Super, Awesome, Amazing news for the Pacific Ocean Thanks to President Obama, a very large area of the remote Pacific Ocean is now completely off-limits to commercial fishing and other resource-extraction activities, such as deep-water mining. With one stroke of his pen, the President just expanded the existing 87,000 square mile Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument (created by George W. Bush in 2009) to more than 490,000 square miles, creating the world’s largest fully protected marine reserve. The newly expanded reserve, which includes islands, atolls and 130 underwater mountains, covers an area of ocean that’s nearly twice the size of Texas. While many commercial fishermen objected to the expansion, they will still have access to roughly half of the areas islands and atolls, not to mention the nearly 98 percent of the Pacific Ocean that remains without any protection at all. Its a historic victory for the countless species that will thrive there and for generations of people (including fishermen) who will benefit from it as well.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 21:29:08 +0000