With less than a week to go before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took action Wednesday to add a layer of protection for 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 Marine National Monument.
Designating the waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national marine sanctuary would act as an insurance policy should Trump unilaterally undo the monument protections afforded to the area as he threatened to last time in office.
Although NOAA announced the designation ahead of Trump鈥檚 Monday inauguration, it must survive a 45-day congressional review period before it takes effect.
More than 120 uninhabited islands and atolls, deepwater seamounts and sprawling coral reefs teeming with wildlife constitute this 1,000-mile stretch of the archipelago, a multi-day boat ride from the Main Hawaiian islands.
“Today is a monumental day for 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补, a day that has been in the making for over two decades to further strengthen the marine protections for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and fully implement the provision outlined in past presidential proclamations,鈥 said Eric Roberts, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries superintendent for 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补.
The proposed sanctuary is home to 7,000 species, more than a quarter found nowhere else in the world.
President Bill Clinton created the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in December 2000, making it the country’s largest nature preserve at the time, according to Rick Gaffney. Gaffney, a Big Island sport fisherman who served as a member of the reserve’s advisory council for over 20 years, said part of that mandate was to consider pursuing national marine sanctuary status for the area.
“I can affirm that sanctuary status was regularly considered, and hotly debated, even as monument status was overlaid on the original reserve,” he said.
Republican President George W. Bush first established 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 as a national monument in 2006. Democratic President Barack Obama nearly quadrupled its size a decade later, making it the world鈥檚 largest protected place at the time.
A sanctuary designation doubles down on the monument鈥檚 ban on commercial fishing and mining, and its highly restricted access. It also adds an enforcement authority, giving NOAA the ability to create emergency regulations in any natural or human-caused disaster as well as assess civil penalties and hold those responsible accountable by recouping damages. That could bring in additional revenue to manage the monument.
Monument Designation
- Established under the Antiquities Act of 1906, the first federal law to provide general legal protection for natural and cultural resources
- Presidents can create monuments unilaterally and can change them unilaterally too
- No domestic regulations in the expansion area 50 to 200 miles out
Sanctuary Designation
- Established under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, a federal law specifically geared toward protecting oceanic environments
- NOAA or Congress can create sanctuaries, which can take several years and is in turn much harder to undo
- Provides emergency regulations for natural or human-caused disasters and the authority to assess civil penalties
Randy Kosaki, NOAA research ecologist for 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补, said the sanctuary designation adds “a layer of stability” to the area’s protections.
“It takes an act of Congress to designate a sanctuary, but it also takes an act of Congress to un-designate a sanctuary,” he said, making it less likely to be reversed on “some ill-advised whim.”
笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 made the Trump administration鈥檚 initial list of monuments to shrink or eliminate when he was president. Presidents have for generations established national monuments under the Antiquities Act, which lets them unilaterally declare them and unilaterally undo them. Trump shrunk Bears Ears National Monument in Utah by 85% but President Joe Biden restored it.
Critics, including 贬补飞补颈驶颈’s commercial tuna fishermen, have long opposed protections for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, fighting the establishment of 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 as a monument or a sanctuary. They say it adds bureaucracy and limits fishing grounds.
The Trump administration ended up leaving 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 alone last time, but conservationists and Native Hawaiians who helped establish it have grown concerned that they won鈥檛 be so lucky next time around.
“We held our breath for four years under the first Trump administration and kept our heads low,” Kosaki said. “Will that work twice? I don鈥檛 know.”
The nearly 600,000-square-mile monument includes hundreds of downed planes from the Battle of Midway during World War II and sunken whaling ships that ran aground in the 1800s. Researchers continue to make new discoveries in the waters around these islands and atolls.
NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 贬补飞补颈驶颈 Department of Land and Natural Resources and Office of Hawaiian Affairs co-manage 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补, a joint effort that would continue for the sanctuary.
鈥淣ational marine sanctuary designation will bring a stronger framework for marine conservation and protection to the waters of 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补,鈥 NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a press release Tuesday. 鈥淭he sanctuary will also facilitate scientific research, resource monitoring and coordinated efforts to ensure the long-term health of this natural, cultural and historically significant area.鈥
NOAA returned from its most recent three-week expedition in early October. Parts of the reef remain under siege from a mysterious invasive seaweed. Scientists revisited sites they’ve been monitoring for the past several years to see if it’s spreading and brought frozen samples back to their labs.
Scientists during the most recent expedition also went to East Island to check on its ongoing recovery. The tiny island, a critical nesting habitat for endangered seals and threatened sea turtles, was wiped off the map in 2018 by Hurricane Walaka. The island has partially re-emerged, and scientists saw evidence that these endemic species have started to return.
The monument includes cultural artifacts from Polynesian voyagers who discovered the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands around 1000 A.D.
Mokumanamana, some 450 miles northwest of O鈥榓hu, marks the crossroads between the living world, Ao, which includes the Main Hawaiian Islands to the south, and the spiritual world, P艒, which encompasses the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is believed to have the highest density of ceremonial sites in the archipelago.
“The monument holds tangible and intangible resources,” said Kekuewa Kikiloi, a Hawaiian scholar and former cultural program coordinator for 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补. “A huge part of it is just the place itself and what it means to the Native Hawaiian people and our spiritual beliefs. It’s a huge part of our history, the story of our origins and afterlife. All of that place is sacred to us.鈥
Civil Beat鈥檚 coverage of climate change is supported by The Healy Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawai鈥榠 Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
Special Project
Guardians of the Deep explores the work of marine scientists in 笔补辫补丑腻苍补耻尘辞办耻腻办别补 Marine National Monument who study the good, the bad and the ugly found in these protected waters.
Finding new species, protecting native species and researching invasive species were all part of the job on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 three-week cruise this fall. The dive trip spanned the entire 1,200-mile length of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a remote string of islands and atolls enveloped by coral reefs and open ocean.
Stories in the series:
