“WE need to stand up and fight against this,” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said Friday regarding the National Marine Sanctuary designation for the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
The governor said he recently learned that there is a proposal to increase the monument to 57.5 percent of the CNMI’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.
The EEZ is an area of the sea in which a government has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.
If the CNMI agrees to increase the sanctuary to 57.5 percent of its EEZ, that entire portion would be closed to free passage by Marianas residents, unless given special permission.
“This is very troubling. When [the Pew Charitable Trusts] proposed the national monument [in 2008], there were a lot of promises that were made. When they first came, there were so many promises: a visitor center, vessels to be homeported here in the CNMI, [and] increased enforcement in the CNMI EEZ, especially in the national monument waters. I mean, there are a bunch of lists that were promised,” the governor said.
“I remember they said… they were going to improve the economy and create a lot jobs…and we haven’t seen anything yet since then. Zero. And yet, we’re going to give another 57.5 percent of our waters to be sanctuary? If there’s anything that I’m asking everybody, it’s to really look into this. We need to stand up and fight against this. We cannot allow anybody or any entity to [deprive us of] our rights [while we end up asking] permission to sail in our own waters.”
He added, “It would be closed for us to freely go out there and, if I’m not mistaken, that means that our own people, the indigenous people, have to get permission, a permit, to go up there. Now, why would we want to give up our rights as an indigenous community, indigenous people? Why would we even consider relinquishing our water to somebody else?”
Torres said that he would be writing a letter requesting a 90-day extension of the comment period.
“I hope that the entity that’s looking into this will consider our request because this is a significant change [that will affect] our culture, on our people… I’m very passionate about this…I hope that our community will stick together and write a letter against this [proposal],” he added.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is soliciting written comments to facilitate its five-year review of the nomination for the Marianas Trench National Marine Sanctuary.
NOAA issued a notice in the Federal Register on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/21/2022-01151/review-of-nomination-for-mariana-trench-national-marine-sanctuary)
NOAA said it is not proposing to designate the Marianas Trench National Marine Sanctuary with this action. “Instead, NOAA is seeking public comment on [Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’] five-year review of the nomination for Marianas Trench NMS.”
Following this information gathering and internal analysis, NOAA said it will make a final determination on whether or not the Marianas Trench NMS nomination will remain in the inventory for another five-year period.
Ralph DLG Torres
