BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 9, 2020
President Donald Trump spent much of his time here in Maine last week continuing his assault on our public lands and waters. At a roundtable with carefully curated supporters, the president announced that he would reopen the only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing. Opening the monument to commercial fishing activity will have no economic benefit for Maine fishermen. It is also illegal. Allowing fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts will do nothing to help Maine fishermen recover lost revenue or add a single job — no Maine-based boats fish there. If anything, we should be protecting more areas of our oceans, not rolling back protections on the sole marine monument in the Atlantic. ~ Sean Mahoney, Conservation Law Foundation Maine.