A U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols the waters off of Bellows AFB, Hawaii where U.S. President Barack Obama is visiting December 21, 2014.
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After designating nearly 90,000 acres in ME as a National Monument this week, today President Obama is creating the world’s largest marine preserve off the coast of Hawaii.
President Obama, with the stroke of a pen, created the world’s largest ocean reserve on Friday off Hawaii, days after designating a massive federal monument in ME – moves that have angered local lawmakers who accuse the president of disregarding the impact on residents.
Even before Friday’s announcement, Obama cemented his legacy as the US president who has designated the most land as government protected areas.
The White House said permits will also be available for noncommercial fishing – including recreational fishing and the removal of fish and other resources for Native Hawaiian cultural practices – in the area.
Any type of commercial extraction activities like commercial fishing, deep sea mining will be completely prohibited in the expanded monument.
Obama has now created or expanded 26 national monuments. The administration has already placed more square-miles under protection from development through monument status or other measures than any other USA president. In addition, it “has great cultural significance to the Native Hawaiian community and a connection to early Polynesian culture worthy of protection and understanding”.
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is part of the most remote island archipelago on the planet and contains more than 7,000 marine species, including the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, three endangered whale species and two endangered sea turtles. The administration said Obama has increased national monuments more than any other president.
Following this historic conservation action, the President will travel to Hawaii next week.
There are fears the move could harm the commercial fishing industry. The archipelago which lies 270 miles northwest of Oahu is home to more than 14 million birds from 22 species, almost all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green sea turtles and Laysan albatrosses. The calls came from younger community members as well, like five-year-old Zeke from Maui who said the expansion would “help protect our ocean and sea life”, or a 14-year-old who argued that “every generation that comes is responsible for protecting this Earth that is all of our homes”.
“Excluding American citizens from American waters and forcing in this case fishermen onto the high seas to do their business – something just doesn’t quite sit right”, said Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association, explaining the expansion could raise his costs.
A fact sheet previewing the announcement also states that the expanded area is considered a sacred place for Native Hawaiians.
The Council’s resolution also requests that the USA government address the resources and tools needed to effectively manage and administer an expanded monument and to specify the technical, scientific, and socioeconomic costs and benefits from monument expansion on marine resources, residents of Hawaii, and the nation.
Shipwrecks and crashed aircraft from the Battle of Midway in World War II are in the expansion area.
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Not everyone in the region was in favor of the monument’s expansion.
