On Monday, the Trump administration ended a new rule that was aimed at protecting endangered marine life off the West Coast from the fishing industry.
Economically, the new rule would have had "a much more substantial impact on the fleet than we originally realized," said Michael Milstein, a spokesman with the federal fisheries service, which killed the rule.
The rule would have applied to fewer than 20 fishing vessels that use mile-long fishing nets to catch swordfish off California and Oregon. The change would have shut down the drift gillnet fishing for swordfish for up to two seasons if too many of nine groups of whales, sea turtles or dolphins were getting caught in the nets.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the fishing industry has proactively taken many steps towards lessening the chances of hurting these animals—including creating underwater “pinging” devices that can warn off some of the marine animals from getting too close and tangled into the nets.
The rule would have applied to endangered fin, humpback, and sperm whales, short-fin pilot whales and common bottlenose dolphins, as well as endangered leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, olive-ridley sea turtles and green sea turtles.
Environmental groups are clearly unhappy with this decision since some of the endangered species are at such low levels that any and all threats to their well-being is potentially catastrophic.