Questions asked about marine reserve

HAWAI‘I – The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has agreed to ask the United States government to address a range of concerns about a proposal to expand Hawai‘i’s protected waters.

The council, which manages the United States’ fisheries in the Pacific, says it wants a public, transparent, deliberative and science-based process to address its concerns.

The proposals have concerned US fishing fleets and territories, which fear the expansion of marine reserves will threaten access to fishing grounds for what they consider one of the world’s most regulated fleets.

Council members also said they hope the government addresses the resources needed to effectively administer and manage an expanded Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

They said when it was last expanded in 2014, the White House did not give any extra support to the Homeland Security Department and Coast Guard to monitor it.

A special advisor to American Samoa’s governor, Henry Sesepasara, said he hopes the federal agency involved with the expansion will work with the council.

The expanded monument would include nearly all of the Exclusive Economic Zone surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and would mean that nearly 1.3 million square kilometres of US waters would be made off-limits to American fishermen without public review or scientific analysis of the impacts or potential benefits.

President George W. Bush created the monument 10 years ago by executive order.

The existing protected area is almost the size of California and is home to 7000 species of birds, fish and marine mammals, at least a quarter of which are found only in Hawai‘i, according to the NOAA.

- RNZI/PNC