Obama is creating the world's largest marine sanctuary off Hawaii

In 2006, President George W. Bush created a national marine sanctuary off the coast of Hawaii, and on Friday, President Obama is more than quadrupling its size, to 582,578 square miles, from 139,800, making the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument more than 50 times larger than the Hawaiian Islands themselves and the largest protected area on Earth. The expanded designation will put the biologically rich and diverse waters under protection of the Endangered Species Act, prohibiting commercial fishing and drilling, but allowing recreational fishing and traditional Hawaiian activity with a permit.

The area was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 2010, and Matt Rand at the Pew Charitable Trusts says the Papahānaumokuākea (pronounced "Papa-ha-now-mow-koo-ah-kay-ah") marine sanctuary will "offer a glimpse of what our planet was like before the impacts of human activity, and it is critical that we preserve places in this way, both as a window to the past and for future generations.” Longline fishing businesses opposed the expansion, though federal officials put the amount of commercial fishing displaced by the new protections at just 5 percent.

Obama will visit the area next week, addressing Pacific Island leaders and conservation conferences in Hawaii then visiting the expanded monument at Midway Atoll, before heading off to China for a Group of 20 summit. Only Congress can create a national park, but presidents can unilaterally declare national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, and and Obama has so far designated more than 548 million acres of federal lands and water, more than double the amount protected by any of his predecessors.

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