Wespac’s Fight Against Marine Monuments Is All About Protecting The Fishing Industry The council’s leaders have done everything they can to stop presidents from creating monuments in the Pacific. Members of Congress have put forward a way to curb the lobbying.
Since 2006, Kitty Simonds has used her position and the resources available to her as executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to organize and facilitate a fierce resistance to the establishment or expansion of marine monuments.
While the monuments are aimed at protecting a number of fish and wildlife species, Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry says being shut out of large areas is affecting its ability to make a living.
Simonds and Wespac leaders have routinely opposed proposals to set aside large swaths of the Pacific in the name of conservation, whether it was when Republican President George W. Bush used his executive authority to create monuments or when Democratic President Barack Obama greatly expanded two of those. In 2016, an executive action by Obama made Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument the world’s largest protected area at the time.
