AS the public comment deadline for a proposed designation of a marine sanctuary in the central Pacific draws near, the Pacific Remote Islands Coalition expects a “lively discussion of comments” at upcoming public meetings.
The PRI Coalition is a Hawaii-based organization formed in 2014. According to their website, they support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposal to designate the Pacific Remote Islands as a new marine sanctuary.
The PRI Coalition, however, is not the officiating governing body that designates new marine sanctuaries. They are merely advocates for such actions over the Pacific Remote Islands, which include Wake Atoll, Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island, Howland and Baker Islands, and Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll. These islands are around 2,000 nautical miles east of the CNMI.
PRI Coalition Campaign Manager Hoku Cody said one benefit of a marine sanctuary is that they serve as “safe havens for fish stock and mega fauna that would have to transit between those safe havens.”
She said marine sanctuaries provide the opportunity for “spillover benefits,” which means that as fish grow larger and more plentiful, they move further away from the PRI.
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will host public meetings regarding the proposed marine sanctuary on May 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saipan at American Memorial Park. On May 19, the meeting will take place at the Office of the Mayor of Rota from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. On May 20, the meeting will occur at the Tinian Public Library from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
As for the PRI Coalition’s advocacy, Cody said they are aware of the various degrees of relationships that the Micronesia region has with the United States federal government, saying that some of the islands are U.S. territories while others have a Compact of Free Association.
Cody said the PRI Coalition is dedicated to the “absolute pursuit of protecting traditional rights and practices within these areas.”
“We are asking within [the designation of a new marine sanctuary] for the U.S. to begin to deeply think and consider a model that would include all those different types of people,” Cody said.
According to Variety files, local community members who attended a March meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council meeting were not in favor of the proposed marine monument.
Likewise, CNMI Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and American Samoa Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga, in a joint letter, have expressed concern over the proposed monument.
“We are alarmed and concerned over the prospect of expanding potential fishery closures through designating a marine sanctuary within the full U.S. economic exclusive zones of the Pacific Remote Island Areas which already include a Marine National Monument,” they told President Joe Biden in a letter.
