President Bush
Establishes Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument
On June 15th, President Bush
signed a proclamation that designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI)
and surrounding waters as a marine national monument. The majority of the nearly
140,000 square miles encompassed by the new monument were previously managed by
NOAA as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (NWHICRER)
since its designation in 2000. The NWHICRER and all of its operations have been
funded by, and been part of, NOAAís Coral Reef Conservation Program since that
time. NOAA will continue to have primary federal management responsibility for
the marine waters of the monument. The new monument encompasses the NWHICRER,
State of Hawai`i NWHI Marine Refuge, and two National Wildlife Refuges in the
region; it is the largest individual conservation area in the US and the largest
protected marine area in the world. As a national monument, the NWHI will
receive the highest level of environmental marine protection. Protection is
effective immediately and includes requiring permits for activities related to
research, education, conservation and management, native Hawaiian practices and
non-extractive special ocean uses; the prohibition of commercial and
recreational harvest of precious coral, crustaceans and coral reef species in
monument waters; the prohibition of oil, gas and mineral exploration and
extraction anywhere in the monument; and the phase out of commercial fishing in
monument waters over a five-year period. The monument will be jointly managed by
NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in consultation with the State of
Hawai`i. NOAA will have primary management responsibility in the marine waters,
while the U.S. FWS will have sole management responsibility over the Refuges.
http://www.hawaiireef.noaa.gov/welcome.html
http://www.hawaiianatolls.org
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