Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument
Encyclopedia
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (aka Papahānaumokuākea) is a World Heritage listed, U.S. National Monument
encompassing 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
, internationally recognized for both its cultural and natural values as follows:
The area was proclaimed the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument by U.S. President
George W. Bush
on June 15, 2006; it was renamed Papahānaumokuākea in 2007, and inscribed on the World Heritage list as Papahānaumokuākea on 30 July 2010, at the 34th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Brasilia
.
The area is managed in partnership with the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, and the State of Hawaii. The name for the area was inspired by the names of the Hawaiian creator goddess Papahanaumoku
and her husband Wakea
.
Although it is not a sanctuary, the ocean area is part of a system of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries
administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). The Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, with an area of 254418.1 acre (397.5 sq mi; 1,029.6 km²) in the monument, is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS). The monument supports 7,000 species, one quarter of which are endemic
. Prominent species include the threatened Green Sea Turtle
and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal
, the Laysan
and Nihoa Finch
es, the Nihoa Millerbird
, Laysan Duck
, seabirds such as the Laysan Albatross
, numerous species of plants including Pritchardia palms
, and many species of arthropods. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts
, populations of lobster
have not recovered from extensive harvesting in the 1980s and 1990s, which is now banned; the remaining fisheries are overfished.
The National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) reports that many species populations have not yet fully recovered from a large-scale shift in the oceanographic ecosystem regime that affected the North Pacific during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This shift reduced populations of some important species such as spiny lobster
, seabirds and Hawaiian monk seals; the proclamation calls for a commercial fishing
phase-out by 2011. The monument will receive strict conservation protection, with exceptions for traditional Native Hawaiian uses and limited tourism
.
As the 96th National Monument
of the United States
, it preserves much of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
(NWHI) under the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).
The monument covers roughly 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of reefs, atolls and shallow and deep sea (out to 50 miles (80.5 km) offshore) in the Pacific Ocean
larger than all of America's National Parks combined. It contains approximately 10 percent of the tropical shallow water coral reef
habitat (i.e., 0 to 100 fathoms) in U.S. territory. It is slightly larger than Australia
's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
, approximately the size of the country of Germany
, and just slightly smaller than Montana
.
About 132000 square miles (341,878.4 km²) of the monument were already part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, which was designated in 2000. The monument also includes the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (590991.5 acres (2,391.7 km²)) and Battle of Midway
National Memorial, the Hawaii State Seabird Sanctuary at
Kure Atoll
, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge, and the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. NOAA is responsible for most oceanic areas of the new monument; the FWS continues to manage the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. An emergency landing strip on Midway Atoll
for trans-Pacific flights remains open.
The islands included in the monument are all part of the State of Hawaii, except Midway Atoll, which is an unincorporated territory
of the United States.
The genesis of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) as a protected area began on February 3, 1909, when U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
created the Hawaiian Islands Reservation through Executive Order 1019, as a response to the over-harvesting of seabirds, and in recognition of the importance of the NWHI as seabird nesting sites. Its status was later upgraded to the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge in 1940 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
. A series of incremental protections for the NWHI followed, leading to the establishment of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, Kure Atoll State Wildlife Sanctuary in 1993, and the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in 2000.
President Bill Clinton
established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve on December 4, 2000, with Executive Order 13178. Clinton's executive order initiated a process to designate the waters of the NWHI as a National Marine Sanctuary
. A public comment period began in 2002. In 2005, Governor of Hawaii
Linda Lingle
declared parts of the monument a state marine refuge.
In April 2006, President Bush and his wife viewed a screening of the documentary film Voyage to Kure at the White House
along with its director, Jean-Michel Cousteau
(son of documentary film maker Jacques-Yves Cousteau
). Compelled by the film's portrayal of the flora and fauna of the region, Bush moved quickly to protect the area.
On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush
signed Proclamation 8031, designating the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act
. Using the Antiquities Act bypassed the normal year of consultations and halted the public input process on the eve of the dissemination of the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary. This was the second use by Bush of the Antiquities Act, following the declaration of the African Burial Ground National Monument
on Manhattan
in February 2006. The legislated process for stakeholder involvement in the planning and management of a marine protected area had already taken five years of effort, but the abrupt establishment of the NWHI as a National Monument, rather than a Sanctuary, provided immediate and more resilient protection, revocable only by an act of the United States Congress
.
After the signing of the proclamation, Joshua Reichert explained the importance of the timely designation in an interview on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer:
The NWHI accounted for approximately half of the locally landed bottomfish in Hawaii, and these fish are highly valued by local chefs and consumers. The NWHI bottomfish fishery is a limited entry fishery, with eight active vessels, which are restricted to 60 feet (18 m) in length. Frank McCoy, chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, said:
The National Marine Fisheries Service has published reports attesting to the health of the NWHI bottomfish stocks. Commercial bottomfish and pelagic fishing as well as recreational catch-and-keep and catch-and-release fishing were also deemed compatible to the goals and objectives of the proposed NWHI National Marine Sanctuary.
On February 27, 2007, President Bush amended Proclamation 8031, giving the monument the Native Hawaiian name, "Papahānaumokuākea". On March 1, first lady Laura Bush visited Midway Atoll
, and on March 2, a renaming ceremony was held at Washington Place
in Honolulu, Hawaii
. At the ceremony, Laura Bush and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne
announced the new Hawaiian name and helped raise public awareness about the monument. On May 15, 2007, President Bush announced his intention to submit the monument for Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) status, which would "alert mariners to exercise caution in the ecologically important, sensitive, and hazardous area they are entering." On April 4, 2008, the Marine Environmental Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization
adopted the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as a PSSA.
The designation of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as a particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA) received committed support from the US delegation to the International Martitime Organization.
Particular note is made of the contribution of Ms. Lindy S Johnson, author of "Coastal State Regulation of International Shipping.” Ms. Johnson worked passionately for the PSSA designation for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as well as for other land- and sea-based
sources of marine pollution, environment and navigation, marine protected areas, ship strikes of right whales, noise and marine mammals as well as protecting coral.
On January 30, 2008, the U.S. Department of Interior added Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to a tentative list of 14 proposed sites for consideration on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage officially accepted the recommendation in November 2008. As a mixed site with natural and cultural resources, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) commented on the natural features of the monument, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) assessed its cultural aspects.
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
encompassing 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or the Leeward Islands are the small islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. They are administered by the U.S. state of Hawaii except Midway Atoll, which has temporary residential facilities and is...
, internationally recognized for both its cultural and natural values as follows:
"The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native HawaiianNative HawaiiansNative Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinshipHawaiian kinshipHawaiian kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Hawaiian system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:Within common typologies, the...
between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagicPelagic zoneAny water in a sea or lake that is not close to the bottom or near to the shore can be said to be in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek πέλαγος or pélagos, which means "open sea". The pelagic zone can be thought of in terms of an imaginary cylinder or water column that goes...
and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamountSeamountA seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of depth. They are defined by oceanographers as...
s and submerged banks, extensive coral reefCoral reefCoral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
s and lagoonLagoonA lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
s. It is one of the largest marine protected areaMarine Protected AreaMarine Protected Areas, like any protected area, are regions in which human activity has been placed under some restrictions in the interest of conserving the natural environment, it's surrounding waters and the occupant ecosystems, and any cultural or historical resources that may require...
s (MPAs) in the world."
The area was proclaimed the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument by U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on June 15, 2006; it was renamed Papahānaumokuākea in 2007, and inscribed on the World Heritage list as Papahānaumokuākea on 30 July 2010, at the 34th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Brasilia
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
.
The area is managed in partnership with the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, and the State of Hawaii. The name for the area was inspired by the names of the Hawaiian creator goddess Papahanaumoku
Papahanaumoku
Papahanaumoku , or Pāpā, is the name of the Kanaka Maoli creator goddess in Hawaiian mythology. Together with her husband Wakea Pāpā is the ancestor of all people and Kalo, and mother of islands as the Kanaka Maoli manifestation of Mother Earth...
and her husband Wakea
Wakea
In Hawaiian mythology, Wākea is the eldest son of Kahiko , and lives in Olalowaia. Wākea is the ancestor of the aristocracy, the ali‘i. The priests and common people come from his brothers. In another legend, Wākea lives in Hihiku and marries Pāpā, also called Pāpā-nui or Pāpā-nui-hanau-moku, who...
.
Although it is not a sanctuary, the ocean area is part of a system of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries
United States National Marine Sanctuary
A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary is a federally-designated area within United States waters that protects areas of the marine environment with special conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, cultural, archeological, scientific, educational, or aesthetic qualities. The National Marine...
administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA). The Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, with an area of 254418.1 acre (397.5 sq mi; 1,029.6 km²) in the monument, is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
(FWS). The monument supports 7,000 species, one quarter of which are endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
. Prominent species include the threatened Green Sea Turtle
Green Sea Turtle
The Green sea turtle or green turtle is a large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal
Hawaiian Monk Seal
The Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi, is an endangered species of earless seal in the Phocidae family that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands....
, the Laysan
Laysan Finch
The Laysan Finch is a species of finch in the Hawaiian honeycreeper subfamily, Drepanidinae, that is endemic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is one of four remaining finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreepers, and is closely related to the smaller Nihoa Finch. The Laysan Finch is named for...
and Nihoa Finch
Nihoa Finch
The Nihoa Finch is one of the two endemic bird species of the tiny Hawaiian island Nihoa, the other being the Nihoa Millerbird. When it was classified in 1917, scientists thought that it would be the last endemic species named. This was later found untrue. The island's population is 1000-3000 birds...
es, the Nihoa Millerbird
Nihoa Millerbird
The Nihoa Millerbird is a subspecies of the Millerbird. It gets its name from its preferred food, the Miller moth. The five-inch long Millerbird has dark, sepia-colored feathers, white belly, and dark beak...
, Laysan Duck
Laysan Duck
The Laysan Duck , also known as the Laysan Teal because of its small size, is an endangered dabbling duck endemic to the Hawaiian Islands...
, seabirds such as the Laysan Albatross
Laysan Albatross
The Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis, is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. This small two-tone gull-like albatross is the second most common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, with an estimated population of 2.5 million birds, and is currently expanding its range to new...
, numerous species of plants including Pritchardia palms
Pritchardia remota
Pritchardia remota is a species of palm endemic on the island of Nihoa, Hawaii, and later transplanted to the island of Laysan. It is a smaller tree than most other species of Pritchardia, typically reaching only tall and with a trunk diameter of . It is the only type of tree on the island and...
, and many species of arthropods. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization , founded in 1948. With over US$5 billion in assets, its current mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and stimulating civic life."-History:The Trusts, a single...
, populations of lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
have not recovered from extensive harvesting in the 1980s and 1990s, which is now banned; the remaining fisheries are overfished.
The National Marine Fisheries Service
National Marine Fisheries Service
The National Marine Fisheries Service is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine resources and their habitat within the...
(NMFS) reports that many species populations have not yet fully recovered from a large-scale shift in the oceanographic ecosystem regime that affected the North Pacific during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This shift reduced populations of some important species such as spiny lobster
Spiny lobster
Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia...
, seabirds and Hawaiian monk seals; the proclamation calls for a commercial fishing
Commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions...
phase-out by 2011. The monument will receive strict conservation protection, with exceptions for traditional Native Hawaiian uses and limited tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
.
Area and administration
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it preserves much of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or the Leeward Islands are the small islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. They are administered by the U.S. state of Hawaii except Midway Atoll, which has temporary residential facilities and is...
(NWHI) under the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA).
The monument covers roughly 140000 square miles (362,598.3 km²) of reefs, atolls and shallow and deep sea (out to 50 miles (80.5 km) offshore) in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
larger than all of America's National Parks combined. It contains approximately 10 percent of the tropical shallow water coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
habitat (i.e., 0 to 100 fathoms) in U.S. territory. It is slightly larger than Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. Fishing and the removal of artefacts or...
, approximately the size of the country of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and just slightly smaller than Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
About 132000 square miles (341,878.4 km²) of the monument were already part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, which was designated in 2000. The monument also includes the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (590991.5 acres (2,391.7 km²)) and Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
National Memorial, the Hawaii State Seabird Sanctuary at
Kure Atoll
Kure Atoll
Kure Atoll or Ocean Island is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean beyond Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at . The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds...
, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge, and the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. NOAA is responsible for most oceanic areas of the new monument; the FWS continues to manage the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. An emergency landing strip on Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
for trans-Pacific flights remains open.
The islands included in the monument are all part of the State of Hawaii, except Midway Atoll, which is an unincorporated territory
Incorporated territory
Territories of the United States are one of the four types of political division of the United States, overseen directly by the federal government of the United States and not any part of a U.S. state. These territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United...
of the United States.
History and establishment
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
created the Hawaiian Islands Reservation through Executive Order 1019, as a response to the over-harvesting of seabirds, and in recognition of the importance of the NWHI as seabird nesting sites. Its status was later upgraded to the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge in 1940 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. A series of incremental protections for the NWHI followed, leading to the establishment of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, Kure Atoll State Wildlife Sanctuary in 1993, and the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in 2000.
President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve on December 4, 2000, with Executive Order 13178. Clinton's executive order initiated a process to designate the waters of the NWHI as a National Marine Sanctuary
Marine Protected Area
Marine Protected Areas, like any protected area, are regions in which human activity has been placed under some restrictions in the interest of conserving the natural environment, it's surrounding waters and the occupant ecosystems, and any cultural or historical resources that may require...
. A public comment period began in 2002. In 2005, Governor of Hawaii
Governor of Hawaii
The Governor of Hawaii is the chief executive of the state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state...
Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle was the sixth Governor of Hawaii. Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F...
declared parts of the monument a state marine refuge.
In April 2006, President Bush and his wife viewed a screening of the documentary film Voyage to Kure at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
along with its director, Jean-Michel Cousteau
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Jean-Michel Cousteau is a French explorer, environmentalist, educator, and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Celine Cousteau.-Biography:...
(son of documentary film maker Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
). Compelled by the film's portrayal of the flora and fauna of the region, Bush moved quickly to protect the area.
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
signed Proclamation 8031, designating the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act
Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act of 1906, officially An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities , is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906, giving the President of the United States authority to, by executive order, restrict the use of...
. Using the Antiquities Act bypassed the normal year of consultations and halted the public input process on the eve of the dissemination of the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary. This was the second use by Bush of the Antiquities Act, following the declaration of the African Burial Ground National Monument
African Burial Ground National Monument
African Burial Ground National Monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way in Lower Manhattan preserves a site containing the remains of more than 400 Africans buried during the 17th and 18th centuries. Historians estimate there may have been 15,000-20,000 burials there...
on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in February 2006. The legislated process for stakeholder involvement in the planning and management of a marine protected area had already taken five years of effort, but the abrupt establishment of the NWHI as a National Monument, rather than a Sanctuary, provided immediate and more resilient protection, revocable only by an act of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
.
After the signing of the proclamation, Joshua Reichert explained the importance of the timely designation in an interview on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer:
The NWHI accounted for approximately half of the locally landed bottomfish in Hawaii, and these fish are highly valued by local chefs and consumers. The NWHI bottomfish fishery is a limited entry fishery, with eight active vessels, which are restricted to 60 feet (18 m) in length. Frank McCoy, chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, said:
We are pleased the President recognizes the near pristine condition of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands waters. We believe the abundance and biodiversity of the area attests to the successful management of the NWHI fisheries by the Council the past 30 years and indicates that properly regulated fisheries can operate in the NWHI without impacting the ecosystem. The small NWHI bottomfish fishery has not and would not jeopardize the protection of the NWHI that President Bush is pursuing by designating the area a national monument.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has published reports attesting to the health of the NWHI bottomfish stocks. Commercial bottomfish and pelagic fishing as well as recreational catch-and-keep and catch-and-release fishing were also deemed compatible to the goals and objectives of the proposed NWHI National Marine Sanctuary.
On February 27, 2007, President Bush amended Proclamation 8031, giving the monument the Native Hawaiian name, "Papahānaumokuākea". On March 1, first lady Laura Bush visited Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, and on March 2, a renaming ceremony was held at Washington Place
Washington Place
Washington Place is a Greek Revival palace in the Hawaii Capital Historic District in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was where Queen Liliuokalani was arrested during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Later it became the official residence of the Governor of Hawaii. It is a National Historic Landmark,...
in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
. At the ceremony, Laura Bush and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne
Dirk Kempthorne
Dirk Arthur Kempthorne , was the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who served under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009. A Republican, Kempthorne previously served as the 30th Governor and as a U.S. Senator from Idaho...
announced the new Hawaiian name and helped raise public awareness about the monument. On May 15, 2007, President Bush announced his intention to submit the monument for Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) status, which would "alert mariners to exercise caution in the ecologically important, sensitive, and hazardous area they are entering." On April 4, 2008, the Marine Environmental Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization
International Maritime Organization
The International Maritime Organization , formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization , was established in Geneva in 1948, and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959...
adopted the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as a PSSA.
The designation of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as a particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA) received committed support from the US delegation to the International Martitime Organization.
Particular note is made of the contribution of Ms. Lindy S Johnson, author of "Coastal State Regulation of International Shipping.” Ms. Johnson worked passionately for the PSSA designation for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as well as for other land- and sea-based
sources of marine pollution, environment and navigation, marine protected areas, ship strikes of right whales, noise and marine mammals as well as protecting coral.
World Heritage Site status
The national monument was inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2010 as simply "Papahānaumokuākea".On January 30, 2008, the U.S. Department of Interior added Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to a tentative list of 14 proposed sites for consideration on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage officially accepted the recommendation in November 2008. As a mixed site with natural and cultural resources, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) commented on the natural features of the monument, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites
International Council on Monuments and Sites
The International Council on Monuments and Sites is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world...
(ICOMOS) assessed its cultural aspects.
Ongoing research
Federal researchers continue to study the monument's marine resources. A 2010 expedition reached the Kure atoll and its divers reached 250 feet (76.2 m) revealing new species of coral and other animals. The Waikiki aquarium is attempting to culture the new corals and present them in an 2011 exhibit dedicated to the monument.External links
- NOAA: Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
- FWS: Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge
- FWS: Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
- FWS:Papahānaumokuākea photo gallery
- UNESCO: World Heritage Site profile
- Papahānaumokuākea at Smithsonian Ocean Portal
- Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Information Management System
- Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Facebook