Published 12:32 IST, June 6th 2020
Donald Trump opens Atlantic sanctuary to commercial fishing despite warnings
United States President Donald Trump, on June 5, announced that he would open 5,000 square miles conservation areas in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing.
United States President Donald Trump, on June 5, announced that he would open 5,000 square miles conservation areas in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing. The move would allow commercial fishing to resume in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, both areas off the coast of New England. However, the news move hasn’t irked environmentalists who have reiterated that it would endanger marine wildlife.
Trump, in his latest visit to Maine, reportedly signed the proclamation declaring the area open for fishing. Speaking at a roundtable event in Bangor, the American leader reckoned that the government was cutting regulations from highways and roadways to fish. In addition to that, Trump also assured the residents that he would create a task force to identify intentional markets for US seafood.
National Monuments
According to reports, both Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument were designated national monuments during the Obama Administration after repeated requests for its protection. However, in addition to risking the biodiversity, the new move would also cancel a planned phaseout of lobster and red crab fisheries in the area.
Meanwhile, recreational fishermen and environmentalists have reportedly warned that it would undermine the protection established by monument designations and that putting marine wildlife, including endangered whales, sea turtles, sharks, and fragile coral at harm and dangers of entanglement in fishing nets.
Trump, in the past, has been pressurised by the Commercial seafood industry and Regional Fishery Management Council to restore commercial fishing in federal waters. According to reports, the industrialists have cited the increased operational expenses and risks involved in fishing in distant waters.
The effects of fishing and marine poisoning have been visible for quite some time now. On the other side of Atlantic, police have urged people to stay away from a 40-foot (12-meter) long whale, believed to be a juvenile, that washed up dead on a beach in southeast England. Images posted on social media show the giant mammal, thought to be a fin whale, on its back very close to a sandy shore in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.
Updated 12:32 IST, June 6th 2020