U.S. Creates Largest Protected Area in the World, 3X Larger Than California
White House announces expansion of national monument around remote Pacific islands.
A
school of fish swims under the water around Palmyra Atoll, in an area
of the Pacific that is already part of a marine sanctuary.
Photograph by Randy Olson, National Geographic
Published September 24, 2014
NEW
YORK—The Obama administration announced Thursday that it will create
the largest marine reserve in the world by expanding an existing
monument around U.S.-controlled islands and atolls in the central
Pacific.
More on Pristine Seas
The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument
will now be nearly 490,000 square miles, nearly three times the size of
California and six times larger than its previous size. Commercial
fishing, dumping, and mining will be prohibited in the reserve, but
recreational fishing will be allowed with permits, and boaters may visit
the area.
The protected area that Secretary of State John Kerry
announced this morning is actually smaller than the 782,000 square miles
that the president initially considered. But environmentalists,
preservationists, and conservation groups that had pushed for the
expansion called President Barack Obama's designation a historic victory
in their efforts to limit the impact of fishing, drilling, and other
activities that threaten some of the world's most species-rich waters.
MAGGIE SMITH, NG STAFF. SOURCES: U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE; USGS; MARINE CONSERVATION INSTITUTE
"What has happened is extraordinary. It is history making. There is a lot of reason we should be celebrating right now," said Elliott Norse, founder and chief scientist of the Seattle-based Marine Conservation Institute.
Enric Sala,
an ocean scientist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence,
called the newly expanded monument "a great example of marine
protection."
During the past several years, Sala and National Geographic's Pristine Seas project—which
aims to explore, survey, and protect several of the last wild places in
the world's oceans—have been key players in expeditions to the region
that helped to put a spotlight on its biodiversity. Sala also met with
White House officials to make the scientific case for expanding the
Pacific Remote Islands monument. (The monument's Kingman Reef was featured in the July 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine.)
Tentacles of a sea anemone provide cover for a
transparent shrimp in Kingman Reef, which is part of the existing marine
sanctuary.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic Creative
In announcing the expansion of protected marine areas,
Kerry said, “We’re committed to protecting more of the world's ocean.
Today, one to three percent of the ocean is protected, that's it. That's
why President Obama will sign a proclamation today that will create one
of the largest maritime protected areas in the world. It will be
protected in perpetuity.”
"We thought [the monument decision] was a good way to balance what the science was telling us was important to protect and the needs of those who use the area," Boots said.
The administration said in a statement late Wednesday that
"expanding the monument will more fully protect the deep coral reefs,
seamounts, and marine ecosystems unique to this part of the world, which
are also among the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate
change and ocean acidification."
In June, when he first announced his intent to expand the monument, Obama said, "I'm using my authority as president to protect some of our nation's most pristine marine monuments, just like we do on land."
The June announcement was followed by a public comment
period and further analysis by the White House, officials said.
Thousands of people submitted comments, with many conservation groups
and scientists offering their support. Some fishing and cannery groups,
as well as a few members of the U.S. Congress opposed the expansion,
citing the potential a loss of commercial fishing grounds. (See "Conservationists Spar With Fishermen Over World's Largest Marine Monument.")
Norse said that the newly protected areas will safeguard
endangered seabirds and other key species, including five endangered sea
turtle species (such as loggerheads and leatherbacks), sooty terns and
other terns, silky sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks, beaked whales,
manta rays, red-tailed tropic birds, and deep-sea corals.
"A Big Step"
Obama's Democratic administration is building on a national
monument that was first created by his predecessor, Republican
President George W. Bush, suggesting that "ocean protection may be one
of the last bipartisan issues" in the politically divided United States,
says David Helvarg, the author of several books on the ocean and the founder of the advocacy group Blue Frontier Campaign.
The area being protected by the administration will expand the protected areas from 50 miles offshore to 200 miles offshore around three areas—Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, and Jarvis Island—the maximum reach of the United States’ exclusive economic zone. The current 50-mile offshore protections around the Howland and Baker islands, and Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll, will not change.
"Although 71 percent of our planet is covered with
saltwater, we have protected much more of the land than the ocean,"
Helvarg said. But the newly expanded monument is a big step in the right
direction, he added.
Kerry said one measure that could help deter illegal fishing in the region, as well as around the world, would be to implement the Port State Measures Agreement, an international treaty that requires member nations to prevent illegally caught fish from entering the market. Eleven nations or parties have ratified the agreement, but a total of 25 must sign before the treaty will take effect.
"Our goal is to get this done this year," Kerry said.
Meanwhile, efforts to preserve more biologically diverse waters continue.
This week, National Geographic Society announced that it is
dramatically expanding its campaign to help protect marine areas, with a
goal of persuading governments to officially safeguard more than
770,000 square miles.
The plan, announced by former President Bill Clinton,
includes programs that target the Seychelles—an archipelago in the
Indian Ocean—northern Greenland, and South America's Patagonia region.
The program builds on National Geographic's Pristine Seas project, which has financed ten scientific expeditions to remote areas of ocean around the world, including in the South Pacific and off Africa, Russia, and South America.
11 comments
What
doesn't the US own? Now the gov't can lease it to oil companies for off
shore drilling companies since it's protected by the military, just
like in Iraq.
I
lived on Johnston Atoll in 2010/2011, working for USFWS. There are tons
of seabird colonies and multitudes of really interesting sea life. I
took about a billion photos while living there. I love sharing these
photos with people because it helps people see what exactly is there and
how beautiful it is and that it is absolutely worth protecting.
I'm happy for the fish.
Wish the president had done something to protect American jobs a few years ago.
I know, I know... it's Bush's fault.
Wish the president had done something to protect American jobs a few years ago.
I know, I know... it's Bush's fault.
This is great, someone needed to do something like this. To set a precedent to which others could be held in the future.
I assume this means we would be ok with China declaring protected zones out to 200 miles from islands they control.
@David Molnar
If, indeed, China's control is recognized, then, yes, I assume that we
would be OK with it. It would be, after all, within its economic
control.
@David Molnar
China has claimed ocean 2,000 miles out from their shores and islands,
so yes, everyone would be happy if they pulled back to those distances.
Although yes the same legal foundation, there is a moral difference -- the US prohibits commercial use so species have a chance to not go extinct, China's statements are that their use is maximum commercial exploitation. If classes of plants or animals are exterminated so a country can gain profits (like elephants for their tusks selling in China) so be it,
Although yes the same legal foundation, there is a moral difference -- the US prohibits commercial use so species have a chance to not go extinct, China's statements are that their use is maximum commercial exploitation. If classes of plants or animals are exterminated so a country can gain profits (like elephants for their tusks selling in China) so be it,
@Tom Mariner @David Molnar "China
has claimed ocean 2,000 miles out from their shores and islands..."
LMAO. Right, and the US military honors that, right.
And the US is just morally superior anyway... 'cause we don't have almond-shaped eyes. Got it.
Face it -- the USA is the bully of the world. Period.
And the US is just morally superior anyway... 'cause we don't have almond-shaped eyes. Got it.
Face it -- the USA is the bully of the world. Period.
@David Horace 200 is the standard EEZ established by international treaties. Everyone is allowed to economically dominate their 200, everything further than that is shared. One
Chinese government signed that agreement; the current one claims the
entire South China Sea. The US may be many things globally, but China's
imperialism in its own neighborhood goes back millennia.
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