Northwest of Kaua’i and the other major Hawaiian islands, in the Hawaiian archipelago’s northwest, is where you’ll find Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument. The Monument covers around 587,578 sq mi (1,508,870 sq km) of the Pacific Ocean, making it one of the world’s largest, most distant, and completely uninhabited maritime regions.
The Monument, which stretches over 1,350 miles (1,173 nm/2,173 km), is littered with tiny islands, islets, reefs, shoals, submerged banks, and atolls that range in latitude from subtropical to almost the northernmost extent of coral reef growth.
To create one of the biggest fully protected marine conservation areas in the world, President George W. Bush designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) as the Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument on June 15, 2006. The NWHI’s mo’o k’auhau, or genealogy, now includes the Monument designation, making it clear that this area is significant to Native Hawaiians (kanaka ‘iwi) as well as to the United States and the rest of the world.
Three co-trustees—the State of Hawaii, the US Department of the Interior through the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the US Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—are in charge of managing the Monument (NOAA).
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The co-trustees are dedicated to upholding the ecosystems of the NWHI, Native Hawaiian culture, and other historic resources, as well as the ecological integrity of the Monument. On August 29, 2006, NOAA and FWS published the Monument’s final regulations under 50 CFR Part 404. The boundaries, classifications, restrictions, and regulated activities for managing the Monument are codified in these rules.
Additionally, on December 8, 2006, the co-trustees created and approved a Memorandum of Agreement outlining the responsibilities of the coordinating authorities and processes for managing the Monument. The Memorandum of Agreement also calls on the co-trustees to create a Monument Management Plan to ensure the integrated management of the Monument’s terrestrial resources, cultural and historic resources, coral reef ecosystems and adjacent marine environments.
The co-trustees used the plan created by NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program through the public sanctuary designation process and updated it as necessary to create the Monument Management Plan.
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