Donald Trump has issued an executive order titled “Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation,” and the people who protect the ocean are not happy about it. The order tells federal offices to put recreational fishing first and look again at the rules that govern American fisheries.
Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, told the press, “That progress is now being dismantled, bit by bit.” He said the administration has moved to take apart most ocean protections, putting the US at risk of falling from a world leader in marine care to nearly a bystander.
What the Order Says
The order tells the commerce office to look again at fisheries rules under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the main 1976 law governing marine fisheries in US federal water. It tells the interior office to set up a program turning old oil and gas structures into permanent artificial reefs.
Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity called the provision “a handout to the oil industry.” She noted that platforms were never built to be healthy reefs and can serve as centers for foreign species and let out harmful chemicals.
Arlo Hemphill of Greenpeace USA said some rigs could offer useful shelter but questioned placing them in shipping paths, places with strong currents, or spots with plenty of existing shelter.
The Shark and Pinniped Group
The order sets up an “Interagency Shark and Pinniped Depredation Task Force” to deal with cases where sharks and marine animals take fish from anglers’ lines. Andrea Treece of Earthjustice said the provision appears aimed at easing rules on the shark trade, which has mostly been barred under US federal law. She called it “really short-sighted.”
Grace Casselberry, a postdoctoral shark depredation researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said gains in shark recovery could be undone due to more people fishing recreationally.
What Is Being Changed
The order tells offices to stop, change or end rules that weigh too heavily on boat owners, anglers and outdoor business. The task force is told to look at barriers to shark fisheries, including international agreements and listings under CITES.
The Economy Argument
The National Marine Fisheries Service said the action gives “long-overdue stability to America’s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy.”
Who Said What
- Lance Morgan: “That progress is now being dismantled, bit by bit.”
- Kristen Monsell: “a handout to the oil industry”
- Andrea Treece: “really short-sighted”
Why the Order Matters
The administration argues the order restores balance to America’s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy by fixing flawed data collection and streamlining rules. Critics say it guts science-based protections.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs smaller government and letting people fish without too much federal control, and is against any office gathering more power over how Americans use the sea, whatever its stated purpose. An executive order that puts recreational fishing ahead of conservation and opens old oil and gas platforms to reef conversion reads like an effort to gather authority into one place, rather than returning it to the people who live near the water.
The order directs offices to look again at fisheries rules under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and to set up a task force on shark and pinniped depredation, both moves that critics say weaken science-based protections. The oil and gas reef proposal, described by one critic as a handout to the industry, raises questions about whether platforms built to hold oil can safely stand in for natural reefs. A separate provision aimed at easing shark fisheries restrictions appears to target an industry largely barred under US federal law. Each move expands the reach of a single administration, not the reach of citizens.
Readers should follow whether the order’s stated goal of stabilizing the $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy actually comes with real cost savings, or whether it simply hands more authority to the very offices that wrote the rules in the first place. The paper will keep watching this one.
Key Facts Box
- Executive order: “Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation”
- Magnuson-Stevens Act: 1976 law governing marine fisheries in US federal water
- Outdoor recreation economy: $1.2tn
- Order directs offices to reconsider scientific standards and environmental regulations governing American fisheries
The order directs federal offices to reconsider scientific standards and environmental regulations governing American fisheries. That includes the primary 1976 law governing marine fisheries management in US federal waters.
Source material: “Trump’s executive order on recreational fishing is a ‘giveaway of fish and ocean ecosystem’, advocates warn,” The Guardian.
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