In the months leading up to the Nov. 8 election, President Barack Obama signed a series of proclamations to dramatically increase the amount of land and water that is federally protected from commercial fishing, mining, drilling and development.

On Aug. 24, he established a nearly 90,000-acre national monument in the Katahdin Woods of Maine.

Two days later, Obama expanded Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands by 283 million acres, making it the world鈥檚 largest protected area at the time.

And on Sept. 15, he created the first national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, protecting more than 3 million acres of marine ecosystems, seamounts and underwater canyons southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

President Barack Obama visits Turtle Beach on Midway Atoll, Sept. 1, 2016. Days earlier he used his executive authority to quadruple the size of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which includes the atoll.
President Barack Obama visited Turtle Beach on Midway Atoll on Sept. 1. Days earlier he’d used his executive authority to quadruple the size of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which includes the atoll. Courtesy: Pete Souza/White House

Obama has used a century-old law called the Antiquities Act to federally protect more land 鈥 550 million acres and counting 鈥 than any other president. He鈥檚 established 24 new national monuments in at least 14 states since taking office eight years ago, with the bulk of the acreagein Papahanaumokuakea and the Pacific Remote Islands.

But with Republican Donald Trump鈥檚 surprise upset of Democrat Hillary Clinton, attention is turning to what Trump plans to do when he takes office in January and whether he will seek to undo or at least modify the national monuments that Obama created.

Supporters have defended the long-term conservation and historical benefits of the monuments with as much fervor as the critics who have slammed the president for a federal overreach that threatens their livelihoods.

It鈥檚 mostly speculation at this point as to what Trump will do but groups on both sides of the issue are keeping a watchful eye on things.

Advocates for commercial fishing interests on the East Coast have started nudging policymakers to consider what changes the next administration could make. But West Coast and Hawaii industry groups are still gathering information and developing plans.

Donald Trump, seen here speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference, has asked his staff for a list of executive actions that he could take on his first day in office.
Donald Trump, seen here speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference, has asked his staff for a list of executive actions that he could take on his first day in office. Courtesy: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

, a nonprofit that represents commercial fishing interests, has already started pushing policymakers to consider what changes the next administration could make to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

Saving Seafood Executive Director Robert Vanasse told the Associated Press earlier this month that he thinks it would be 鈥渞ational鈥 to allow some sustainable fishing in the monuments.

So far, local decision-makers there, such as the Gloucester Fishing Commission, have said it鈥檚 premature to change course.

That’s where the situation stands in Honolulu, too.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, or Wespac, is waiting on an economic analysis from the National Marine Fisheries Service on the effects that Papahanaumokuakea鈥檚 fourfold expansion may have on the commercial fishing industry, particularly the Hawaii longliners who target bigeye tuna for local sashimi markets.

The council has jurisdiction over 1.5 million square miles of ocean and manages domestic fisheries based mostly in the Pacific. The Hawaii commercial fishing industry alone generates roughly a half-billion dollars in sales annually and provides 11,000 jobs.

Wespac spokeswoman Sylvia Spalding said in an email last week that 鈥渙ur letters (to the Trump administration) are in review.鈥 She said the group hopes to have more information soon.

Trump Would Be The First

Trump released a video statement last week that outlined some of his plans for his first 100 days in office. That agenda includes taking executive actions 鈥渙n day one to restore our laws and bring back our jobs.鈥

He鈥檚 tasked his transition team to come up with a list of what actions he could take. Trump鈥檚 communications staff did not return messages seeking comment about whether rescinding national monuments would make the cut.

Trump would be the first to rescind a previous president鈥檚 national monument proclamation. The Antiquities Act does not expressly give the president such power, and court challenges have been unsuccessful in undoing a presidential designation.

NOAA scientist Brian Hauk and Bishop Museum scientist Richard Pyle descend to a reef at 300 feet on Pioneer Bank in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
NOAA scientist Brian Hauk and Bishop Museum scientist Richard Pyle descend to a reef at 300 feet on Pioneer Bank in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. NOAA and Robert Whitton/Bishop Museum

But the Republican-led Congress could, and it has in the past, according to Carol Hardy Vincent, specialist in natural resources policy, who wrote in September on national monuments and the Antiquities Act for the Congressional Research Service.

Congress abolished the Fossil Cycad National Monument in South Dakota in 1956, transferring control to the Bureau of Land Management to be administered under the public land laws.

And in 1930, Congress decided the Papago Saguaro National Monument in Arizona should be conveyed to the state for park, recreational and other public purposes.

There were efforts to turn back President George W. Bush鈥檚 2006 designation of Papahanaumokuakea but the legal challenge claiming fishing rights had been lost ultimately failed.

鈥淚t seems to be an uphill battle for a president to unilaterally do it.” 鈥 Paul Achitoff, Earthjustice

But the courts have not taken up the issue of whether the president has the authority to abolish a national monument, according to Vincent鈥檚 report.

There is a 1938 attorney general鈥檚 opinion that suggests the president does not have the power to revoke a previous proclamation for a national monument. It says, in part, that it is 鈥渂oth logical and appropriate to construe the Antiquities Act to allow a President to protect resources, but to听deny a President the authority to undo those protections.鈥 Homer Stille Cummings of Connecticut was the U.S. attorney general during that period.

鈥淚t seems to be an uphill battle for a president to unilaterally do it,鈥 said Paul Achitoff, an attorney for Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization.

Whether this Congress would do it is another story, Achitoff said.

鈥淲e will be keeping an eye on it if there seems to be anything we can do to prevent that,鈥 he said.

Republican members of Congress have in the past introduced legislation to weaken the president鈥檚 power to unilaterally create national monuments 鈥 and to defund those already designated 鈥 but such measures have yet to pass.

State Rep. Chris Lee, who chairs the Hawaii House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, is also waiting to see what Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will do, if anything.

鈥淭he real question is what鈥檚 going to happen to the nation鈥檚 public lands that President Obama protected from oil exploration and drilling and what happens to the indigenous communities in those areas and fights like you鈥檙e seeing right now over the Dakota Access Pipeline,鈥 he said.

‘Conservation Burden’ Or ‘Critically Important?’

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, was the one who officially proposed expanding Papahanaumokuakea to nearly 600,000 square miles. He declined to comment for this story.

In June, after putting forward the proposal to Obama to expand the monument, Schatz said that it would 鈥渟trengthen an ecosystem that sustains tuna, swordfish, sharks, seabirds, sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals鈥 while protecting archaeological sites and biocultural resources.

Hawaii longline fishing vessels are docked at Pier 38 in Honolulu.
Hawaii longline fishing vessels dock at Pier 38 in Honolulu. The fishing industry has staunchly opposed marine monuments and criticized the unilateral process of creating them. Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat

Wespac and commercial fishermen based in Hawaii opposed the expansion from the outset, calling into question the science supporting it and blasting the use of听the Antiquities Act.

They argued that fishermen rely on the area to catch roughly 10 percent of their tuna annually and that the expansion effectively closed 60 percent of Hawaii鈥檚 waters to commercial fishing.

The longline fleet catches most of its fish in international waters outside of the 200-mile federal zone around the Hawaiian Islands, and operates under a quota system that allows it听to make up lost catch elsewhere.

Wespac Executive Director Kitty Simonds called it a 鈥渃onservation burden鈥 to have such large marine monuments in Pacific waters.

But听Seth Horstmeyer, a director with The Pew Charitable Trusts鈥 Global Ocean Legacy project which supported the monument expansion, said it will likely be hard to undo Obama’s decision on Papahanaumokuakea.

鈥淭he cultural and scientific rationale for the monument is sound, there is tremendous public support, and both Presidents Bush and Obama 鈥 Republican and Democrat 鈥 operated under clear executive authority to create and expand this critically important marine reserve,鈥 he said in a statement.

He underscored that the Antiquities Act does not allow a president to repeal a previous monument proclamation, adding that 鈥渋f it did it would be difficult making a case to repeal or weaken Papahanaumokuakea.鈥

This NOAA map shows the U.S. exclusive economic zone boundaries and four marine national monuments.
This NOAA map shows the U.S. exclusive economic zone boundaries and four marine national monuments, including Papahanaumokuakea prior to its expansion in August. Courtesy: NOAA Fisheries

At Wespac鈥檚 most recent meeting in October, the council agreed to start drafting amendments and regulations to the Hawaii and pelagic fishery ecosystem plans in response to the marine monument鈥檚 expansion. Commercial fishing will be prohibited in the expanded area, as it was in the existing monument, but there are expected to be similar provisions to allow noncommercial fishing and Native Hawaiian traditional fishing practices to continue.

Public input is being sought including at statewide meetings that will be held before the council鈥檚 next meeting in March.

鈥淭he impacts to the Hawaii fishing and seafood industries and indigenous communities as a result of monument expansion are considerable,鈥 Council Chair Edwin Ebisui Jr. said in a Wespac press release last month. 鈥淭he Council will write to the President about these and request the Department of Commerce to mitigate them.鈥

Other regional fishery councils are similarly taking up the issue of recently created national monuments in areas under their jurisdiction.

The New England Fishery Management Council is looking at the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile area off the New England coast.

Vanasse, of Saving Seafood, told AP earlier this month that he would anticipate there being a desire to address monuments.

鈥淲hether it鈥檚 the radical step of revoking the designation, or modifying it to allow non-destructive, sustainable fishing to take place, which we think is rational, I don鈥檛 know,鈥 he said.

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