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Monument designation offers more protection for NW Hawaiian Islands
By Ford Gunter - THE GARDEN ISLAND
President Bush yesterday signed a proclamation making the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands the world’s largest protected marine area in the world.
In a press conference in the White House attended by Gov. Linda Lingle, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai‘i, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai‘i, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai‘i and state Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-Kailua, Lanikai, Waimanalo, Hawai‘i Kai, Bush spoke for about 20 minutes in front of more than 150 people.
“We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the oceans and the creatures who inhabit them,” the president said. “Our duty is to use the land and seas wisely, or sometimes not use them at all.”
Designating the area a monument actually affords more protection than if it were a sanctuary or national park.
“As a marine national monument, the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will receive our nation’s highest form of marine environmental protection,” Bush said.
“Today was a momentous occasion in the history of marine conservation,” Dan Basta, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Sanctuary Program, said in a phone briefing following the president’s speech. “It was a good day for America, and a particularly good day for marine conservation.”
Bush thanked everyone in attendance, specifically mentioning each politician representing Hawai‘i.
“I can’t thank the governor for being here enough,” he said. “We’ve been in close consultation with the governor.”
Last year, Lingle signed administrative rules protecting the area, and Case, a member of the House Ocean Caucus, introduced the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Refuge Act of 2005.
In a prepared statement, Case said Bush’s action “implements administratively virtually all of my bill.”
Scope
The area in question — the 10 islands northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands — is huge in area, stretching over 1,400 miles.
“That’s the distance from Chicago to Miami,” Bush said. “These undersea forests and mountain ranges comprise the largest remote reef system in the world. And this region holds the largest and healthiest untouched coral reef system in the United States. And we’re going to preserve it.”
He said the national monument will cover almost 140,000 square miles.
“To put this area in context, this national monument is more than 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park, larger than 46 of our 50 states, and more than seven times larger than all our national marine sanctuaries combined,” Bush said.
Enforcement
Previously under the care of NOAA’s Marine Sanctuary Program, policing the enormous and now fully protected area could be quite a task.
“The President made it very clear that NOAA would maintain the federal management of the marine waters,” Basta said. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.”
He said state and federal partners will continue to work with all constituencies, including the Navy’s Western Pacific fleet, or WESTPAC.
“With the designation as marine national monument, the jurisdictional issues will change for WESTPAC,” Basta said.
“NOAA will be taking an active role,” state Department of Land and Natural Resources chairman Peter Young, a guest of the president at the White House, said in the phone briefing afterward.
“There will be requirements for missile monitoring equipment on any of the vessels in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands so their tracks can be traced,” Young said.
Though Basta said enforcement will not be as big an issue as people think, he did say technology would be at the forefront.
“There’s a tremendous amount of new technology: satellites, local radars, (remote-controlled) search aircraft, acoustic monitoring, the video capture concept,” he said. “You could say one of the hidden benefits of Homeland Security perforation is the (rise) of this technology, and we’re going to take advantage of it.”
Research
Filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques Cousteau, was also guest of the president, and Bush credited his 2006 documentary, “Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures,” as an inspiration.
“Jean-Michel put it this way,” Bush said in his opening remarks. “He said, ‘How can we protect what we don’t understand?’”
Bush said 95 percent of the planet’s oceans have not been explored, including much of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and their surrounding waters.
“The waters of this new national monument will be a living laboratory that offers new opportunities to discover new life, that helps us better manage our ocean ecosystems, and allows us to pursue advances in science,” the president said.
Home to more than 7,000 species, 25 percent of which are exclusive to the area, the islands are also the primary home for almost all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals and the breeding grounds for about 90 percent of the threatened Hawaiian Island green sea turtles, Bush said.
“The president made it clear we’re going to learn a lot from the Northwestern Islands,” Basta said, adding that access will now be severely restricted.
“We’re not going to let just anybody in there,” he said. “You have to go through the state, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce.”
Commercial fishing
One of the groups likely to be hurt the most by the restricted access are the nine remaining commercial fishing companies that operate in the area.
“There is a discussion to fairly compensate the nine existing commercial bottom-fishers in the islands,” Peter Young said. “The governor wants to phase it out within five years, but she wants to be fair about it.”
Bush said all unauthorized passage of ships and recreational and commercial vessels will be restricted, and reiterated the governor’s five-year commercial fishing phase-out.
“In one year alone, divers removed more than 120 tons of derelict fishing gear,” Bush said, referring to abandoned nets and long lines along the ocean floor.
“To protect our marine ecosystem and the future fishing of all kinds, the Ocean Action Plan calls for Congress to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act,” Bush said. “This act would provide enhanced authority to work with regional fish councils to build an improved market-based system to restore our fisheries.”
Aquaculture
One dichotomy among scientists is the effect the new designation will have on fish populations — and therefore fish produce — in the main Hawaiian Islands.
“That’s a really pregnant research question,” Basta said. “That’s going to be one of the big research questions to answer.”
Basta said that though the number of apex predators, or large predators like sharks and jacks, in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands indicates signs of a healthy ecosystem, he was not sure how that would affect the main islands.
“Some of the stuff I have heard is that there is some transfer from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the Hawaiian Islands,” he said.
Others argue that with the advances in aquaculture, transfer from the northwest will not matter.
“(We have) other resources — fisheries — to feed our people without having to fish out our waters,” Sen. Hemmings said in the conference call after the signing.
In his speech Bush called for Congress to move forward with his administration’s plan to build a well-managed system of offshore aquaculture, or fish-farming in pens in the open ocean.
“When we get this right, these farmed fish can provide a healthy source of food and reduce pressure on the ocean ecosystems,” Bush said.
History and heritage
History was clearly on the president’s mind yesterday, leading off his remarks by saying he passed Theodore Roosevelt’s portrait on his way in.
“We are here to fulfill a legacy of conservation that was first begun by Theodore Roosevelt,” he said. “In 1909, President Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Island Reservation. His executive order was the first of many presidential efforts to protect the life and waters of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.”
Bush also expressed a desire to preserve Midway Island and its World War II memorial, as well as the countless native Hawaiian shrines and places of worship throughout the islands.
“We respect these natives’ beliefs, and this monument will safeguard both the natural and spiritual treasures of the region,” Bush said.
“And for this reason, we will consult with native Hawaiian leaders to give this monument a native Hawaiian name.”
Bush said he worked closely with state officials and native Hawaiian leaders to ensure the best way to protect cultural heritage and environmental quality.
“Through cooperative conservation, we’re moving away from the old environmental debates that pit one group against another, and towards a system that brings citizens of every level of government together to get results,” he said.
Just how big is big?
The newly created Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument:
• stretches over 1,400 miles, the same distance from Chicago to Miami;
• is the primary home for between 1,200 and 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals, virtually the entire population of the critically endangered species;
• is the breeding ground for approximately 90 percent of the threatened Hawaiian Island green sea turtle population.
• Ford Gunter, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or fgunter@kauaipubco.com.
In a press conference in the White House attended by Gov. Linda Lingle, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai‘i, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai‘i, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai‘i and state Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-Kailua, Lanikai, Waimanalo, Hawai‘i Kai, Bush spoke for about 20 minutes in front of more than 150 people.
“We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the oceans and the creatures who inhabit them,” the president said. “Our duty is to use the land and seas wisely, or sometimes not use them at all.”
Designating the area a monument actually affords more protection than if it were a sanctuary or national park.
“As a marine national monument, the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will receive our nation’s highest form of marine environmental protection,” Bush said.
“Today was a momentous occasion in the history of marine conservation,” Dan Basta, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Sanctuary Program, said in a phone briefing following the president’s speech. “It was a good day for America, and a particularly good day for marine conservation.”
Bush thanked everyone in attendance, specifically mentioning each politician representing Hawai‘i.
“I can’t thank the governor for being here enough,” he said. “We’ve been in close consultation with the governor.”
Last year, Lingle signed administrative rules protecting the area, and Case, a member of the House Ocean Caucus, introduced the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Refuge Act of 2005.
In a prepared statement, Case said Bush’s action “implements administratively virtually all of my bill.”
Scope
The area in question — the 10 islands northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands — is huge in area, stretching over 1,400 miles.
“That’s the distance from Chicago to Miami,” Bush said. “These undersea forests and mountain ranges comprise the largest remote reef system in the world. And this region holds the largest and healthiest untouched coral reef system in the United States. And we’re going to preserve it.”
He said the national monument will cover almost 140,000 square miles.
“To put this area in context, this national monument is more than 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park, larger than 46 of our 50 states, and more than seven times larger than all our national marine sanctuaries combined,” Bush said.
Enforcement
Previously under the care of NOAA’s Marine Sanctuary Program, policing the enormous and now fully protected area could be quite a task.
“The President made it very clear that NOAA would maintain the federal management of the marine waters,” Basta said. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.”
He said state and federal partners will continue to work with all constituencies, including the Navy’s Western Pacific fleet, or WESTPAC.
“With the designation as marine national monument, the jurisdictional issues will change for WESTPAC,” Basta said.
“NOAA will be taking an active role,” state Department of Land and Natural Resources chairman Peter Young, a guest of the president at the White House, said in the phone briefing afterward.
“There will be requirements for missile monitoring equipment on any of the vessels in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands so their tracks can be traced,” Young said.
Though Basta said enforcement will not be as big an issue as people think, he did say technology would be at the forefront.
“There’s a tremendous amount of new technology: satellites, local radars, (remote-controlled) search aircraft, acoustic monitoring, the video capture concept,” he said. “You could say one of the hidden benefits of Homeland Security perforation is the (rise) of this technology, and we’re going to take advantage of it.”
Research
Filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques Cousteau, was also guest of the president, and Bush credited his 2006 documentary, “Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures,” as an inspiration.
“Jean-Michel put it this way,” Bush said in his opening remarks. “He said, ‘How can we protect what we don’t understand?’”
Bush said 95 percent of the planet’s oceans have not been explored, including much of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and their surrounding waters.
“The waters of this new national monument will be a living laboratory that offers new opportunities to discover new life, that helps us better manage our ocean ecosystems, and allows us to pursue advances in science,” the president said.
Home to more than 7,000 species, 25 percent of which are exclusive to the area, the islands are also the primary home for almost all of the remaining endangered Hawaiian monk seals and the breeding grounds for about 90 percent of the threatened Hawaiian Island green sea turtles, Bush said.
“The president made it clear we’re going to learn a lot from the Northwestern Islands,” Basta said, adding that access will now be severely restricted.
“We’re not going to let just anybody in there,” he said. “You have to go through the state, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce.”
Commercial fishing
One of the groups likely to be hurt the most by the restricted access are the nine remaining commercial fishing companies that operate in the area.
“There is a discussion to fairly compensate the nine existing commercial bottom-fishers in the islands,” Peter Young said. “The governor wants to phase it out within five years, but she wants to be fair about it.”
Bush said all unauthorized passage of ships and recreational and commercial vessels will be restricted, and reiterated the governor’s five-year commercial fishing phase-out.
“In one year alone, divers removed more than 120 tons of derelict fishing gear,” Bush said, referring to abandoned nets and long lines along the ocean floor.
“To protect our marine ecosystem and the future fishing of all kinds, the Ocean Action Plan calls for Congress to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act,” Bush said. “This act would provide enhanced authority to work with regional fish councils to build an improved market-based system to restore our fisheries.”
Aquaculture
One dichotomy among scientists is the effect the new designation will have on fish populations — and therefore fish produce — in the main Hawaiian Islands.
“That’s a really pregnant research question,” Basta said. “That’s going to be one of the big research questions to answer.”
Basta said that though the number of apex predators, or large predators like sharks and jacks, in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands indicates signs of a healthy ecosystem, he was not sure how that would affect the main islands.
“Some of the stuff I have heard is that there is some transfer from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the Hawaiian Islands,” he said.
Others argue that with the advances in aquaculture, transfer from the northwest will not matter.
“(We have) other resources — fisheries — to feed our people without having to fish out our waters,” Sen. Hemmings said in the conference call after the signing.
In his speech Bush called for Congress to move forward with his administration’s plan to build a well-managed system of offshore aquaculture, or fish-farming in pens in the open ocean.
“When we get this right, these farmed fish can provide a healthy source of food and reduce pressure on the ocean ecosystems,” Bush said.
History and heritage
History was clearly on the president’s mind yesterday, leading off his remarks by saying he passed Theodore Roosevelt’s portrait on his way in.
“We are here to fulfill a legacy of conservation that was first begun by Theodore Roosevelt,” he said. “In 1909, President Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Island Reservation. His executive order was the first of many presidential efforts to protect the life and waters of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.”
Bush also expressed a desire to preserve Midway Island and its World War II memorial, as well as the countless native Hawaiian shrines and places of worship throughout the islands.
“We respect these natives’ beliefs, and this monument will safeguard both the natural and spiritual treasures of the region,” Bush said.
“And for this reason, we will consult with native Hawaiian leaders to give this monument a native Hawaiian name.”
Bush said he worked closely with state officials and native Hawaiian leaders to ensure the best way to protect cultural heritage and environmental quality.
“Through cooperative conservation, we’re moving away from the old environmental debates that pit one group against another, and towards a system that brings citizens of every level of government together to get results,” he said.
Just how big is big?
The newly created Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument:
• stretches over 1,400 miles, the same distance from Chicago to Miami;
• is the primary home for between 1,200 and 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals, virtually the entire population of the critically endangered species;
• is the breeding ground for approximately 90 percent of the threatened Hawaiian Island green sea turtle population.
• Ford Gunter, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or fgunter@kauaipubco.com.
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candyrosh wrote on Jun 10, 2009 10:21 PM:
" “The burial treatment plan is very flawed,” Huff said. “It is a clear violation of our rights as indigenous people.”
“We will be staying until further notice and until the state of Hawai�i acknowledges the property was fraudulently sold to Brescia,” Huff said.
------------------------
candyrosh
--------------------
camper trailer--camper trailer "
“We will be staying until further notice and until the state of Hawai�i acknowledges the property was fraudulently sold to Brescia,” Huff said.
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candyrosh
--------------------
camper trailer--camper trailer "
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