The original monument, extending 50 miles to either side of the line of islands, protected almost all of the turtles, the monk seals and most of the birds.

The extended area is so deep (3 to 5 miles deep) that the longline fishing gear never gets anywhere near the bottom. So all the creatures way down there are already well-protected.

Tuna move constantly. Sometimes they're in the expanded area. Sometimes not. It's not a simple matter of taking away 5% of the fish. The expansion takes away a massive section of ocean, cutting into the limited time these boats can spend out at sea. When they are unable to follow the fish, they lose days of fishing, which reduces what they can bring back to port, increases prices and hurts consumers. 

The people in our state depend upon this fresh catch. Thousands of pounds of it per day. Cut that down and we have to get it from unregulated foreign fleets that operate illegally, that really do abuse human rights, and do great harm to our fishery.