User:Karissamejia/sandbox

Expansion and Creation of Marine National Monuments

Background

Map shows the expansion of Papahānaumokuakeā Marine National Monument. Image: NOAA

The protection of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands was first created in 1909 by Theodore Roosevelt because of the over harvesting of seabird. A series of protections followed as well as the establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve created by President Bill Clinton. This area covers over 84 million acres in the remote Hawaiian islands. The species found in this area are mostly endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Over 7,000 species of bird, marine mammals, and fish live in this now protected area. Head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Conrad Lautenbacher managed the creation in 2006 when President Bush first designated the monument. On August 25, 2016, President Obama announced the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument from 139,818 square miles to 582,578 square miles.

Proclamation

Proclamation 8031 states that the protection of coral, fish, marine mammals, the threatened green sea turtle, and the endangered monk seal are reserved for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. President George W. Bush proclaimed the reserve on June 15, 2006. Proclamation 8031 was amended by Proclamation 3112 and passed on February 28, 2007. The President established the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument through those proclamations. On August 25, 2016, President Obama expanded the monument by four times, making it the second largest marine protected area in the world, through Proclamation 9478- Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Expansion. The expansion includes the limit of water and submerged land to the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ).