Should the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument be designated, the Pew Charitable Trusts will not have any role in its management. The Trusts is a private non-governmental organization. A national monument, if it were established, would be managed by the government.
We have been crystal clear from day one that the proposal for designating a protected area in the waters around the northern three islands is for discussion between the leaders of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and officials from the federal government. Our role is simply to educate the community on the opportunity offered by global recognition of our waters, including how a marine national monument would likely be managed, and what the potential benefits, and costs, are likely to be.
In this vein, we recently commissioned an economic study of the costs and benefits of a marine monument, authored by the highly regarded University of Guam economics professor, Dr. Tom Iverson.
He was on Saipan last week with Dr. John Salas, also of the University of Guam, to discuss their initial findings and present their results to a wide range of organizations and individuals.
Mr. Cabrera has every right to oppose the creation of what would be the world’s second largest protected reserve, but when he writes that the Pew Charitable Trusts would play a role in the management of the proposed marine national monument, he is simply wrong.
There is a lot of misinformation circulating around our community, which has frightened people unnecessarily. Instead of rumors, we need a rational discussion based on the scientific and economic merits of the idea. In assessing the opportunity the monument idea offers, our community deserves the facts, not fiction.
ANGELO O’CONNOR
VILLAGOMEZ
Saipan Coordinator
Pew Environment Group
