The protected area, which is already bigger than Greece or North Korea, will nearly quadruple in size to 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometres) the White House said.
Advertisement
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, also known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, was first designated as a protected area by George W. Bush a decade ago. It features the largest seabird gathering site in the world, with more than 14 million birds from 22 species, almost all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green sea turtles and Laysan albatrosses.
Papahānaumokuākea is home to more than 7,000 marine species, including sharks, whales, turtles, dolphins, monk seals, seabirds, thousands of fish species, and many other animals found nowhere else in the world.
The monument designation bans commercial fishing and any new mining, as is the case within the existing monument. In addition to its environmental, geologic and scientific value, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization cited the “deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture”. “By adopting my proposal to expand the monument, President Obama has created a safe zone that will replenish stocks of tuna, promote biodiversity, and fight climate change, and he has given Native Hawaiians a greater voice in managing this precious resource”, Schatz said. “As part of his announcement, I appreciate the President’s recognition of the importance of commercial fishing to Hawaii’s way of life and our shared goal of supporting Hawaii’s sustainable pelagic fisheries”, U.S. Sen.
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest contiguous fully protected conservation area under the US flag, and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.
But Matt Rand, director of the Global Ocean Legacy project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, took a different view, saying that the change should have “a minimal economic impact” on fishing in the area.
It is home to a number of sunken USA and Japanese planes and ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, which was sunk during the Battle of Midway in World War II, and is now submerged in almost 5,000 meters of water. Longline operators already catch about half their fish in global waters, and they reached their annual catch limit for big-eye tuna in early August. “All told”, the White House said, the “area serves as a final resting place for the more than 3,000 people lost during the battle”.
“By expanding the monument”, Reichert also said, “President Obama has increased protections for one of the most biologically and culturally significant places on the planet”. The expanded area, including the archipelago and its adjacent waters, is considered a sacred place for the Native Hawaiian community. “This is fish and money that should have stayed here in Hawaii all along”.
The federal government will give Hawaii’s Department of Natural Resources and its Office of Hawaiian Affairs a greater role in supervising the monument.
Advertisement
Asked what he thought of the monument expansion, Aila switched to Hawaiian.
