Floyd Masga
THE Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council met on Wednesday, May 8 at Aqua Resort Club, and will convene again today, Thursday, May 9, to complete a management plan for the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
Attending the meeting were representatives from the CNMI’s Department of Lands and Natural Resources, the Division of Coastal Resources Management, Joint Region Marianas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other agencies.
Council Chairman Floyd Masga said the meeting will set the guidelines on how federal and local authorities can implement actions involving the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, which was created in 2009.
“We are going to be discussing page by page the proposed management plan, which has been revised four times,” Masga said. “Once we have an approved management plan, we will have an implementation…[meeting] right after and that’s when the work begins.”
The agenda for the May 8 meeting included presentations on how the military can use air and sea space in the monument area, monument fishing permits, a discussion on “monument governance,” and “future public involvement opportunities.”
