Posted on 06/15/2006 4:07:28 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
President Bush has created the world's largest marine reserve. Mr. Bush acted to protect an area of the Pacific Ocean that is roughly the size of California.
More than 7,000 species of marine life live in a chain of reefs and shoals stretching nearly 2,000 kilometers northwest from the Hawaiian Islands.
That ecosystem is now a protected marine area where commercial and sport fishing will be phased out over the next five years. Visitors wishing to dive or take photographs must have a permit and no one will be allowed to remove animals or minerals.
President Bush says the move protects a precious natural resource and establishes an important place for research and learning.
"The oceans contain countless natural treasures," he said. "They carry much of our trade. They provide food and recreation for billions of people. We have a responsibility, a solemn responsibility, to be good stewards of the oceans and creatures who inhabit them."
The islands include endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles as well as a rookery for 14 million seabirds.
At more than 300,000 square kilometers, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument is slightly larger than Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, making it the world's biggest protected marine area.
It includes the World War II memorial on Midway Island, which will remain open for research and education programs.
President Theodore Roosevelt established a bird sanctuary on some of the islands in 1909. President Bill Clinton created a coral-reef ecosystem reserve in the area six years ago. By exercising executive powers to declare the islands a national monument, President Bush avoided what would have been a year-long review process to make the area a less-protected national marine sanctuary.
While I agree with your point, unfortunately the precedent was set by Thomas Jefferson with the Louisiana Purchase.
You could try looking it up.
This leaves the entire Left Coast open for future offshore oil drilling operations.
(Best Monty Burns voice): Eeeeexellent!
Not true. Jefferson negotiated a deal and signed it, contingent upon approval by Congress as a treaty.
Mixed feelings. I don't oppose this, but it sounds like a publicity stunt...
Wow, you guys are eerie!
That's cause I'm not 62 YET!
Ooooorah!
Actually a land grab, this action goes way beyond the 200 mile limit and links up Hawaii and Midway as a single US entity? No?
Crap! I thought this was a military story!
Yes. I already explained it.
"You could try looking it up."
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_nwhi_images
Special prayers requested for big action upcoming.
There's a LOT more ocean available in which they can ply their trade.
That was my reaction, too. I guess what the President did was excellent, farsighted, and commendable, but I would also settle for some more good old USMCRs who would be there when you and I need them. Of course, both interpretations could be reality. Indeed they are not mutually inconsistent realities. It was the Marines like my late father-in-law who did the job out there in the Pacific that needed to be done, and wherefrom the possibility of this other marine reserve now emanates at our fiat.
Don't you think it probably means Rove can't test his hurricane-making machine in this one area? That's all it is, I think.
Now, I think the libs want to get their hands on the land to develop it.
Unsure what the watermelons will say about it, but it's unenforceable.
It's mostly in international waters and how are they going to stop the Jap/Russian/Korean Fishermen from netting these areas anyway? Start a war every week?
Nice thought, it's meaningless paper.
Such things are intended to promote the growth of government at the expense of individual liberty, nothing more.
"Be prepared to pay more for fish."
Unless there are salmon there I won't worry too much about it.
Damn, I thought this was about the US Marine Corps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.