September 26, 2022 — A Hawaii-based coalition’s effort to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is getting pushback by the fishery council created to oversee that area of the Pacific.
The national monument makes up nearly 500,000 square miles of open ocean, coral reefs and island habitats south of Hawaii. The Pacific Remote Islands Coalition wants to extend the monument around two sets of islands from 50 miles to 200 miles.
“Places like these remote islands, atolls and reefs represent some of the priority areas that we need to protect that would have minimal impact to other interests, such as fishing,” said coalition member Kekuewa Kikiloi.
But the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, meeting in Honolulu this week, has taken a hard stand against the proposal.