A coalition of environmental groups has filed suit against the Trump administration over its move to reopen the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, reigniting a long-running battle over access to the protected Atlantic waters.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with whale-watch naturalist Zack Klyver, challenged President Trump’s February proclamation allowing commercial fishing within the monument boundaries.
Located about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument spans roughly 4,900 square miles and was designated in 2016 as the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument. Conservation groups argue the underwater canyons and extinct volcanoes support fragile cold-water corals, endangered whales, and other deep-sea species vulnerable to fishing activity.
“Conservation Law Foundation campaigned to establish this monument because the life it shelters is unique and irreplaceable,” said Chloe Fross, staff attorney for CLF, in the release. “The last time the Trump administration tried to strip away protections, we sued and kept fighting until protections were restored. We’re ready to do it again.”
The lawsuit claims Trump lacks legal authority to remove or weaken protections established by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act. The monument was briefly reopened to commercial fishing during Trump’s first term before protections were restored by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Environmental groups contend reopening the area to commercial fishing could cause long-term damage to deep-sea habitat with limited economic return for the fishing industry.
“It’s short-sighted and completely illegal for Trump to try and rob this marine monument of critical protections,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Fishing industry groups have previously challenged the monument’s legality in federal court, though courts upheld its creation. The latest lawsuit marks another chapter in the ongoing conflict between conservation advocates and fishing interests over access to federally protected waters in the Northeast Atlantic.
