August 20, 2014 — Gov. Eloy S. Inos asked President Barack Obama not to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument which the governor believes is “the first step in expanding other marine national monuments in the western Pacific,” while at the same time lamenting that most of the promises made leading to the creation of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument in 2009 were “broken and remain unfulfilled.”
The CNMI’s three northernmost islands of Maug, Uracas, and Asuncion are part of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument that the Bush White House designated in 2009.
“On behalf of the affected communities in the western Pacific who believe in the sustainable use of marine resources, I urge you to reconsider your proposal to expand the boundaries of the PRIMNM or any other marine monument,” Inos said in an Aug. 15 letter to Obama, a copy of which was obtained by Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Aug. 15 was the last day for comment submissions to the president’s proposal to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument seaward to the 200-nautical mile boundary of the exclusive economic zone.
Inos said with great respect to congressional laws, the “unilateral top-down approach in designating marine monuments via the Antiquities Act for conservation purposes is an affront to Pacific Island communities.”
“We believe that wise conservation doesn’t necessarily have to be about preservation and establishing no-take marine protected areas,” the governor added.
Read the full story at the Saipan Tribune