Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic

Proclamation 11009 of February 6, 2026

Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the
Atlantic

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On September 15, 2016, pursuant to the Antiquities Act
(54 U.S.C. 320301), President Obama issued Proclamation
9496 (Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument), which designated approximately 4,913 square
miles of waters and submerged lands where the Atlantic
Ocean meets the continental shelf as the Northeast
Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

On June 5, 2020, I issued Proclamation 10049 (Modifying
the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument), to remove the restrictions on commercial
fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts
Marine National Monument. In that proclamation, I noted
that many of the fish species that Proclamation 9496
identifies are highly migratory and not unique to the
monument. I further noted that a host of other laws
enacted after the Antiquities Act provide specific
protection for other plant and animal resources both
within and outside the monument.

Subsequently, on October 8, 2021, President Biden
issued Proclamation 10287 (Northeast Canyons and
Seamounts Marine National Monument), finding that
commercial fishing activity has the potential to
significantly degrade the monument's objects of
historic and scientific interest and reinstating the
prohibitions on commercial fishing within the Northeast
Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

As explained herein, following further consideration of
the nature of the objects identified in Proclamation
9496 and the protection of those objects already
provided by Federal law, I find that appropriately
managed commercial fishing would not put the objects of
historic and scientific interest that the monument
protects at risk.

All of the fish species described in Proclamation 9496
are subject to Federal protections under existing laws
and executive department and agency management
designations. For example, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.) (Magnuson-Stevens), regulates commercial fishing
to ensure long-term biological and economic
sustainability for our Nation's marine fisheries,
taking into account the protection of associated marine
ecosystems. Magnuson-Stevens establishes regional
fishery management councils, supervised by the
Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the States
and affected stakeholders, that develop fishery
management plans to regulate our Nation's fisheries,
using the best available science and observing strict
conservation and management requirements. Magnuson-
Stevens requires a similar process of scientific
fisheries management for highly migratory species,
including the tunas referenced in Proclamation 9496. In
addition, Magnuson-Stevens provides that fishery
management plans may include, among other measures,
management measures to conserve target and non-target
species and habitats, including measures to protect
deep-sea corals. Moreover, many of the fish species
that Proclamation 9496 identifies are highly migratory
and not unique to the monument.

A host of other laws enacted after the Antiquities Act
provide specific protection for other plant and animal
resources (including coral species) both within and
outside the monument. These laws include the Endangered

Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-712), the National
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act (16 U.S.C.
668dd-668ee), the Refuge Recreation Act (16 U.S.C. 460k
et seq.), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C.
1361 et seq.), the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et
seq.), the Oil Pollution Act (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.),
the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431 et
seq.), and Title I of the Marine Protection, Research
and Sanctuaries Act (33 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) (Ocean
Dumping Act). For example, the Endangered Species Act
generally prohibits the taking of fish and wildlife
species listed as endangered, and also generally
ensures that Federal actions, including fisheries
management, are not likely to jeopardize the continued
existence of any such species. The Marine Mammal
Protection Act provides protections for marine mammals,
and prohibits their taking, subject to some exceptions.
Numerous other statutes, including the Clean Water Act,
the Oil Pollution Act, and the Ocean Dumping Act,
address both land-based and ocean-based sources of
pollution and help ensure that water quality continues
to support plankton and other pelagic organisms.

After further consideration of the nature of the
objects identified in Proclamation 9496 and the
protection of those objects already provided by
Magnuson-Stevens and other applicable legal
authorities, I find, for all the reasons previously
stated in Proclamation 10049 and provided herein, that
a prohibition on commercial fishing is not, at this
time, necessary for the proper care and management of
the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument or the objects of historic or scientific
interest therein.

WHEREAS, Proclamation 9496 designated the Northeast
Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in the
Atlantic Ocean and reserved approximately 4,913 square
miles of water and submerged lands in and around
certain deep-sea canyons and seamounts situated upon
lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the
Federal Government as the smallest area compatible with
the proper care and management of objects of historic
and scientific interest;

WHEREAS, Proclamation 10049 modified the conditions of
the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument to allow commercial fishing activities;

WHEREAS, Proclamation 10287 modified the conditions of
the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National
Monument to prohibit commercial fishing activities;

WHEREAS, for the reasons set forth in Proclamation
10049 and provided herein, I find that removing the
restrictions on commercial fishing set forth in
Proclamation 9496 and Proclamation 10287 to allow for
well-regulated commercial fishing use, in accordance
with and pursuant to existing statutory authorities, is
in the public interest and that the objects in the
monument can be, and are currently, protected pursuant
to carefully tailored regulation and management under
existing Federal law;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by the Constitution and the laws of the United States,
including section 320301 of title 54, United States
Code, hereby proclaim that Proclamation 10287 is
revoked and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine
National Monument shall be managed in accordance with
Proclamation 10049, which allows for commercial fishing
within the monument.

To the extent any provision of Proclamation 10049 is
inconsistent with Proclamation 9496, the terms of this
proclamation and Proclamation 10049 shall govern.

If any provision of this proclamation, including its
application to a particular parcel of land, is held to
be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its
application to other parcels of land shall not be
affected thereby.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.