September 25, 2014 — President Barack Obama on Thursday established the world’s biggest marine reserve, a vast expanse of water in the south-central Pacific Ocean that is now off-limits to commercial fishing, offshore oil drilling and other commercial activities.
Lawmakers have chafed as Mr. Obama has issued a series of executive orders and some Pacific islanders worried that, as initially conceived, the expanded monument could choke off the livelihood of local fishermen.
The White House amended its initial plan after local objections, shrinking the zone off-limits to fishing.
“We appreciate the White House’s compromise on a monument expansion that could have devastated the region’s fisheries and communities without notable environmental benefits,” Kitty Simonds, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s executive director, said in a statement.
Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal