skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Israel and Iran trade strikes as Trump weighs US involvement in conflict; Medicaid cuts risk health-care access for MS military families; NJ Advocate: Shore powered cargo ships help ocean, port community health; CT farmers impacted by USDA defunding climate programs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Lawmakers on both sides urge President Trump not to enter the Israel-Iran war. Supreme Court deals the transgender community a major blow by upholding a Tennessee state law.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Hurricane Helene mobilized the North Carolina community of Marshall in unexpected ways, giant data centers powering AI want cheap rural land but can face community pushback, and ceramics made by Cherokee potters honor multiple generations.

Conservationists Mull Lawsuits as Feds Roll Back Ocean Protections

play audio
Play

Tuesday, June 9, 2020   

HARTFORD, Ct. -- Groups that protect the oceans are looking at their legal options after President Donald Trump declared on Friday that commercial fishing soon will be allowed at the only marine national monument in New England.

In 2016, President Barack Obama created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, about 150 miles off of the Connecticut coast. Gib Brogan, senior campaign manager with Oceana, said the area is special because when the current hits the seamount, it causes an upwelling of nutrients, creating a feeding ground for many protected species.

"Everything from whales and seabirds to deep-sea corals are found in this monument," Brogan said. "And we're concerned that continuing or adding new fishing activity in this monument will undermine the conservation value of the area."

The original monument designation gave lobster and red-crab fishermen until 2023 to wind down their operations, but this proclamation would eliminate that deadline. The president claims the rollback will help revive the post-COVID economy, but studies show the fishing haul from the monument is only 5% of the fishery.

Brogan worries certain types of commercial fishing, currently prohibited in the monument, could make a comeback - destructive practices that kill off a huge percentage of bycatch.

"It excluded fishing with miles-long strings of baited hooks that are used to catch tuna and swordfish," he said. "It has also prohibited these bottom trawls: nets that are dragged along the sea floor that can scoop up and pulverize corals and sponges."

Brogan said it is unclear exactly how the administration plans to deregulate the monument. The fishing industry already has challenged the legality of the monument in court and lost the case.

The Antiquities Act gives the president the power to create new national monuments but does not grant the power to rescind them.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A parklet is an elevated public space, usually converted from a parking space and used to enhance community experience and support local businesses. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Eight Wisconsin cities, including four rural communities, will receive improvements to help make their communities more livable. Eleven grantees …


Social Issues

play sound

A bill prohibiting credit reporting on Oregonians' medical debt has been signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek. Hailed as a significant victory for …

Environment

play sound

June is World Oceans Month, and advocates are warning that industrial shipping pollution hurts both oceans and port communities. At least 31 …


Flowers and notes are placed outside the Brooklyn Park home of state Rep. Melissa Hortman after the Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were fatally shot in what police say was a politically motivated attack. (Mike Moen/PNS)

Social Issues

play sound

Minnesotans gathered at the state Capitol last night for a candlelight vigil for Rep. Melissa Hortman, D-Brooklyn Park, after she was assassinated …

Social Issues

play sound

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday released an opinion that allows Tennessee to keep in place a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. While seen …

More than 500 Ohio children were reported sleeping in county government offices over a one-year period due to a lack of foster care placements. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Ohio child welfare advocates are urging lawmakers to restore more than $60 million in funding to address the state's ongoing foster care placement cri…

Social Issues

play sound

A Pennsylvania literacy organization is commemorating the Juneteenth holiday by highlighting the history and contributions of Black people in the Unit…

Environment

play sound

Forest fires have broken out in parts of New Mexico that state forecasters had already warned would see an elevated wildfire risk this summer due to h…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021