Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Marine National Monument

Description

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is a group of unorganized, mostly unincorporated United States Pacific Island territories managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior. These remote refuges are "the most widespread collection of marine- and terrestrial-life protected areas on the planet under a single country's jurisdiction".[citation needed] They protect many endemic species including corals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds, water birds, land birds, insects, and vegetation not found elsewhere.

The Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument was proclaimed a national monument on January 6, 2009 by U.S. President George W. Bush. The monument covers 86,607 square miles (55,428,480 acres, spanning areas to the far south and west of Hawaii: Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Howland Island, Baker Island, Jarvis Islands, Johnston Atoll, and Wake Island. At Howland Island, Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef the terrestrial areas, reefs, and waters out to 12 nautical miles (radius) are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. For all of the areas, fishery-related activities seaward from the 12 nmi (22 km) refuge boundaries out to the 50 nmi (93 km) NMM boundary (about 100 nmi (190 km) square across) are managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The land areas at Wake and Johnston Atolls remain under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force, but the waters from 0 to 12 nmi (22 km) are protected as units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The monument will also include unique trees and grasses and birds adapted to life at the Equator; the rare sea turtles and whales and Hawaiian monk seals that visit Johnston Atoll; and some of the most pristine and spectacular coral reefs in the world. Resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping, and commercial fishing will be prohibited in the new monument areas. Research, free passage, and recreation will be allowed.

The following islands constitute the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument:

Because the islands are scattered throughout the ocean, the climate is different on each island. Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands have an equatorial climate, with scant rainfall, constant wind, and burning sun. Johnston Atoll and Kingman Reef have a tropical climate, but are generally dry, with consistent northeast trade winds with little seasonal temperature variation. Palmyra Atoll has a hot, equatorial climate. Because the atoll located within the low pressure area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone where the northeast and southeast trade winds meet, it is extremely wet with between 4,000-5,000 mm (160-200 in) of rainfall each year.

The islands have no indigenous inhabitants. On Johnston Atoll in previous years, an average of 1,100 U.S. military and civilian contractor personnel were present, but as of May 2005 all U.S. government personnel had left the island. Four to 20 Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff live at Palmyra Atoll. The other islands are usually uninhabited.

Public entry to the islands is by special-use permit from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only and generally restricted to scientists and educators. Only Palmyra Atoll have serviceable runways; Baker Island, Howland Island, and Johnston Atoll had airstrips in earlier times but they have since been abandoned and are no longer operational.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.