Wonders never cease...... President Bush II continues, right down to the
wire, to protect large areas of sensitive ocean territory controlled by
the USA. This may be a Good Omen for the World Ocean for 2009!!

-Ross Mayhew
http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/06oceans.html?th&emc=th

Bush to Protect Vast New Pacific Tracts

Saipan, part of the Northern Marianas, which are among the islands,
reefs, waters and parts of the Pacific Ocean floor that President Bush
will designate as marine national monuments.

Article Tools Sponsored By
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: January 5, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Bush will designate vast tracts of
American-controlled Pacific Ocean islands, reefs, surface waters and sea
floor as marine national monuments on Tuesday, limiting fishing, mining,
oil exploration or other commercial activity, White House officials said
Monday.

The protected zones, including parts of the deep Mariana Trench and a
string of largely uninhabited reefs and atolls near the Equator and
American Samoa, include a total of 195,280 square miles, an area larger
than the states of Washington and Oregon combined.

The islands, atolls, reefs and underwater mountain ranges offer unique
habitat to hundreds of rare species of birds and fish. Among them are
tropicbirds, boobies, frigate birds, terns, noddies, petrels,
shearwaters and albatrosses, according to environmental groups who
pushed for the protection. It is also the habitat of the rare
Micronesian megapode, a bird that incubates its eggs using subterranean
volcanic heat.

The president’s action, which requires no Congressional or other
approval, builds on the designation two years ago of the
139,000-square-mile Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the
northwest Hawaiian Islands under the federal Antiquities Act.

Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Bush’s action
would preserve huge ocean areas for future generations and would not
conflict with military activities or freedom of navigation.

“With the designation of the world’s largest marine reserve in the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2006, and now these three other sites,
George W. Bush has done more to protect unique areas of the world’s
oceans than any other person in history,” said Joshua Reichert, managing
director of the Pew Environmental Group.

The declaration came after two years of study and relatively modest
opposition from commercial and recreational fishing groups and some
officials in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, who
feared it would throttle future economic development.

The Central Pacific islands and atolls are known as the Line Islands,
extending nearly 2,000 miles and including Johnston Atoll; Howard, Baker
and Jarvis Islands; Kingman Reef; Wake Island; and Rose Atoll. They are
remote and largely uninhabited. Most became American territory under the
Guano Islands Act of 1856, which allowed sea captains to claim islands
that were rich in guano — bird and bat droppings — which were used to
make fertilizer and gunpowder.

In the western Pacific Ocean, the declaration includes the marine waters
around the Northern Marianas, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest
canyon in the world.

Some officials of the Marianas complained to the White House that
protecting the islands and waters would limit economic opportunity for
islanders and strip them of their authority to regulate their resources.
But others welcomed the decision.

Diane Regas of the Environmental Defense Fund said the designation had
both short-term ecological benefits and a longer-term favorable impact
on global warming.

“If we can keep that area untouched,” Ms. Regas said, “it will provide
an unparalleled scientific resource and a huge investment in improving
the planet’s resilience to climate change.”

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