Jim Maragos/USFWS
On June 17, 2014 President Barack Obama announced his intention to expand the boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Established by George W. Bush in 2009, the monument is within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and currently consists of numerous island or atoll complexes (Wake, Jarvis, Howland and Baker Islands, Johnston Atoll, and Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll) in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. President Obama’s proclamation, signed on September 25, 2014, will expand the current boundaries of the monument from 50 nautical miles around the islands and atolls to the full extent of the Exclusive Economic Zone, creating the largest no-take marine reserve in the World. The expansion increases the original size of the monument by six times.
As Co-Team Leader of the Sierra Club’s Marine Action Team, whose official charge includes promotion of marine protected areas, I was very pleased to learn of this proposal earlier this summer. The administration hosted a town hall meeting in Honolulu, HI on August 11 to gather public comments on the pending expansion. This public meeting catalyzed a tsunami of support within Hawai’i environmental community, including those linked to national and international non-governmental organizations.
Quite a number of folks supporting expansion of the boundaries attended the meeting, including individuals as well as representatives of local, national, and international groups. The voices of Native Hawaiians were especially eloquent and persuasive.
In addition to the support shown at the meeting, nearly 1,000 people signed a Sierra Club petition supporting the monument expansion.
Expansion of the boundaries of these remote Pacific Islands to the full extent of U.S. legal jurisdiction is also an expansion of the role of the monument, one which Sierra Club founder, John Muir would understand and appreciate. This expansion recognizes the interconnectivity of the waters that extend far beyond the relatively small land areas of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. These waters provide important foraging areas for seabirds coming from great distances, protection for turtles and marine mammals residing in or transiting through the area, and include numerous seamounts and other deep water natural resources.
I am very pleased that President Obama has followed through on his proposal and expanded the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. It's a move that benefits the local wildlife and community, but also has positive national and international implications for ours and future generations.
-- by Dave Raney, Sierra Club Marine Action Team, HI