Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Coordinates: 22 ° 47 '47.2 "  N , 161 ° 57' 37.6"  W.
Location:	Hawaii , United States
Specialty:	Islands and marine areas in the Pacific Ocean
Next city:	Honolulu
Surface:	1,510,000 km²
Founding:	June 15, 2006

Papahānaumokuākea
UNESCO world heritage
Style sea urchins in the reef of the French Frigate Shoals
National territory:	United States
Type:	Culture, nature
Criteria :	iii, vi, viii, ix, x
Reference No .:	1326
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	2010  (session 34)

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (previously Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument ) was the largest marine reserve in the world with an area of ​​1.5 million km² until the end of 2016 , until the " Ross Sea Protected Area " (1.55 million km²) was designated. in Antarctica . It includes the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the surrounding sea area. The National Monument was proclaimed on June 15, 2006 by the incumbent US President George W. Bush and was given a traditional Hawaiian name on March 2, 2007 . In 2010 the area was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List for its ecological value and importance to the Hawaiian indigenous people . At the end of August 2016, the outgoing US President Barack Obama quadrupled the protected area to 1.5 million km², almost the size of Mongolia ; commercial fishing has been banned outside the Hawaiian 200-mile zone .

area

As the 75th US National Monument, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument protects all islands in northwestern Hawaii under the joint direction of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The reserve includes atolls , coral reefs and adjacent marine areas in the Pacific Ocean with a total area of ​​approximately 1,510,000 km² (582,578 square miles), which is roughly four times the area of Germany .

In August 2016, the US President Barack Obama expanded the area (as did George W. Bush in 2006 when applying the executive rights of the US President ) to more than fourfold; previously, the area covered an area of ​​362,000 km². The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument not only replaced the Parc naturel de la mer de Corail in New Caledonia as the world's largest marine reserve , but was also the largest nature reserve on earth.

For traditional Hawaiians, the archipelago has a special meaning as the origin of life and the place to which the spirit of the people returns after death. The islands convey the relationship between people and the environment and symbolize a cosmological balance. On the islands of Nihoa and Mokumanamana , settlements of traditional culture were found and archaeologically evaluated before contact with whites.

Flora and fauna (fauna and flora)

The shelter provides protection for over 7000 species, some of which are endemic , which are now endangered or threatened with extinction . Known animal species include the green turtle ( Chelonia mydas , also known as green sea turtle, hawaiian : Honu ), the Hawaiian monk seal ( monachus schauinslandi , hawaiian : Sila Hawaii ), the gray reef shark ( Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos ), the Laysan Duck ( Anas laysanensis ) or the Laysanalbatros ( Phoebastria immutabilis ). One of the plants that the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument protects is the Nihoa palm ( Pritchardia remota ).

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  Hawaiian monk seal ( Monachus schauinslandi )
  and Laysanalbatros

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  Hawaiian variety of green turtle ( Chelonia mydas )

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  Whitetip reef shark ( Triaenodon obesus )

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  Great Frigatebird ( Fregata minor )

criticism

The establishment of the nature reserve was criticized mainly by fishermen and business people in Hawaii, who lose fishing grounds and, depending on the handling of the permit system, tourism income. Due to the expansion of the area, 60 percent of the waters off Hawaii are no longer usable for commercial fishing.

See also

• List of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands

Web links

Commons : Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• NOAA: Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument (Official Site )
• Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - trivia, photos (English)
• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. USFWS , archived from the original on August 22, 2006 ; accessed on August 28, 2016 . 
2. ^ Secretary Kempthorne joins Mrs. Laura Bush in Announcing Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. United States Department of the Interior , March 2, 2007, archived from the original on September 29, 2007 ; accessed on August 28, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument: naming ( memento of the original dated August 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) 
4. ↑ ^{a b} badische-zeitung.de , Panorama , August 29, 2016: Obama protects the ocean (December 28, 2016)
5. ↑ Obama creates world's largest marine sanctuary , Spiegel Online, August 27, 2016