President Trump is once again opening a massive, protected area off the coast of New England to commercial fishing.

In a proclamation signed Friday, the President rolled back Obama-era restrictions on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a 5,000-square-mile preserve southeast of Cape Cod. The preserve is home to a wide variety of life, including leatherback sea turtles, at least 22 different species of cetaceans (whales), and rare deep-sea cold-water corals.

Trump has frequently framed the move as a win for the Maine lobster industry, calling the previous protections an unfair penalty on fishermen. Commercial groups like the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based Atlantic Red Crab Company have already applauded the move:

“We deserve to be rewarded, not penalized,” Atlantic Red Crab Company president and owner John Williams said on Friday. “We’re demonstrating that we can fish sustainably and continue to harvest on a sustainable level in perpetuity.”

But while fishermen have been reacting positively, environmental groups have been critical of the move due to its impact on the fauna that call the area home, with some vowing to fight the move in court.

“The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was created to provide strong protections for the wide range of marine life that live in these unique habitats,” said Gib Brogan, fisheries campaign director at environmental group Oceana.

Environmental groups have also gone after Trump’s efforts to open up previously protected areas in the Pacific as well, with a judge blocking an effort to remove protections for the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii last summer.

To read the original Portland Press Herald article, click here.