New US executive order shifts focus to recreational fishing and draws criticism from conservation groups

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Thursday titled Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation, directing federal agencies to prioritize recreational fishing while rethinking scientific standards and environmental regulations for American fisheries. The National Marine Fisheries Service welcomed the move, stating it fixes federal data collection flaws, eases permitting, and grows marine habitats to support the country's $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy. However, conservation advocates argue the order weakens science-based ocean management. Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, warned that proposed rollbacks could drop US water protection from 26 percent down to just 4 percent. The order instructs the commerce department to review fisheries guidelines under the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act to properly account for recreational fishing. Gib Brogan, senior campaign director at Oceana, expressed worry over how the administration might reinterpret terms like overfishing, rebuilding, and best available science. Another part of the order tells the interior department to set up a program turning old offshore oil and gas structures into permanent artificial reefs. Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized this as a handout allowing the oil industry to leave behind ocean mess. Greenpeace USA project lead Arlo Hemphill noted that while rigs create habitats, they can also draw fish from surrounding areas rather than growing new populations, making them simply easier to catch.

Task Force and Future Rules

The order also creates an Interagency Shark and Pinniped Depredation Task Force to deal with sharks and marine mammals taking fish from angler lines, examining barriers like international agreements and CITES listings. Andrea Treece of Earthjustice argued this aims to ease restrictions on the shark trade and lead to killing more sharks, noting that US shark populations are already a fraction of what they were before mid-19th-century industrial fishing. Grace Casselberry, a shark researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, added that more people fishing now than ever creates a high-risk scenario for shark encounters. Finally, the order directs agencies to suspend or change rules that burden boaters and anglers. Monsell warned this could threaten critical protections like the vessel-speed rule, which forces ships to slow down to 10 knots to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from deadly strikes.