Sponsor
Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen
Representative · R-AS
Representative · R-AS
The bill preserves current, regionally driven fisheries management and predictable access for fishing communities but reduces the President's ability to quickly impose protections in marine national monuments, trading faster conservation action for regulatory stability.
Commercial and recreational fishers can continue operating under the Magnuson-Stevens framework (seasons, quotas, gear limits), preserving current access and regulatory predictability for fishing businesses and coastal communities.
Fishing communities and regional fishery councils retain science- and region-based management authority rather than being subject to unilateral presidential fishing bans, supporting predictable decision-making and community planning.
Marine ecosystems and conservation efforts may face delays in emergency protections because the President's ability to quickly restrict fishing in marine national monuments is limited.
Coastal communities and marine habitats could see continued fishing in areas where monument protections previously prohibited it, increasing risk of resource degradation and conflict between conservation goals and fishing interests.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Prohibits using the Antiquities Act to ban or regulate fishing in marine national monuments and leaves fisheries regulation to Magnuson-Stevens and other law.
Official title: To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide for the regulation of fishing in marine national monuments.
Introduced May 19, 2026 by Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen · Last progress May 19, 2026
Bars use of the Antiquities Act to prohibit or otherwise regulate fishing in any marine national monument, including existing proclamations, and preserves fisheries regulation under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable law. It makes clear that presidential monument proclamations cannot be used to create a fishing ban or new fishing regulations in marine national monuments.