Trump signed a proclamation Thursday titled "Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific," opening roughly half a million square miles across three marine national monuments to US-flagged commercial fishing. The newly opened areas: the Mau and Ho'omalu Zones of Papahānaumokuākea (plus everything seaward of 50 nautical miles), the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, and the 12-to-50-nautical-mile band around Rose Atoll. This is the third monument reopening of Trump's second term — after the Pacific Remote Islands (April 2025, ~400,000 sq mi) and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic (February 2026). Earthjustice has already vowed to sue.

1. American Fishermen Just Got Half a Million Square Miles (Trump admin, NOAA, Wespac)

US-flagged only. Wespac has been pushing this for years.

The proclamation is restricted to US-flagged vessels. That's the line the administration is leading with: not a giveaway to global fleets, a domestic fishing expansion. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has been pushing to expand commercial access in Papahānaumokuākea for years, and the proclamation is the policy version of what Wespac has been requesting. The tuna and bottomfish fisheries the council represents have argued for years that they're being locked out of US waters while foreign fleets fish nearby in international waters.

The April 2025 proclamation already opened the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. About 400,000 square miles came online then. February 2026 reopened Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic. Thursday's proclamation is the third reopening. Together, the administration has reopened close to a million square miles of federally managed waters to commercial fishing, framed as a domestic seafood and economic-competitiveness move.

2. These Are Some of the Most Pristine Waters on Earth (Earthjustice, Greenpeace, conservation groups)

Papahānaumokuākea has the healthiest coral reef on Earth. Earthjustice is suing.

Papahānaumokuākea contains some of the healthiest, most intact coral reefs in the world. It's habitat for the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal and species that exist nowhere else. The Mariana Trench monument contains hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, and deep-sea coral ecosystems described as some of the least-explored environments on Earth. Rose Atoll is one of the most pristine atolls anywhere. These aren't ordinary fisheries. They're the closest equivalent to ocean wilderness the US has.

Earthjustice has already vowed to sue. Its deputy managing attorney: "Commercial fishing in our protected marine monuments would not only be disastrous for the environment, but also does nothing for the fishing industry." The April 2025 proclamation is already in litigation. Greenpeace USA characterized the new proclamation as Trump scoring an "own goal" on ocean protection. The argument: the same tuna stocks the proclamation says it's protecting are best preserved by keeping spawning grounds closed, which is what the monuments were doing.

3. The Pattern Is the Substance (structural)

Three monument reopenings in 14 months. Wespac's longstanding push, now landing.

This is the third monument reopening in Trump's second term. April 2025: Pacific Remote Islands. February 2026: Northeast Canyons and Seamounts. June 2026: today's three more. The Wespac campaign that has been quietly building for years is now operative federal policy. The Antiquities Act framework that lets a president designate monuments is now being used in reverse: each successor strips what the predecessor created.

The US-flag-only restriction is the political answer to the science objection. The administration's argument: protecting these ecosystems while foreign fleets fish in adjacent international waters didn't actually conserve them, because the tuna and pelagics move.

Where This Lands

Trump opened roughly half a million square miles of protected Pacific waters to US commercial fishing Thursday, on top of the 400,000 sq mi opened in April 2025 and the Atlantic monument reopened in February. Some say this is finally letting American fishermen fish in American waters that foreign fleets have been working from outside. Others say Papahānaumokuākea is the world's healthiest coral reef and the spawning grounds are exactly the wrong place to fish. Earthjustice is suing again, and the case is going to test what "monument" means under the Antiquities Act.

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