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US Opens Up Marine Protected Areas to Fishing: What This Means for Ocean Conservation · How To Protect The Ocean

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  It seems as though every time I go away
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  on vacation, there's some breaking news.
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  And today on the breaking news is from
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  the US that the US
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  President Donald Trump wants
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  to roll back fishery regulations in the
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  Pacific remote islands of
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  the National Monument so
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  that they can be a bigger player in
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  fisheries around the world.
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  We're going to talk about why that's
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  significant, why we're not
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  surprised to hear this on this
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  episode of the How to
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  Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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  exciting episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
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  the podcast where you
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  find out what's happening
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  with the ocean, how you can speak up for
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  the ocean, and what you
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  can do to live for a better
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  ocean by taking action.
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  On today's episode, we're going to be
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  talking about the US
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  fisheries rollback so that it
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  allows for I guess what US President
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  Donald Trump wants is
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  global dominance, especially
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  in the Pacific on fisheries latest
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  announcement coming out of
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  the White House saying that
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  they want to fish more
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  in the Pacific right now.
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  They are contributing about 25% of the
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  amount of fishing that
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  goes on in the Pacific, and
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  they want to open that up.
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  And how are they going to open that up?
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  They're going to open it up in their own
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  waters that is protected.
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  The Pacific Remote Islands
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  Marine National Monument.
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  I've been rehearsing that I didn't really
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  get it off the bat,
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  but the Pacific Remote
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  Islands Marine National
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  Monument is going to be opened up.
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  It's 400,000 square acres of water,
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  pristine coral reefs
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  that's home to marine mammals,
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  sea turtles, sharks, fish, coral reefs,
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  seabirds, all sorts of
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  things that make this wonderful
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  habitat just beautiful.
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  It was originally protected in 2009,
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  designated in 2009, and
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  then it was later expanded in
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  2014, which was amazing.
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  People don't realize how long it takes
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  for these national
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  monuments to be designated.
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  The planning, the workshops, the
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  stakeholder engagement, the
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  public comment, everything
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  that goes into it.
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  It takes years, if not decades, to be
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  able to make sure that
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  these are implemented and
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  not only implemented
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  properly and managed properly.
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  And that's what it's been doing.
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  It's been managed properly for the last
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  10 years or even more
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  since it was designated.
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  So to see that the environmental
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  regulations are going to be rolled back
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  is really disappointing.
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  We're going to see this happening more
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  and more in the U.S.
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  As they, you know, we know Donald Trump
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  is not somebody who
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  wants to have environmental
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  regulations.
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  This is a very common thing to see with
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  Republicans or conservatives
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  around the world where they
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  think that economic prosperity is
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  hindered by regulations.
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  It does slow down the process, no doubt
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  about it, as it should
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  and as it's designed to do.
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  It's designed to make sure that people
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  are thinking about the
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  environment, making sure
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  that people do the proper assessments
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  around the environment
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  to ensure that they're not
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  destroying the environment and their
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  quest to get money or
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  their quest to develop.
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  And that's what we
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  have to be careful about.
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  We've seen collapse of fisheries before.
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  We will see collapse of fisheries again
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  if they are not managed properly.
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  Protected areas are there to make sure
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  that fisheries can prosper,
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  just not in certain areas.
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  Marine protected areas are
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  designed to enhance fisheries.
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  I know it sounds weird, but when you
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  protect an area of 400,000
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  acres, you allow fish within
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  that area to prosper.
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  And then that there's a spillover effect
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  from the borders of that marine protected
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  area that goes outside the borders and
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  that allows fishermen to prosper.
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  And I think that's what
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  really people don't understand.
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  You need to protect and prevent
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  extractive processes like
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  fishing so that you can fish
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  for a longer time and
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  it's more sustainable.
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  That's the key here,
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  sustainability of fisheries.
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  When you open up a marine protected area,
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  it's like for
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  fisheries, why bother protecting
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  it?
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  You're going to get
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  destructive fisheries.
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  You're going to get unmanaged fisheries.
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  You're not going to have quotas.
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  It sounds like you're not going to have
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  management of any type of fisheries and
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  you'll have short-term
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  gain, but you're going to pay for it in
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  the long term, which to be
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  honest, a lot of governments
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  don't really see.
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  They look at the next four years.
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  They look at the next five years in case
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  of Canada's terms when
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  we have our governments
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  in.
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  It's so frustrating when you see
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  governments do this over
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  and over and over again.
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  It's like they're not paying attention.
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  It's like they don't really
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  care about the environment.
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  All they care is economic prosperity and
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  being number one, which
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  is what we're seeing in
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  this case here.
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  So if the US wants to be number one in
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  their fisheries in the
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  Pacific, they would have
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  to increase their catch by
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  11.2 million metric tons.
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  That's a lot of fishing.
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  Currently in the Pacific, they sit about
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  fourth or fifth in the
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  standings, I guess behind
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  China.
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  They're number one, of course, and the US
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  is currently probably
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  taking out about two
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  million metric tons estimated.
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  They would have to increase 11.2 to even
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  match the 13.2 million
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  metric tons that China is
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  taking out every year.
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  And we know that China's fleet has had
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  problems in the past.
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  They're very controversial.
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  They go all over the world in the
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  Pacific, like different
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  countries or outside different
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  countries in the international treaty
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  area and they will fish
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  and they will fish without
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  regulations.
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  They will fish as much as possible.
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  And I guess to compete with that, you
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  have to do the same.
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  You have to fish without worrying about
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  management, without
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  worrying about a lot of things.
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  And that's a problem.
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  That's a problem right there to be able
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  to try and just be number one.
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  This is an ongoing thing that the US
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  wants to do, that they want
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  to increase their self-reliance
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  in a number of areas.
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  And I guess now this
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  is including fisheries.
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  They currently import
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  90% of their fisheries.
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  And so they want to increase their
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  domestic take, I assume, and so that they
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  can be more self-reliant.
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  So that makes sense in a way.
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  But to do it by opening up a marine
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  protected area doesn't make sense.
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  It doesn't make sense
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  for long-term prosperity.
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  It doesn't make sense to protect this
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  wonderful area that is pristine.
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  Beautiful coral reefs.
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  Like I said before, marine mammals
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  protecting like, monk seals protecting
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  sea turtles, protecting sea birds,
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  protecting sharks, all these different
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  species that it protects.
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  And it's working.
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  And now they're just going to open it up
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  and we're going to see
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  devastation in that area
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  because industry has been wanting to get
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  into that area for a long time.
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  They haven't been able to.
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  They've been strong proponents to be able
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  to fish more and they're going to get it
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  under this government.
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  This is a time where you need to help.
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  And to help is to contact
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  your government representative.
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  This is where it counts.
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  If you don't want to see the Pacific
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  remote islands marine national monument
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  to be opened up to fishing, then it's
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  time to contact your federal, your state,
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  especially if you live in Hawaii.
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  Representatives to say, hey, you know
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  what? We don't want this. This is awful.
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  This is a really bad idea.
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  And there must be checks and balances to
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  be able to open this up or
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  to stop this from opening up.
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  You know, maybe talk to your Congress
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  person, talk to your senator.
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  This is where it counts.
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  And if you're not in Hawaii and you want,
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  you know, somebody in Hawaii to listen,
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  then talk to them as well, whether you're
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  in that state or not, talk
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  to them because it matters.
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  Tell them the stories of what you want to
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  see in terms of a sustainable ocean,
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  especially in the Pacific.
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  So that's the episode here from Jamaica.
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  I hope you think about what's being done
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  in the U.S. and it goes to
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  show that voting matters.
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  And if you want to protect the
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  environment, you want to protect
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  fisheries, you want to protect pristine
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  environments and marine protect areas
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  that have already been designated.
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  Then we need to really make sure that we
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  vote properly and remember this in two
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  years when the midterms come in and to
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  start to make a change.
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  So that's it for today's episode.
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  I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
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  Let me know in the comments below if
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  you're watching this on YouTube.
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  And if you're listening to this on Apple
• 8:15
  podcast or your favorite podcast that
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  just let me know what you think.
• 8:18
  DM me at how to protect
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  the ocean on Instagram.
• 8:21
  That's at how to protect the ocean.
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  I want to thank you for joining me on
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  today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I am your host, Andrew
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  Lewin from the Grail, Jamaica.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next
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  time and happy conservation.