Donald Trump declares ‘National Scallops Day’ with wild swipe at Obama | World | News

Donald Trump declared ‘National Clam Day’ and declared himself a ‘Friend of Fishermen’ while also viciously attacking Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The US President concluded his lengthy post on Truth Social by urging people to vote for the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections, claiming: “Because if the Communists get in, you’ll never fish again!”

The announcement came after Trump celebrated the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) decision to reopen the North End of Georges Bank to commercial scallop fishing. In his post, Trump said the move would “come true” for American fishermen, claiming it would result in “millions more pounds of beautiful Wild Clams per year on Americans’ kitchen tables” and create jobs in Norfolk, Virginia, Cape May, New Jersey, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and other communities on the East Coast. The president accused the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations of treating U.S. fishermen “very badly” while also criticizing Canada over access to fishing waters.

He claimed to have expanded fishing opportunities by reopening waters off the East Coast to lobster fishermen and removing environmental protections that he claimed unfairly restricted American fishing.

Trump also claimed that he had opened “half a million square miles” of the Pacific Ocean to US fishermen, claiming that other countries had previously been allowed to fish there but Americans were prevented from doing so.

“I opened the Oceans, Rivers, Lakes and Seas to our Fishermen and freed them from the ridiculous Environmental restrictions that allowed other countries to enjoy US Waters under Barack Hussein Obama, Sleepy Joe Biden and the Dumocrats,” he wrote in the post.

He concluded by describing supporting the fishing industry as a “Great Honor” and added: “I’m a Friend of Fishermen – GO OUT AND VOTE REPUBLICANS IN THE MIDTERMS, BECAUSE IF IT CONTAINS COMMUNISTS, YOU’LL NEVER BUY FISH AGAIN!”

Expanding domestic energy production, commercial fishing and other natural resource industries has been a key priority for the Trump administration, which has also moved to scale back a range of environmental protections that it says impose unnecessary restrictions on American businesses.

Environmental groups have criticized some of the administration’s measures, arguing that marine protected areas and fishing limits are necessary to protect fish stocks, protect ocean ecosystems and ensure the long-term sustainability of commercial fishing.

The North End of Georges Bank has been closed to commercial scallop fishing since 1994.

Last year, the New England Fishery Management Council voted against reopening the area, noting that the area is an important breeding ground for Atlantic cod and highly productive habitat for scallops.

The council said the area’s high density of scallops was helping to regenerate neighboring fisheries and warned that reopening them could harm the long-term productivity of the fishery. The report also noted the region’s importance as juvenile habitat for Atlantic cod, American lobster and Atlantic herring.

But commercial fishermen argued the closure was no longer justified, while industry representatives called for a transformative reopening led by science.

They say access to the North Rim could help support jobs and reduce pressure on other fisheries.