In separate communications to the two officials, Fitial said he disagree with the recommendations of the Friends of the Monument to amend the submerged lands legislation pending before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Areas, Ocean and Wildlife to change the monument law.
Fitial is leaving on May 17 and will be in Washington, D.C. to testify before the panel on the 19th.
He said the executive proclamation that then-President George W. Bush signed on Jan. 6, 2009 reflected the Council on Environmental Quality’s favorable action on the CNMI’s principal concerns regarding commercial fishing, limited protected scope and preserving the commonwealth’s right to decide whether it wanted to retain within the monument the three miles of submerged lands around the northernmost islands of the Northern Marianas.
He said the Friends of the Monument wanted these important negotiated terms reversed.
“First, they seek to reverse the proclamation’s position on each of the three issues listed above that reflected major concessions to the people of the commonwealth. Second, they seek to transfer the federal responsibility for administering the monument from the Department of the Interior to the Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries at the Department of Commerce,” the governor wrote to Salazar.
The Friends of the Monument told Sablan that although the designation is an important step to protect the sanctuary there are five areas of concern that should be addressed.
The group said restrictions on activities within the monument are “too weak to protect it, allowing recreational and commercial fishing in most areas.”
It added that the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is trying to define other forms of fishing that would eventually open the entire monument to fishing activities again.
But Fitial said he disagree with the group’s recommendations.
“We believe that any such action is wholly inappropriate until the new administration has an opportunity to staff the responsible departments and to become familiar with its responsibilities under the proclamation creating the monument,” he said.
In a letter to Sablan, the governor urged the congressman to help him defend the administration’s position.
“I think that you and I have a common responsibility to deal fairly and openly with the Department of the Interior, upon which the commonwealth necessarily depends so heavily. I certainly do not want Secretary Salazar to believe that we are conspiring behind his back to deprive his department of responsibilities under the proclamation before he even has the opportunity to staff his department and begin to develop a program to implement the proclamation,” the governor said.
