The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument stretches across nearly half a million square miles of ocean, a long protected zone for marine biodiversity.

But a new order from President Trump now allows commercial fishing within those waters.

“It's so, so horrible and so stupid. It's so stupid. We're talking about a massive ocean and they're forced to travel 4 to 7 days to go and fish in an area that's not as good and it's probably a little more dangerous, the whole thing,” said Trump.

The move brought a wave of mixed reactions. For local fishing communities like American Samoa, their economy depends on it.

“I know that America Samoa was working really hard to ensure they had access to different monument areas so that their fishery was still sustainable and still survives because it supports a huge portion of their economy. So I know that they’re really happy about this,” said Guam Department of Agriculture Director Chelsa Muna.

Muna isn't able to say much as she keeps an eye on the evolving situation.

“I know that he instructed his secretaries from different agencies to review all of the monument declarations. So we’ll see what starts to come down and if there’s anything that would affect us, especially with the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument,” Muna added.

But it’s good news for Manny Duenas, Fisherman Co-Op President, who says local fishing communities in the Pacific often pay the price of over regulation.

“I’m really happy that President Trump is finally listening to the people of the Pacific. And hopefully someday Guam, instead of importing over 95 percent of the fish we have out in our ocean, we can go back and be self-suistaining and catch our own fish that we are buying from foreign countries that are not following any rules. To me, that’s a better program to strive for to better protect our reefs from over exploitation,” said Duenas.

He adds the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council already effectively manages overfishing.

Duenas is a former member.

“The fisheries council has done a great job. I think all this other exercise of complete protection and all that is totally ludicrous. You don’t tell your kid not to play in the playground and watch all the other kids play. Because that’s totally disheartening. And that’s what’s been happening for the last 20 years,” said Duenas.

Fisheries Council Executive Director Kitty Simmonds joined a delegation from American Samoa at the oval office.

“Because of the monuments and overlays of sanctuaries, our fishermen mostly fish on the high seas, and if you look at Global Watch, you will see China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan all fishing on our very edge of the 200 mile zone. So our fishing, we're in competition with them,” said Trump.

Meantime, here at home, marine conservation experts gathered for a Guam fisheries management plan meeting in Tiyan on monday, which Muna said was unrelated to Trump's directive.