Camacho invites Fitial to Guam for Obama's visit
Thursday, February 11, 2010
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Guam Gov. Felix P. Camacho has invited CNMI Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to Guam for President Barack Obama's visit on his way to Indonesia and Australia in March.
“I will be sending a letter to the White House informing them that I have invited Governor Fitial to Guam for the president's visit,” Camacho told Saipan Tribune in an interview on Tuesday.
He said Obama and the whole first family will be in Guam on March 19.
Fitial, in a separate interview yesterday, said he has accepted Camacho's invitation to go to Guam for the presidential visit.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, in a Feb. 1 transcript of statements during a news briefing, said Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia “will visit Guam, where he will speak with U.S. service members on the island.”
The presidential visit comes at a time when the military buildup in Guam is looming, although Camacho earlier wrote to U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to delay the buildup until after 2014 “to protect the integrity of the III Marine Expeditionary Force and ensure that impacts are minimized to our island infrastructure and socioeconomic services.”
Fitial had said he “recognizes the immense potential opportunities of a presidential visit to the Marianas.”
The CNMI Senate had already adopted a resolution formally inviting Obama to visit the CNMI when he and his family stop on Guam on their way to Indonesia and Australia next month.
Senators said it will be a “great honor” and an “extraordinary privilege” to have Obama pay an official visit to the CNMI while he is in the region.
They said a presidential visit will bring to the fore issues critical to the CNMI, including the recent federalization of its immigration, the military buildup in Guam that will also impact the CNMI, and the creation of the Marianas Trench National Monument and the authorization for a visitor center in the region. Senate Resolution 17-03 was introduced by Sen. Pete P. Reyes (R-Saipan).
Rep. Diego T. Benavente (R-Saipan) also introduced House Resolution 17-5, officially inviting Obama to visit the CNMI, but the House has yet to act on the resolution.
If and when Obama visits the CNMI, he will be the first sitting U.S. president to ever set foot in the CNMI.
The highest ranking U.S. official to set foot in the CNMI’s capital of Saipan is former President George H.W. Bush, when he was still vice president to former President Ronald Reagan. Bush flew to Saipan on his way to a six-day visit to China in October 1985.
Showing posts with label Marianas Trench Monument. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marianas Trench Monument. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, May 18, 2009
Marine Protection as Empire Expansion
David Vine and Miriam Pemberton | May 6, 2009
Editor: John Feffer
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
At the 100-day mark, the new president has tackled an extraordinarily
wide-ranging agenda, but one item will need his attention soon: closing the
empire of U.S. bases around the world. One place to start is to reverse the
marine protection areas that the last president established in the Pacific.
In a last-minute bid to salvage a legacy, President George W. Bush created
three new protected marine areas in the Pacific. Environmental groups like
the Natural Resources Defense Council applauded. But the situation is more
complicated than it looks.
Why would a president who rarely saw a public land or off-shore site he
didn't want to drill on, and whose climate change policies have done lasting
damage to oceans and their inhabitants worldwide, exhibit such concern for
marine life in these particular faraway places?
One possible clue: This protective blanket will extend only 50 miles beyond
land, rather than the 200 that the law permits. Could it be his real concern
was for the land itself rather than for the water around it?
Because these aren't just any Pacific islands. Two - Wake and Johnston - are
home to important U.S. military installations, while a huge area of
protected ocean encompassing the Mariana Trench borders U.S. military bases
on Guam, Saipan, Rota, Tinian, and Farallon de Medinilla. The islands are
right now at the receiving end of a major eastward shift in the U.S.
military base infrastructure from concentrating bases and troops in Europe
and Okinawa, Japan to concentrations elsewhere in Asia and the Mariana
Islands in particular. Guam is set to receive an additional 8,000 Marines
and 40,000 civilians on an island where the military already controls
one-third of all land.
In designating the protected areas, the White House took pains to say that
"nothing" in this action "impairs or otherwise affects the activities of the
U.S. Department of Defense."
Many in Guam are opposed to the expansion of the military's presence,
concerned about increased crime, accidents, violence against women, health
and environmental damage, and other forms of social and cultural disruption.
And remember too that the islands involved are effectively U.S. colonies
without full voting rights and congressional representation and are still on
the UN's list of territories slated for decolonization. Whatever else it may
do, the marine monument designation will add a positive environmentalist
spin to the permanent U.S claim on these territories as military outposts.
But this spin has a problem. Military bases and regular military operations
are notorious for their harmful impact on the environment. Such damage
includes the blasting of pristine coral reefs, clear-cutting of virgin
forests, deploying underwater sonar dangerous to marine life, leaching
carcinogenic pollutants into the soil and seas from lax toxic waste storage
and military accidents, and using land and sea for target practice,
decimating ecosystems with exploded and unexploded munitions. Guam alone is
home to 19 Superfund sites.
It's hard to imagine that the net result of
base-expansion-plus-monument-designation will be good for the surrounding
marine life.
In fact, the case of Vieques, Puerto Rico, offers a telling precedent: After
locals won a decades-long fight to evict the Navy from their island, the
Pentagon was exempted from cleaning up most of the environmental disaster
area it left behind when the federal government declared the former base a
"wildlife refuge."
How then can these precious resources really be protected? First, and most
importantly, the Pentagon cannot be exempted from environmental regulations.
Second, full control over Wake Island and Johnston Atoll should immediately
be transferred from the Department of Defense to the Department of the
Interior - there's no reason that the Pentagon should have its own private
islands. Third, the people of Guam and the rest of the Northern Mariana
Islands should be given full control over the areas above and below the
water surrounding its territory in full accordance with international law.
To fulfill the Pacific marine reserve's promise of environmental protection
and conservation, environmental groups initially enthusiastic about the Bush
plan must unite with allies on Capitol Hill and a growing movement of those
critical of the Pentagon's expanding reach to press the new administration
to reverse this expansion. Those concerned about the environment must make
sure that the Pentagon does not use the mantle of environmental protection
as a cover for its profligate and environmentally damaging plans to use
military bases to control the Pacific. With around 1,000 military bases
outside the 50 states - each one a possible environmental disaster area -
now is the time when we should be closing and consolidating our overseas
bases, not finding new and increasingly stealthy ways to solidify their
presence.
Miriam Pemberton is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
David Vine is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University,
whose book about the military base on Diego Garcia, Island of Shame, will be
released in May by Princeton University Press. They are both contributors to
Foreign Policy In Focus.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6103
Editor: John Feffer
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
At the 100-day mark, the new president has tackled an extraordinarily
wide-ranging agenda, but one item will need his attention soon: closing the
empire of U.S. bases around the world. One place to start is to reverse the
marine protection areas that the last president established in the Pacific.
In a last-minute bid to salvage a legacy, President George W. Bush created
three new protected marine areas in the Pacific. Environmental groups like
the Natural Resources Defense Council applauded. But the situation is more
complicated than it looks.
Why would a president who rarely saw a public land or off-shore site he
didn't want to drill on, and whose climate change policies have done lasting
damage to oceans and their inhabitants worldwide, exhibit such concern for
marine life in these particular faraway places?
One possible clue: This protective blanket will extend only 50 miles beyond
land, rather than the 200 that the law permits. Could it be his real concern
was for the land itself rather than for the water around it?
Because these aren't just any Pacific islands. Two - Wake and Johnston - are
home to important U.S. military installations, while a huge area of
protected ocean encompassing the Mariana Trench borders U.S. military bases
on Guam, Saipan, Rota, Tinian, and Farallon de Medinilla. The islands are
right now at the receiving end of a major eastward shift in the U.S.
military base infrastructure from concentrating bases and troops in Europe
and Okinawa, Japan to concentrations elsewhere in Asia and the Mariana
Islands in particular. Guam is set to receive an additional 8,000 Marines
and 40,000 civilians on an island where the military already controls
one-third of all land.
In designating the protected areas, the White House took pains to say that
"nothing" in this action "impairs or otherwise affects the activities of the
U.S. Department of Defense."
Many in Guam are opposed to the expansion of the military's presence,
concerned about increased crime, accidents, violence against women, health
and environmental damage, and other forms of social and cultural disruption.
And remember too that the islands involved are effectively U.S. colonies
without full voting rights and congressional representation and are still on
the UN's list of territories slated for decolonization. Whatever else it may
do, the marine monument designation will add a positive environmentalist
spin to the permanent U.S claim on these territories as military outposts.
But this spin has a problem. Military bases and regular military operations
are notorious for their harmful impact on the environment. Such damage
includes the blasting of pristine coral reefs, clear-cutting of virgin
forests, deploying underwater sonar dangerous to marine life, leaching
carcinogenic pollutants into the soil and seas from lax toxic waste storage
and military accidents, and using land and sea for target practice,
decimating ecosystems with exploded and unexploded munitions. Guam alone is
home to 19 Superfund sites.
It's hard to imagine that the net result of
base-expansion-plus-monument-designation will be good for the surrounding
marine life.
In fact, the case of Vieques, Puerto Rico, offers a telling precedent: After
locals won a decades-long fight to evict the Navy from their island, the
Pentagon was exempted from cleaning up most of the environmental disaster
area it left behind when the federal government declared the former base a
"wildlife refuge."
How then can these precious resources really be protected? First, and most
importantly, the Pentagon cannot be exempted from environmental regulations.
Second, full control over Wake Island and Johnston Atoll should immediately
be transferred from the Department of Defense to the Department of the
Interior - there's no reason that the Pentagon should have its own private
islands. Third, the people of Guam and the rest of the Northern Mariana
Islands should be given full control over the areas above and below the
water surrounding its territory in full accordance with international law.
To fulfill the Pacific marine reserve's promise of environmental protection
and conservation, environmental groups initially enthusiastic about the Bush
plan must unite with allies on Capitol Hill and a growing movement of those
critical of the Pentagon's expanding reach to press the new administration
to reverse this expansion. Those concerned about the environment must make
sure that the Pentagon does not use the mantle of environmental protection
as a cover for its profligate and environmentally damaging plans to use
military bases to control the Pacific. With around 1,000 military bases
outside the 50 states - each one a possible environmental disaster area -
now is the time when we should be closing and consolidating our overseas
bases, not finding new and increasingly stealthy ways to solidify their
presence.
Miriam Pemberton is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
David Vine is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University,
whose book about the military base on Diego Garcia, Island of Shame, will be
released in May by Princeton University Press. They are both contributors to
Foreign Policy In Focus.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6103
Friday, January 09, 2009
Amend Antiquities Act-Wespac
By Jayvee L. Vallejera
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Honolulu-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is urging the U.S. Congress to amend the Antiquities Act to require congressional approval of proposed monuments.
This comes in the wake of President George W. Bush's declaration Tuesday of three vast swaths in the Pacific as national marine monuments, using his executive powers under the hundred-year-old Act.
In a statement issued Thursday, Wespac voiced concern that Bush's use of the Antiquities Act to create the new marine monuments bypasses the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates an environmental review and prior consultation with indigenous people and other members of the public.
“The Antiquities Act should be amended to require congressional approval of proposed monuments as it has been done for Wyoming and Alaska and to require compliance to NEPA,” Wespac executive director Kitty Simonds said.
Wespac was one of those who had initially opposed the designation of the marine monuments.
The new marine monuments are composed of the three northernmost islands of the Northern Mariana Islands-Uracas, Asuncion, and Maug-and the Marianas Trench, the Rose Atoll in American Samoa, and a string of islands in the Pacific called the Line Islands, which include the Johnston Atoll and Wake Island. Bush's Tuesday proclamation bans commercial fishing in these areas but allows for recreational, sustenance and traditional indigenous fishing.
The Hawaii longline fishery currently fishes around Palmyra, Kingman and Johnston Atolls. The American purse seine fishery also operate within the U.S. Pacific remote island areas, and CNMI fishermen have harvested in the three northern islands of their island chain.
With commercial fishing now prohibited in these areas, Wespac believes this could put more pressure on other fishing grounds.
“The significant loss of fishing areas available to commercial fishermen in Hawaii and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands can be counterproductive to sustainable fishery goals,” Simonds said. “Reduction of available fishing areas often leads to increased fishing pressure in other areas.”
Despite misgivings, Wespac chair Sean Martin said, “The Council looks forward to continuing its work under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the presidential proclamations to protect everyone's interest in these areas,” said Wespac.
Wespac develops and amends fishery management plans for the U.S. Pacific Islands under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These plans and amendments are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implemented by the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.
With the new marine monuments, nearly a quarter of the U.S. exclusive economic zone waters surrounding the Pacific islands are now designated as marine protected areas, and the U.S. Pacific Islands account for half of the MPAs in the entire United States.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Honolulu-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is urging the U.S. Congress to amend the Antiquities Act to require congressional approval of proposed monuments.
This comes in the wake of President George W. Bush's declaration Tuesday of three vast swaths in the Pacific as national marine monuments, using his executive powers under the hundred-year-old Act.
In a statement issued Thursday, Wespac voiced concern that Bush's use of the Antiquities Act to create the new marine monuments bypasses the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates an environmental review and prior consultation with indigenous people and other members of the public.
“The Antiquities Act should be amended to require congressional approval of proposed monuments as it has been done for Wyoming and Alaska and to require compliance to NEPA,” Wespac executive director Kitty Simonds said.
Wespac was one of those who had initially opposed the designation of the marine monuments.
The new marine monuments are composed of the three northernmost islands of the Northern Mariana Islands-Uracas, Asuncion, and Maug-and the Marianas Trench, the Rose Atoll in American Samoa, and a string of islands in the Pacific called the Line Islands, which include the Johnston Atoll and Wake Island. Bush's Tuesday proclamation bans commercial fishing in these areas but allows for recreational, sustenance and traditional indigenous fishing.
The Hawaii longline fishery currently fishes around Palmyra, Kingman and Johnston Atolls. The American purse seine fishery also operate within the U.S. Pacific remote island areas, and CNMI fishermen have harvested in the three northern islands of their island chain.
With commercial fishing now prohibited in these areas, Wespac believes this could put more pressure on other fishing grounds.
“The significant loss of fishing areas available to commercial fishermen in Hawaii and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands can be counterproductive to sustainable fishery goals,” Simonds said. “Reduction of available fishing areas often leads to increased fishing pressure in other areas.”
Despite misgivings, Wespac chair Sean Martin said, “The Council looks forward to continuing its work under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the presidential proclamations to protect everyone's interest in these areas,” said Wespac.
Wespac develops and amends fishery management plans for the U.S. Pacific Islands under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These plans and amendments are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implemented by the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.
With the new marine monuments, nearly a quarter of the U.S. exclusive economic zone waters surrounding the Pacific islands are now designated as marine protected areas, and the U.S. Pacific Islands account for half of the MPAs in the entire United States.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Bordallo: Monument designation hurts 'local sovereignty'
WEDNESDAY, 07 JANUARY 2009 22:53
BY MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN | VARIETY NEWS STAFF
Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo vowed yesterday to work with her colleagues in the Committee on Natural Resources to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted on the development of a management plan for the three new national marine monuments that President Bush officially designated on Tuesday.
Bush proclaimed the Marianas Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the CNMI, Rose Atoll in American Samoa and seven islands strung along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean as sanctuaries protected under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
"While the portion of the new monument in the waters near Guam is confined to submerged features and is less restrictive than originally proposed, I remain concerned about the effect of this monument designation on local sovereignty," Bordallo said in a press statement.
The president's directive allows the government to immediately phase out waste dumping, as well as commercial fishing and other extractive uses.
However, recreational fishing, tourism and scientific research with a federal permit could still be allowed within the marine sanctuaries that Bush described as "three beautiful and biologically diverse areas of the Pacific Ocean."
Prohibited activities would not apply to military activities and exercises.
Disappointment
Bordallo expressed disappointment that Bush made the decision without acknowledging the input from local communities.
"I recognize that his intent is to protect our natural resources and our ocean ecosystem while also attempting to address the concerns of our fishermen on Guam, but I do not believe that this process was as inclusive and consultative as we would have preferred," she said.
"The Mariana Trench is an extraordinarily geologically rich resource and a special area of our ocean for undersea life that can best be protected going forward with increased consultation and cooperation between federal and local authorities," the congresswoman added.
Bordallo said she looks forward to "increased consultation" on the development of a management plan under the administration of President-elect Barack Obama who will officially take the helm of the White House on Jan 20.
Bush directs the secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to prepare management plans within their respective authorities and "promulgate implementing regulations that address any further specific actions necessary for the proper care and management of the objects identified" in the proclamation.
Blue legacy
The national monuments capped off an eight-year comprehensive ocean conservation strategy, which is touted to be Bush's "Blue Legacy."
According to the proclamation, the monument management plans would include programs to address "traditional access by indigenous persons….for culturally significant subsistence, cultural and religious uses within the monument."
It will also include a program to assess and promote monument-related scientific exploration and research, tourism, as well as recreational and economic activities and opportunities in the CNMI.
BY MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN | VARIETY NEWS STAFF
Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo vowed yesterday to work with her colleagues in the Committee on Natural Resources to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted on the development of a management plan for the three new national marine monuments that President Bush officially designated on Tuesday.
Bush proclaimed the Marianas Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the CNMI, Rose Atoll in American Samoa and seven islands strung along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean as sanctuaries protected under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
"While the portion of the new monument in the waters near Guam is confined to submerged features and is less restrictive than originally proposed, I remain concerned about the effect of this monument designation on local sovereignty," Bordallo said in a press statement.
The president's directive allows the government to immediately phase out waste dumping, as well as commercial fishing and other extractive uses.
However, recreational fishing, tourism and scientific research with a federal permit could still be allowed within the marine sanctuaries that Bush described as "three beautiful and biologically diverse areas of the Pacific Ocean."
Prohibited activities would not apply to military activities and exercises.
Disappointment
Bordallo expressed disappointment that Bush made the decision without acknowledging the input from local communities.
"I recognize that his intent is to protect our natural resources and our ocean ecosystem while also attempting to address the concerns of our fishermen on Guam, but I do not believe that this process was as inclusive and consultative as we would have preferred," she said.
"The Mariana Trench is an extraordinarily geologically rich resource and a special area of our ocean for undersea life that can best be protected going forward with increased consultation and cooperation between federal and local authorities," the congresswoman added.
Bordallo said she looks forward to "increased consultation" on the development of a management plan under the administration of President-elect Barack Obama who will officially take the helm of the White House on Jan 20.
Bush directs the secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to prepare management plans within their respective authorities and "promulgate implementing regulations that address any further specific actions necessary for the proper care and management of the objects identified" in the proclamation.
Blue legacy
The national monuments capped off an eight-year comprehensive ocean conservation strategy, which is touted to be Bush's "Blue Legacy."
According to the proclamation, the monument management plans would include programs to address "traditional access by indigenous persons….for culturally significant subsistence, cultural and religious uses within the monument."
It will also include a program to assess and promote monument-related scientific exploration and research, tourism, as well as recreational and economic activities and opportunities in the CNMI.
Marine monuments will support military’s needs
THURSDAY, 08 JANUARY 2009 00:00 BY GEMMA Q. CASAS - VARIETY NEWS STAFF
President Bush says the newly declared marine sanctuaries in the Pacific, which include the CNMI’s Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, will be used to help the U.S. armed forces fulfill its need to get adequate training, readiness and global mobility in and around the region to keep peace and security around the world.
Under the authority granted by the U.S. 1906 Antiquities Act, Bush signed three declarations on Jan. 6 placing the Marianas Trench, the waters around the three uninhabited northernmost islands of the CNMI and 21 undersea volcanoes, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the central Pacific Ocean and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
“On this occasion of the establishment of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, I confirm that the policy of the United States shall be to continue measures established in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument to protect the training, readiness, and global mobility of U.S. armed forces, and ensure protection of navigation rights and high seas freedoms under the law of the sea, which are essential to the peace and prosperity of civilized nations,” the president said.
“The security of America, the prosperity of its citizens, and the protection of the ocean environment are complementary and reinforcing priorities. As the United States takes measures to conserve and protect the living and non-living resources of the ocean, it shall ensure preservation of the navigation rights and high seas freedoms enjoyed by all nations under the law of the sea,” he added.
The three new Pacific monuments measure about 195,000 square miles and are the biggest marine sanctuaries in the world.
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Bush administration welcomes the presence of the military in and around the Marianas monument “because they will be some of our best eyes and ears as to what’s going on with the resource.”
Connaughton said the military buildup on Guam in the coming years will need the protected areas to do scientific research and other projects.
“The military will be flying their missions, and sailing their ships, and running their submarines in and around these areas. But I want to observe the active military activity will be taking place south of the Northern Islands, and so we have set this up in a way where it’s going to be fully compatible with those activities,” he added.
Under the nine-page declaration for the CNMI, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument will be managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Department of Defense.
Within three months after Jan. 6, an advisory council will be created.
The monument declaration essentially allows “the right of innocent passage in territorial seas, without requirement for prior notification to or permission from a coastal state.
It also grants the following rights to the U.S:
•The right of transit passage for ships, submarines, and aircraft in straits used for international navigation; a right that may not be suspended, denied, hampered, or impaired.
•The right of archipelagic sea lanes passage in designated sea lanes and air routes, and passage routes normally used for international navigation in archipelagic nations.
• The exercise of high seas freedoms in exclusive economic zones, including the conduct of military activities, exercises, and surveys.
President Bush says the newly declared marine sanctuaries in the Pacific, which include the CNMI’s Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, will be used to help the U.S. armed forces fulfill its need to get adequate training, readiness and global mobility in and around the region to keep peace and security around the world.
Under the authority granted by the U.S. 1906 Antiquities Act, Bush signed three declarations on Jan. 6 placing the Marianas Trench, the waters around the three uninhabited northernmost islands of the CNMI and 21 undersea volcanoes, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the central Pacific Ocean and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
“On this occasion of the establishment of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, I confirm that the policy of the United States shall be to continue measures established in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument to protect the training, readiness, and global mobility of U.S. armed forces, and ensure protection of navigation rights and high seas freedoms under the law of the sea, which are essential to the peace and prosperity of civilized nations,” the president said.
“The security of America, the prosperity of its citizens, and the protection of the ocean environment are complementary and reinforcing priorities. As the United States takes measures to conserve and protect the living and non-living resources of the ocean, it shall ensure preservation of the navigation rights and high seas freedoms enjoyed by all nations under the law of the sea,” he added.
The three new Pacific monuments measure about 195,000 square miles and are the biggest marine sanctuaries in the world.
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Bush administration welcomes the presence of the military in and around the Marianas monument “because they will be some of our best eyes and ears as to what’s going on with the resource.”
Connaughton said the military buildup on Guam in the coming years will need the protected areas to do scientific research and other projects.
“The military will be flying their missions, and sailing their ships, and running their submarines in and around these areas. But I want to observe the active military activity will be taking place south of the Northern Islands, and so we have set this up in a way where it’s going to be fully compatible with those activities,” he added.
Under the nine-page declaration for the CNMI, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument will be managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Department of Defense.
Within three months after Jan. 6, an advisory council will be created.
The monument declaration essentially allows “the right of innocent passage in territorial seas, without requirement for prior notification to or permission from a coastal state.
It also grants the following rights to the U.S:
•The right of transit passage for ships, submarines, and aircraft in straits used for international navigation; a right that may not be suspended, denied, hampered, or impaired.
•The right of archipelagic sea lanes passage in designated sea lanes and air routes, and passage routes normally used for international navigation in archipelagic nations.
• The exercise of high seas freedoms in exclusive economic zones, including the conduct of military activities, exercises, and surveys.
Marianas Trench declared marine national monument
By John Davis
Published Jan 7, 2009
Using a law enacted more than a century ago, President George W. Bush declared the Marianas Trench and two other areas in the Central Pacific marine national monuments. As one of his last major acts as commander in chief, Bush gave close to 200,000 square miles the special designation, which includes the Marianas Trench - the deepest point on earth.
Said the president, "This decision came after a lot of consultation, consultation with local officials, consultation with prominent scientists, consultation with environmental advocates, consultation with the United States military and the fishing community."
Evidently not included however in the consultations, at least as much as she would have hoped, was Guam congressional delegate Madeleine Bordallo. She told KUAM News via phone, "We were a little disappointed with the manner in which the president signed this into law and that was through the Antiquities Act and rather than going through a process going through Congress."
The president in making the declaration of the marine national monuments said it was the capstone of his eight-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation, adding the monuments are receiving our nation's highest level of environmental recognition and conservation. The declaration prohibits resource destruction, or extraction, waste dumping, and commercial fishing.
"They will allow for research, free passage and recreation," said Bush, "including the possibility of recreational fishing one day."
According to the president's executive order, the departments of the Interior and Commerce, as well as the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, have been tasked to come up with rules and regulations to manage and monitor the Marianas monument. Those rules and regs will include the authorization for traditional access by indigenous people for culturally significant subsidence, cultural and religious uses within the monument.
CNMI delegate Gregorio Sablan said of the decision, "Regrettably the president has used his executive powers under Antiquities Act, he's done this so now we'll have to do work closely with White House, the people of Guam and the CNMI have a say in the development of policies that will manage the program. The monument per se isn't a bad thing, the devil is in the details. So we need to be careful on how we write-up those details."
The CNMI government and the federal agencies have been given two years to prepare the management plans, which will perpetuate this blue legacy that President Bush has left behind. "As further research is conducted in these depths, we will learn more about life at the bottom of the sea and about the history of our planet."
Published Jan 7, 2009
Using a law enacted more than a century ago, President George W. Bush declared the Marianas Trench and two other areas in the Central Pacific marine national monuments. As one of his last major acts as commander in chief, Bush gave close to 200,000 square miles the special designation, which includes the Marianas Trench - the deepest point on earth.
Said the president, "This decision came after a lot of consultation, consultation with local officials, consultation with prominent scientists, consultation with environmental advocates, consultation with the United States military and the fishing community."
Evidently not included however in the consultations, at least as much as she would have hoped, was Guam congressional delegate Madeleine Bordallo. She told KUAM News via phone, "We were a little disappointed with the manner in which the president signed this into law and that was through the Antiquities Act and rather than going through a process going through Congress."
The president in making the declaration of the marine national monuments said it was the capstone of his eight-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation, adding the monuments are receiving our nation's highest level of environmental recognition and conservation. The declaration prohibits resource destruction, or extraction, waste dumping, and commercial fishing.
"They will allow for research, free passage and recreation," said Bush, "including the possibility of recreational fishing one day."
According to the president's executive order, the departments of the Interior and Commerce, as well as the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, have been tasked to come up with rules and regulations to manage and monitor the Marianas monument. Those rules and regs will include the authorization for traditional access by indigenous people for culturally significant subsidence, cultural and religious uses within the monument.
CNMI delegate Gregorio Sablan said of the decision, "Regrettably the president has used his executive powers under Antiquities Act, he's done this so now we'll have to do work closely with White House, the people of Guam and the CNMI have a say in the development of policies that will manage the program. The monument per se isn't a bad thing, the devil is in the details. So we need to be careful on how we write-up those details."
The CNMI government and the federal agencies have been given two years to prepare the management plans, which will perpetuate this blue legacy that President Bush has left behind. "As further research is conducted in these depths, we will learn more about life at the bottom of the sea and about the history of our planet."
Monday, October 27, 2008
Last day to submit testimony for Marianas Trench Monument
Monday, 27 October 2008 00:00 by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff
Today is the last day to submit written testimony in opposition to President George W. Bush's plan to designate and develop several Pacific atolls and reefs as marine sanctuaries which includes the Marianas Trench.
The president's executive order has local residents taking a stand against the proposal and teaming up with the CNMI government, which also opposes the order.
Testimonies can be faxed to 1-202-456-6546 or emailed to the Council on Environmental Quality in Washington D.C. at oceans@ceq.eop.govThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said that she was against the order. Last week, Bordallo met with members of the Guam Fisherman's Co-Op and its president Manny Duenas who will be submitting 300-500 petitions today to the congresswoman's office, which she will transmit to Washington.
Local fishermen stressed that they are not responsible for over-fishing in regional surrounding waters and should not be penalized for the acts in other jurisdictions that use gear and practices that do not support sustainable use or responsible conservation and management of fishing practices.
"The president cannot say that the marine life in our region is in danger because we are overfishing, because we aren't," Kenneth Quenga, a fisherman from Yona said. Quenga said that if this were the case, then President Bush should establish marine protected areas.
The Bush executive order recognizes the views of territorial governments, local governments and interested parties which have all demonstrated strong opposition to any form of arbitrary Presidential designation, according to a statement from the Guam Fisherman's Co-Op.
An April 30 letter states that "the White House will not consider any proposed project that hints of controversy."
Not the cause
According to the Marianas Fishing Community, fishermen are not the cause of the degradation of high seas fish stocks or the destruction of critical marine habitat. Fishermen have historically--nearly 4,000 years--proven to be excellent stewards of the ocean whereby the harvest is primarily consumed by the community.
Moreover, fishermen continue to provide sustenance to residents of their islands without the need to implement industrialized harvesting methods and should be allowed to continue to fish in the waters of the Marianas with traditional or modern effective fisheries management tools, according to MFC.
Members of the fishing community also stated that they support the existing management established by the U.S. Congress under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
The community also recognizes that the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council for several decades has banned the use of the trawl nets, gill nets and most recently purse seine.
The WPRFMC also established large closed areas whereby larger (50') scale fishing vessels are prohibited from entering, thus protecting seamounts from industrial resource extraction to include anchoring which adversely impacts the marine habitat.
Guthertz
Sen. Judi Guthertz has already submitted her testimony, stating that it would be unethical and imperialistic for the U.S. to place Guam's waters under a conservation regime without the approval of the people it is entrusted with.
"The United States should be in the process of transferring authority and governance to the people of Guam, not taking authority away from the local government," Guthertz said.
Guthertz said that if Bush wanted to leave a legacy, he should have taken steps to further the development of self-determination and self-government for Guam.
"He has done absolutely nothing for the past eight years. Just looking at a map in an office inside the beltway and dreaming of a 'blue Legacy' is a ridiculous exercise in imperialism," Guthertz said.
Today is the last day to submit written testimony in opposition to President George W. Bush's plan to designate and develop several Pacific atolls and reefs as marine sanctuaries which includes the Marianas Trench.
The president's executive order has local residents taking a stand against the proposal and teaming up with the CNMI government, which also opposes the order.
Testimonies can be faxed to 1-202-456-6546 or emailed to the Council on Environmental Quality in Washington D.C. at oceans@ceq.eop.govThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said that she was against the order. Last week, Bordallo met with members of the Guam Fisherman's Co-Op and its president Manny Duenas who will be submitting 300-500 petitions today to the congresswoman's office, which she will transmit to Washington.
Local fishermen stressed that they are not responsible for over-fishing in regional surrounding waters and should not be penalized for the acts in other jurisdictions that use gear and practices that do not support sustainable use or responsible conservation and management of fishing practices.
"The president cannot say that the marine life in our region is in danger because we are overfishing, because we aren't," Kenneth Quenga, a fisherman from Yona said. Quenga said that if this were the case, then President Bush should establish marine protected areas.
The Bush executive order recognizes the views of territorial governments, local governments and interested parties which have all demonstrated strong opposition to any form of arbitrary Presidential designation, according to a statement from the Guam Fisherman's Co-Op.
An April 30 letter states that "the White House will not consider any proposed project that hints of controversy."
Not the cause
According to the Marianas Fishing Community, fishermen are not the cause of the degradation of high seas fish stocks or the destruction of critical marine habitat. Fishermen have historically--nearly 4,000 years--proven to be excellent stewards of the ocean whereby the harvest is primarily consumed by the community.
Moreover, fishermen continue to provide sustenance to residents of their islands without the need to implement industrialized harvesting methods and should be allowed to continue to fish in the waters of the Marianas with traditional or modern effective fisheries management tools, according to MFC.
Members of the fishing community also stated that they support the existing management established by the U.S. Congress under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
The community also recognizes that the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council for several decades has banned the use of the trawl nets, gill nets and most recently purse seine.
The WPRFMC also established large closed areas whereby larger (50') scale fishing vessels are prohibited from entering, thus protecting seamounts from industrial resource extraction to include anchoring which adversely impacts the marine habitat.
Guthertz
Sen. Judi Guthertz has already submitted her testimony, stating that it would be unethical and imperialistic for the U.S. to place Guam's waters under a conservation regime without the approval of the people it is entrusted with.
"The United States should be in the process of transferring authority and governance to the people of Guam, not taking authority away from the local government," Guthertz said.
Guthertz said that if Bush wanted to leave a legacy, he should have taken steps to further the development of self-determination and self-government for Guam.
"He has done absolutely nothing for the past eight years. Just looking at a map in an office inside the beltway and dreaming of a 'blue Legacy' is a ridiculous exercise in imperialism," Guthertz said.
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