This latest action means that commercial activities – including fishing and mineral extraction – can not take place in the newly expanded designations, as is consistent with the current regulations surrounding the already protected monument.
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Obama’s proclamation quadrupled in size a monument originally created by President George W. Bush in 2006. Noncommercial fishing, such as recreational fishing and the removal of fish and other resources for Native Hawaiian cultural practices, is allowed in the expansion area by permit, as is scientific research.
Designated a World Heritage site, the region surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands teems with more than 7,000 marine and land species – some of which are unique to the area, including endangered whales and sea turtles.
There he will make the case that climate change “makes protecting our public lands and waters more important than ever”, according to the White House.
“We are disappointed that the president has made a decision to close an area almost the size of the entire state of Alaska without public process”, Sean Martin, the president of the Hawaii Longline Association, said in an email to The Associated Press. Granting this protection had special meaning for the president because Hawaii is where he was born and spent many of childhood years.
“Our local fishing industry, which comprises more than 80 percent of the local economy, depends heavily on access to these waters”, she said. “Quite a legacy indeed”, he said in an email to The Associated Press. He hopped to Midway from Honolulu on a smaller version of Air Force One, landing on an airstrip that gained prominence when the Battle of Midway became a turning point in World War II. “Throughout this process, we’ve collaborated with a number of stakeholders, including native Hawaiians, state and local officials, community leaders, and fishermen”, said US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
Squinting in the sunlight, Obama described Midway Atoll as “hallowed ground”, a nod to the place it occupies in Native Hawaiian tradition.
Obama’s announcement came just days before the kickoff of a major global conservation meeting including thousands of heads of state, scientists and policy makers, which the USA president is expected to address in Hawaii on Thursday.
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Scientists say coral reefs are less vulnerable to changes in climate and chemistry if they are protected from other threats – that’s what the president is doing by banning commercial fishing and any new mining. The federal government will also give Hawaii’s Department of Natural Resources and Office of Hawaiian Affairs a greater role in managing the monument, an arrangement requested by Schatz and Governor David Ige.
