Bill strips President's power to close fishing in marine monuments

What it does

This bill amends federal fishery law to prohibit the President from using the Antiquities Act to restrict fishing in marine national monuments. Instead, fishing in these monuments must be regulated through the standard fishery management process under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which involves regional fishery councils and public notice-and-comment procedures. The effect is to shift regulatory authority from the President's unilateral proclamation power to a more deliberative multi-stakeholder process.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is not a blanket deregulation but a transfer of authority from Presidential proclamation to statutory fishery management. This is a procedural reallocation that has the practical effect of opening fishing access in monuments previously closed by executive action, while maintaining a regulatory framework—albeit one designed for sustainable harvest rather than preservation.

What the text implies

• Existing Presidential proclamations that currently prohibit or restrict fishing in marine monuments (e.g., Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument) would be voided or rendered unenforceable, immediately reopening those areas to fishing unless Magnuson-Stevens councils act to re-restrict them.
• The Magnuson-Stevens process requires regional fishery management councils to propose regulations, which typically prioritize sustainable harvest over preservation; monuments previously protected by Presidential decree would face pressure to allow commercial and recreational fishing.
• Future Presidents lose the ability to use the Antiquities Act to create fishing-restricted marine monuments, constraining a conservation tool that has been used to protect ecologically sensitive deep-sea and offshore areas from fishing pressure.
• The bill does not specify how existing monument designations interact with the new prohibition—it is unclear whether the monuments themselves remain designated but are now open to fishing, or whether the bill implicitly narrows the scope of monument protection.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Citizens who fish or depend on fishing gain expanded access and a more transparent regulatory process with public input. However, citizens who value marine conservation, ecosystem protection, or the preservation of marine monuments as no-take reserves lose the President's ability to enforce strict protections via proclamation—a tool previously used to create de facto fishing bans in ecologically sensitive areas. The trade-off is real: procedural transparency and stakeholder input versus precauti

Who stands to gain

• commercial fishing industry
• recreational fishing operators
• fishing-dependent coastal communities

Named in the bill

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Antiquities Act of 1906, Presidential proclamation authority, marine national monuments, regional fishery management councils, U.S. Code Title 54 Section 320301

Where it stands

• May 19, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 19, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
• Jun 3, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $376,600 in lobbying spend. A filing names 82 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Aumua Amata Radewagen, the sponsor, reported $24,600 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Earthjustice Action — $376,600 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.