The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced its new priorities last week, with the goals of reducing bureaucracy, modernizing science, and putting fishing communities first. The reforms were presented as an “operational roadmap” for implementing President Donald Trump’s “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” executive order, signed in April 2025. However, experts say the plan would put fish stocks and endangered species at risk, open marine habitats to trawlers, and weaken science-based protections.
Letters sent by NOAA to regional fishery management councils call for restrictions to be lifted and for a shift to more permissive and economically advantageous practices. The plan calls for opening marine national monuments to commercial fishing, narrowing critical habitat designations with economic impacts taken into account, and reevaluating four of the 10 “National Standards” established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 to ensure sustainable fisheries. These standards cover preventing overfishing, using the best available science, considering social impacts, and reducing unnecessary bycatch. Whether recreational fishing will also be subject to the same standards will be examined.
The regulations also include delaying the implementation of ropeless gear designed for the remaining 350 North Atlantic right whales to prevent entanglements and eliminating the long-standing interpretation of the term “harm” under the Endangered Species Act. Reducing the use of Habitat Areas of Particular Concern protection standards is also under consideration.
The biggest geographical change is the acceleration of commercial fishing in the Mariana Trench, Papahānaumokuākea, Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands national monuments. According to NOAA, these areas cover a total of 1.1 million square miles and are home to coral reefs and species found nowhere else, such as the Mariana snailfish and Hawaiian pigfish.
Earthjustice, The Ocean Conservancy and former NOAA Fisheries administrator Janet Coit criticized the plan, while the National Fisheries Institute supported it. NOAA, meanwhile, argued that “the best available information” was included in the press release and that the agency was moving to a science-based, common-sense system.
Why it matters
The plan signals a shift that could expand the scope of economic activities in fisheries management while reducing the weight of the conservation criteria underpinning decisions. As a result, environmental groups that depend on protected areas, critical habitats and endangered species will be directly affected, as will commercial and recreational fishers. In particular, delaying ropeless gear raises questions about how the current approach to the risk of entanglement in fishing gear for the remaining North Atlantic right whale population will change. Opening national monuments to commercial fishing also makes the balance between economic gains and the protection of coral reefs and species found only in these areas a matter of controversy. The key unresolved issue is how the new practices will be reconciled with scientific assessment and sustainability requirements.