In the last five years, I can count on one hand the number of times environmental groups have come together to praise a new policy by President Bush -- and that one hand was probably making a fist. So for the ocean conservation community to be celebrating the president's announcement today, you know this is a VERY big deal.
George W. Bush is designating the world's largest fully protected marine reserve -- 84 million acres to be exact. A biologically rich string of islands known as the Northwestern Hawaii Islands (NWHI) will now enjoy complete federal protection from commercial fishing activities as a new National Monument. This is fantastic news for the seals, turtles, albatrosses, sharks, corals, and other marine life that call these waters home, and a strange, welcome, happy, confusing moment for conservationists everywhere. Congratulations to our colleagues who worked so hard to make this happen, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Ocean Conservancy, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Environmental Defense, and especially all the groups in Hawaii. Read all about it.
Three cheers for President Bush
Hawaii Islands Win Unprecedented Protection 5
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Posted 11:46 AM on 15 Jun 2006
by Andrew Sharpless -
Posted in
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Andrew Sharpless is the CEO of Oceana, the world’s largest international nonprofit dedicated to ocean conservation. Visit www.oceana.org.
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Gary Posted 4:59 am
15 Jun 2006
But will it happen?
How many times in the past years has Bush come to support various causes, and we only found out some time later that his promises were empty?
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Biodiversivist Posted 5:55 am
15 Jun 2006
This is very positive news for biodiversity.
Let's hope they don't discover oil there someday.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: www.saveourbiodiversity.com
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SMLowry Posted 9:50 am
15 Jun 2006
Polluted oceans
This is wonderful news indeed. Unfortunately, the ocean is becoming more and more polluted and eventually this will have an impact on the biodiversity of this beautiful place. And Bush is doing everything he can to continue to endanger the world's oceans.
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caniscandida Posted 1:15 pm
15 Jun 2006
well, two cheers
Biodiv offers a bad-case scenario, the plausibility of which in fact goes far to fill in the political background: Bush signed the document erecting the monument because it was very easy for him to do; it will not inconvenience any of his big corporate friends; and the GOP will be able to spin this to show how much they love the environment.
But sure, yes indeed, this national monument is undeniably very good news, and all sensible people will be grateful to Bush for planting his signature where he was asked to sign.
Pity, though, that the day's other major ocean-biodiversity-related news, much more ominous, did not get as much coverage: the Japanese seem to have all their ducks in a row at the International Whaling Commission pow-wow in San Juan, and so at this point it looks pretty inevitable that restrictions on whaling will be lifted.
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EllenL Posted 11:03 am
23 Jul 2007
Hawaiian Black Sand Beach Vote on Wed. 7/25/07
This is good news and there's more to be done. This Wednesday, the Hawaii Council will cast final votes on whether or not to allow itself to the negotiate, purchase and protect the famous Black Sand Beach on the Big Island. A developer, Sea Mountain V, wants to build a massive complex there, which is home to three endangered species and several historical sites. The developer is partnered with Jean-Michel Cousteau. Sadly, while J.M. Cousteau has done some very positive things, this is not one of them. If you'd like to support the protective Council resolution (169-07) to stop the development, you can e-mail testimony to counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us. For more information, you can check out the press releases on www.SavePunaluu.org
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