, but when you
protect an area of 400,000
(03:32):
acres, you allow fish within
that area to prosper.
And then that there's a spillover effect
from the borders of that marine protected
area that goes outside the borders and
that allows fishermen to prosper.
And I think that's what
really people don't understand.
You need to protect and prevent
extractive processes like
fishing so that you can fish
(03:53):
for a longer time and
it's more sustainable.
That's the key here,
sustainability of fisheries.
When you open up a marine protected area,
it's like for
fisheries, why bother protecting
it?
You're going to get
destructive fisheries.
You're going to get unmanaged fisheries.
You're not going to have quotas.
It sounds like you're not going to have
management of any type of fisheries and
(04:15):
you'll have short-term
gain, but you're going to pay for it in
the long term, which to be
honest, a lot of governments
don't really see.
They look at the next four years.
They look at the next five years in case
of Canada's terms when
we have our governments
in.
It's so frustrating when you see
governments do this over
and over and over again.
It's like they're not paying attention.
(04:37):
It's like they don't really
care about the environment.
All they care is economic prosperity and
being number one, which
is what we're seeing in
this case here.
So if the US wants to be number one in
their fisheries in the
Pacific, they would have
to increase their catch by
11.2 million metric tons.
That's a lot of fishing.
(04:58):
Currently in the Pacific, they sit about
fourth or fifth in the
standings, I guess behind
China.
They're number one, of course, and the US
is currently probably
taking out about two
million metric tons estimated.
They would have to increase 11.2 to even
match the 13.2 million
metric tons that China is
taking out every year.
(05:19):
And we know that China's fleet has had
problems in the past.
They're very controversial.
They go all over the world in the
Pacific, like different
countries or outside different
countries in the international treaty
area and they will fish
and they will fish without
regulations.
They will fish as much as possible.
And I guess to compete with that, you
have to do the same.
(05:39):
You have to fish without worrying about
management, without
worrying about a lot of things.
And that's a problem.
That's a problem right there to be able
to try and just be number one.
This is an ongoing thing that the US
wants to do, that they want
to increase their self-reliance
in a number of areas.
And I guess now this
is including fisheries.
They currently import
90% of their fisheries.
(06:01):
And so they want to increase their
domestic take, I assume, and so that they
can be more self-reliant.
So that makes sense in a way.
But to do it by opening up a marine
protected area doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make sense
for long-term prosperity.
It doesn't make sense to protect this
wonderful area that is pristine.
(06:22):
Beautiful coral reefs.
Like I said before, marine mammals
protecting like, monk seals protecting
sea turtles, protecting sea birds,
protecting sharks, all these different
species that it protects.
And it's working.
And now they're just going to open it up
and we're going to see
devastation in that area
because industry has been wanting to get
(06:42):
into that area for a long time.
They haven't been able to.
They've been strong proponents to be able
to fish more and they're going to get it
under this government.
This is a time where you need to help.
And to help is to contact
your government representative.
This is where it counts.
If you don't want to see the Pacific
remote islands marine national monument
(07:04):
to be opened up to fishing, then it's
time to contact your federal, your state,
especially if you live in Hawaii.
Representatives to say, hey, you know
what? We don't want this. This is awful.
This is a really bad idea.
And there must be checks and balances to
be able to open this up or
to stop this from opening up.
You know, maybe talk to your Congress
person, talk to your senator.
(07:24):
This is where it counts.
And if you're not in Hawaii and you want,
you know, somebody in Hawaii to listen,
then talk to them as well, whether you're
in that state or not, talk
to them because it matters.
Tell them the stories of what you want to
see in terms of a sustainable ocean,
especially in the Pacific.
So that's the episode here from Jamaica.
(07:44):
I hope you think about what's being done
in the U.S. and it goes to
show that voting matters.
And if you want to protect the
environment, you want to protect
fisheries, you want to protect pristine
environments and marine protect areas
that have already been designated.
Then we need to really make sure that we
vote properly and remember this in two
years when the midterms come in and to
(08:06):
start to make a change.
So that's it for today's episode.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Let me know in the comments below if
you're watching this on YouTube.
And if you're listening to this on Apple
podcast or your favorite podcast that
just let me know what you think.
DM me at how to protect
the ocean on Instagram.
That's at how to protect the ocean.
I want to thank you for joining me on
today's episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I am your host, Andrew
(08:27):
Lewin from the Grail, Jamaica.
Have a great day.
We'll talk to you next
time and happy conservation.
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