The Pacific Remote Islands are the crossroads of the Pacific, serving as stopping points for migration and traditional voyages since time immemorial that used the winds, stars, and ocean currents to wayfind across the vast Pacific seascape. Located in the Central Pacific, the waters surrounding the Pacific Remote Islands are home to some of the most diverse and remarkable tropical marine life on the planet including numerous threatened and endangered species and species found nowhere else in the world.
On March 24, 2023, President Biden issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce to consider initiating the designation process for a proposed national marine sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands area. On April 17, 2023, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries began the designation process and is now accepting public comments.
Sign our letter using the form to the right to urge the Biden-Harris Administration to designate the proposed sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands.
Much of the proposed sanctuary area is currently a part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The proposed sanctuary may include all the waters of the existing marine national monument and the currently unprotected waters from 50 to 200 nm off Howland and Baker Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef. Sanctuary designation would allow NOAA to supplement the existing protections for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and to conserve additional areas outside the monument’s existing boundary. The proposed sanctuary would not diminish the protections of the existing monument.
Deadline to comment: Friday, June 2, 2023
