NOAA launches effort to bring further protections to Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

The ocean surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — already protected by the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument — would find even greater safeguards under a proposal unveiled Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA announced a plan to consider establishing a national marine sanctuary for the waters of the vast national marine monument.

The agency filed a notice of intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement and hold public meetings and a request for comments through Jan. 31.

The designation, as proposed, would build on the existing management of the oceanic portions of the monument and not the islands that are already part of it.

The whole designation process would feature public hearings and span at least a couple of years.

“It’s an opportunity to have a dialogue about a vision for the sanctuary now and into the future,” said Athline Clark, superintendent of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

In launching the marine sanctuary designation effort, NOAA said it was following the direction of a U.S. Senate subcommittee that asked it to establish a national marine sanctuary that aims to supplement and complement existing authorities rather than replace them.

The monument is co-managed by NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state of Hawaii and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

There are commercial fishers who are likely to oppose further regulation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but not all will, according to Rick Gaffney, chairman of the Hawaii Fishing &Boating Association board.

“A lot of fishermen know the value of a marine protected area,” he said. “They give fish the opportunity to breed and grow up.”

Gaffney said he welcomes national marine sanctuary status because it offers the kind of long-term protection that isn’t afforded monument status, which is subject to the whims of future presidents.

Clark said marine sanctuary status will allow for additional regulatory tools and protections now currently missing in the monument, including requiring vessel-monitoring systems on boats and ships that travel anywhere throughout the monument area.

Clark said the designation is also likely to give managers the authority to compel the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to establish fishing regulations — an action the council was asked to accomplish when the monument was expanded in 2016 but has so far failed to come through with.

Asked for a response to Friday’s announcement, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council said in a statement that it “looks forward to its role in developing the proposed federal fisheries regulations as a part of this designation process. Connecting communities to fisheries resources for food and to perpetuate culture is something the Council has long supported.”

The council, which has a history of opposing marine sanctuaries as an infringement on commercial fishing, is expected to discuss the sanctuary at its three-day meeting, which gets underway Dec. 7.

The marine protected area was established as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve by President Bill Clinton in 2000, then designated as a marine national monument by President George Bush in 2006 and expanded by President Barack Obama in 2016.

Today the Papahanau­mokuakea Marine National Monument is the nation’s largest conservation area, encompassing 582,578 square miles — an area larger than all the country’s national parks combined.

The monument is not only home to Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles, vast coral reefs and species found nowhere else but features a variety of post-Western contact historic structures, including those linked to the Battle of Midway and 19th century whaling.

Currently there are federal and state regulations that prohibit commercial and recreational fish­ing from the beach to 200 miles offshore.

“Papahanaumokuakea is a special place that deserves the strongest protections we can give it,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a statement. “Designating the area as a sanctuary will allow its managers, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to better protect its cultural and environmental value while planning for the long term, so future generations of Native Hawaiians and Hawaii residents will be able to see Papahanaumokuakea the way we do today.”

OHA CEO Sylvia Hussey said she welcomed the designation process.

“As one of four co-Trustees, OHA appreciates NOAA’s compliance with the regulatory public process, consultation, and engagement with our beneficiaries, including accepting testimony in ʻ‘Olelo Hawai‘i for the Sanctuaries Designation Process for the marine areas of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument,” Hussey said in a statement.

“OHA looks forward to understanding the impacts of what such a designation might mean, to the PMNM area itself, to research efforts and to cultural practitioners and practices,” she said.