Really a Heckuva Job

19 June 2006



Bush Creates Huge Marine Preserve in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

George W. Bush may have the reputation as the least green of all the 43 presidents. Late last week, however, he did something that this journal is delighted to see. With the stroke of a pen, he created a protected marine area bigger than any other preserve in the world, just beating out Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. One hopes this wisdom spreads to other policies in his administration.

Under the 100 year-old National Antiquities Act, the president has the authority (given to him by Congress, not one of his made up authorities that he uses to smoke out evildoers) to declare places national monuments to protect natural sites and historical places. Mr. Clinton used the act 19 times to create new monuments and three times to expand existing ones. Conservatives (who really should favor conservation, one would think, given the name) screamed bloody murder. This time, it’s all fuzzy niceness.

About 132,000 square miles of this area already has been declared a national wildlife refuge or a coral reef ecosystem reserve. However, the national monument status gives Uncle Sam greater rights in protecting it, and Mr. Bush is adding 8,000 square miles to the protected zone. More than 7,000 species live there, some unique to the region, and more than a few on the endangered list, like the nesting green sea turtle and the Hawaiian monk seal. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of NOAA, said, “It is a place to maintain biodiversity and to maintain basically the nurseries of the Pacific. It spawns a lot of the life that permeates the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” That seems to be worth saving.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will administer the area, in which nothing more damaging that diving and photography will be allowed. And permits will be required for everything. The region has about 70 percent of America’s tropical shallow water coral reefs. There are 10 uninhabited islands, over 100 atolls, and Midway Island (itself historically important to America thanks the World War II), which will keep an emergency landing strip.

The Honolulu Advertiser noted that “there are provisions allowing fishing of various kinds: commercial fishing for up to 350,000 pounds annually of bottomfish for a maximum of five more years; commercial fishing for up to 180,000 pounds annually of open ocean fish for up to five years; fishing by Native Hawaiians conducting cultural practices with permits; and sustenance fishing by others who are in the region with the permission of the monument's managers.” Some native Hawaiians argue that their traditions would allow slightly broader use of the fish in the area. Their argument is that there was always enough using traditional means, but mankind (even traditional peoples) has a way of leaving deserts behind them if resources aren’t managed properly. However, this is something to be negotiated with NOAA. For now, the region gains, and so does America. Here’s a sentence this journal doesn’t use very often, but would like to: “Thanks, Mr. President.”

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


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