Earthjustice: Court Reaffirms Protections for Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument

A federal court in Honolulu delivered a major win for the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to open over 400,000 square miles of protected waters to commercial fishing is unlawful. In April, President Trump signed a proclamation seeking to strip protections from the monument. Later that month, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to commercial fishing permit holders informing them that the ban on commercial fishing in the area no longer exists. In May, on behalf of Kāpa‘a, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, and the Center for Biological Diversity, we sued the Trump administration. Then in August, the court issued a decisive ruling in our favor, confirming that commercial fishing remains banned in the monument. Read on.