One declaration opens Pacific waters to the commercial fishing of the American Fleet.
President Donald Trump led support for the American seafood industry in a series of orders signed in an elliptical office on April 17th.
“The United States should be the dominant seafood leader in the world.”
His order laments that almost 90% of the seafood sold in the country is imported. The president has condemned the predicament over overregulation and unfair trade practices.
“The erosion of American seafood’s competitiveness at the hands of unfair foreign trade practices must end,” Trump wrote.
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have been directed by the order to immediately consider withdrawing or revising existing regulations. Within 30 days, Lutnick will be instructed to identify the most burdensome rules and take action to suspend or eliminate them.
Lutnick has also been instructed to discuss with Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins to create an “American First Seafood Strategy” with the goal of promoting domestic fisheries and aquaculture production, increasing sales through education and outreach programs, and increasing sales through outreach programs that teach the health benefits of eating seafood.
It is intended to unlock opportunities for fisheries companies and strengthen the Samoa economy in America. This allows commercial vessels fishing within 50-200 voyage miles of the national monument boundary to fish, as they rely on fisheries to provide more than 80% of the territory’s economic activity.
Before the declaration, regulations were enacted and subsequently expanded, with President George W. Bush and Barack Obama banning more than 400,000 square miles of fishing from the Pacific Ocean.
Strict regulations have led the US fishing fleet to lose access to almost half of the waters contained in the domestic exclusive economic zone surrounding the Pacific Islands, according to Order.
The declaration declares that while opening water to commercial fishing, natural resources will be properly managed by existing frameworks, agencies and oversight councils.
“I don’t think that a well-managed commercial fisheries will place objects of scientific and historical interest that (regulation of marine monuments) is at risk,” the order reads.
The declaration aims to empower fishermen and support small businesses and communities by reducing regulations that allowed foreign competition to expand.
