The world’s two largest protected marine areas are now joined in a partnership that will enhance the conservation of 300,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

     One of the two areas, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, in the northwest Hawaiian Islands, was made a U.S.  national monument in 2006.  Encompassing 140,000 square miles, the monument was, at that time, the largest protected marine area in the world.  The monument’s coral reefs are home to 7,000 marine species, one-fourth of which are found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

     The other protected marine area is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, an archipelago in the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kee-ree-boss), located near the Equator.  When it was set aside by the Kiribati government for special protection last year, its 158,500 square miles of ocean and islands became the world’s largest protected marine area.  The coral reefs and bird populations of the Phoenix Islands are unique and have been hardly touched by humans. 

     Representatives of the U.S. and Kiribati governments met in New York on September 29 to sign the agreement to jointly manage the two sites which, together, comprise 25% of all protected marine areas in the world. 

     “The United States is very pleased to engage in this marine conservation partnership with the Republic of Kiribati,” stated Eileen Sobeck, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior, who signed the agreement on behalf of the U.S.  “In the face of challenges like climate change and increasing societal demands on ever scarcer marine resources,” she said, “challenges that transcend national boundaries and dwarf the ability of any single nation to address–partnerships like this one are critical to the success of our efforts to preserve this natural heritage for future generations.”

     The two sites provide “ocean insurance for the Pacific against the depletion of marine life that has accelerated across the globe,” added the Republic of Kiribati’s director of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area Tukabu Teroko.  “Together we can more effectively address the complex challenges of managing such large ocean areas,” he added. 

     This strengthened protection for the two vast sections of the Pacific Ocean comes none too soon.  The Papahanaumokuakea National Monument has been invaded by 13 alien algae, fish and marine invertebrates, say scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, probably  through ’biofouling,’ which is when organisms collect on the hulls of ships and thus travel to new areas.  In the Phoenix Islands, coral reefs are recovering from a 2002-03 thermal event that killed off a great deal of coral.–April Moore 

coral in the Phoenix Islands

Papahanaumokuakea National Monument

 

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