President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that seeks to open up 400,000 square miles of ocean southwest of Hawaii to commercial fishing, a move local groups see as "short-sighted" and harmful for a vast ecologically and culturally significant stretch of the Pacific.

The Hawaii Longline Association called commercial fishing in the vast and deep waters around the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument “sustainable and highly monitored” a day after President Donald Trump lifted a ban imposed by former President Barack Obama.

On April 17 the White House shared a proclamation opening the waters around the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument open to commercial fishing by U.S. flagged vessels.