President Donald Trump’s efforts to free fishermen from regulatory red tape are tying up the very people he seeks to unburden as thousands of small and medium-size operators begin feeling the weight of the president’s NOAA wrecking ball.
“We’re seeing the whole system grind to a halt and fall apart,” said Meredith Moore, director of the fish conservation program at Ocean Conservancy, which has tracked the Trump administration’s fisheries rulemaking since Feb. 1. “One of the more confusing things is trying to put your finger on the causality of why things are so slow or delayed right now,” Moore added. “It could be foot-dragging, or it could be that with so many people getting fired, these routine regulations are sitting on someone’s desk at NOAA and nobody has seen them.”
Slash-and-burn downsizing, fishermen and experts say, is eroding NOAA’s ability to perform basic functions — like opening or closing a fishery, updating a fishery management plan, completing a stock assessment or engaging with regional advisory councils to ensure it’s following the latest science. The management rules are effectively stop-and-go lights on the fisheries highway. Without them, fishing boats remain dockside and fishermen lose critical income.
And just like with any other rulemaking, NOAA must first propose a rule — often framed as an “amendment” to a fisheries management plan — then solicit public comments and finalize the rule. Even under normal circumstances, the process can take weeks and even months. Under the Trump administration, the process is taking much longer, according to Ocean Conservancy, which has tracked the pace of regulation.
