President Bush actually protects 195,280 square miles of ocean ecosystems. WOW!!!!

Today, In a move that puts his conservation record on par with some of the country’s greenest leaders, President Bush today created three marine national monuments that will protect 195,280 square miles of vulnerable island and ocean ecosystems in the Pacific, as reported in the Washington Post. The announcement is in sharp contrast with Bush’s record on other environmental issues such as climate change and drilling. The designation will drastically cut oil and gas exploration in the areas, as well as commercial fishing. Permits will be required for recreational fishing. Bush also set aside more than 138,000 square miles of marine reserve in 2006, which means that by the end of his term he will have conserved more ocean than anyone in history.

President George W. Bush is stepping up on Tuesday at a White House ceremony to designate three  Pacific island areas as national monuments to protect them from energy exploratation and extraction, commercial fishing, and commercial uses.   It will be the largest marine conservation effort in history.The marine areas — totaling 195,280 square miles  are:

• The northern Pacific, waters at the northern end of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on earth at 36,000 feet below the sea.
• In American Samoa, the Rose Atoll — the world’s smallest coral atoll and one of the most remote.
• The central Pacific, coral reefs, pinnacles, sea mounts, islands and surrounding waters of Johnston Atoll, Howland, Baker and Jarvis Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island. These areas harbor some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world.

The protected areas will extend 50 nautical miles off the coral reefs and atolls at the three monuments, which will be officially called the Marianas Marine National Monument, Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The Marianas will  get a visitors center, an enforcement boat, co-management, an advisory council to the monument, and provide federal jobs. Each location harbors unique species and some of the rarest geological formations on Earth — from the world’s largest land crab to a bird that incubates its eggs in the heat of underwater volcanoes. The Marianas monument is especially significant given the scientific value of the trench and underwater volcanoes that form part of the Pacific Rim’s “Ring of Fire.”  Advocacy groups were pushing for 200 nautical miles, the full extent of the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

All will be protected as national monuments — the same status afforded to statues and cultural sites — under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The law allows the government to immediately phase out commercial fishing and other extractive uses. However, recreational fishing, tourism and scientific research could still occur inside the three areas. Commercial fishing will reportedly be allowed in the waters over the Mariana Trench. The monument will only protect the rim of the canyon and its depths. The canyon is deeper than Mt. Everest is tall and five times the size of the Grand Canyon. The Obama administration will have to decide how the areas will be managed, and make sure the prohibitions are enforced.