By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration moved to slash commercial fishing regulations from coast to coast on Thursday, including reopening New England waters to scallop fishing that was banned after overfishing.
"We're opening the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the American consumers are going to benefit from what we're doing now," White House adviser Peter Navarro said in a briefing with reporters.
The Commerce Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
announced regional priorities that the government said were designed to revitalize the seafood sector.
It was not clear how NOAA planned to implement these priorities or how long it would take, given their scope.
The moves follow an April 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at increasing domestic seafood production by directing the Commerce Department to loosen regulations and by opening marine monuments to commercial fishing.
"The goal was really simple: We need to defend our domestic fishing industry, promote productive harvest of our resources and boost the great American fishermen," a senior administration official said.
The desire to ease restrictions on scallop fishing came out of an Oval Office meeting between Trump and scallop fishermen, who complained they were not allowed to fish in parts of Georges Bank, Navarro said.
The northern edge of those waters off the coast of New England is closed to scallop fishing.
"We're going to fix that in an environmentally sensitive way, and in a conservation way. It's going to be done systematically," Navarro said.
The process will involve input from the New England Fishery Management Council, he said.
Officials closed a large segment of fishing grounds in Georges Bank in 1994. That year, a National Marine Fisheries Service assessment of cod stock on Georges Bank found a 40% decline over four years, and concluded that the fishing fleet was about twice the size that Georges Bank could sustain, according to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
The New England Fishery Management Council voted in 2024 not to reopen those fishing grounds, which are also spawning grounds for Atlantic cod, to protect the long-term productivity of scallops.
The council discussed restarting work to consider scallop fishing on the Georges Bank northern edge but decided not to add it to its 2026 priorities, said spokesman Alexander Dunn. He said they issue may come up again at its September meeting.
Georges Bank is part of a chain of plateaus submerged in shallow waters that were rich fishing grounds until massive overfishing brought some fish populations to the brink of extinction, according to the museum.
Other actions prioritized by NOAA include evaluating restrictions, permit policies, accountability measures, boundaries and stock definitions along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and along the Pacific coast.
America’s $320 billion fishing industry relies on NOAA to manage coastal fisheries. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service develops management plans for 45 fisheries, setting quotas and determining the start and close of fishing seasons, in consultation with federal government scientists and local fishermen.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Michelle Nichols, Timothy Gardner and Cynthia Osterman)
