Papahānaumokuakea Marine National Monument lies almost 800 nautical miles northwest of Kauai. Politically, it is defined as Census Tract 114.98 of Honolulu County. In Hawaiian tradition, it is where life began, and where the spirits return after death. It is important enough to have captured the attention of four US Presidents; Theodore Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Yet, it is unknown to the average mainland citizen.
In 1909, Theodore Roosevelt declared the Northwestern Hawaiian chain a bird sanctuary. It remained an out of the way sanctuary until ninety-one years later when Bill Clinton designated the area as an ecosystem reserve. Then, in 2006, George W. Bush issued a public proclamation creating Papahānaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which set aside139,000 square miles of ocean for protection. Barack Obama’s 2016 expansion of the monument’s area to approximately four times as originally created, made it, at that time, the world’s largest marine protected area.
Native Hawaiians tell stories of how their ancestors traveled the ocean miles between the main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Archaeological evidence backs up their oral history.
Hawaiians felt an obligation to care of what fed them, and understood the connections between islands and their waters. The rest of the world has finally caught up with that kind of thinking.
Guano miners, feather hunters, and fisherman frequented the Northwestern Islands in the 19th and early 20th centuries, mindlessly wiping out birds, and sea life. They introduced rabbits to two of the islands, Laysan and Lisianski. The pests multiplied, devouring most of the vegetation, causing the extinction of several species.
With the help of conservationists, the rabbit damage has been reversed, and the two islands have almost been restored to their original state. These days, clean-up crews are kept busy removing washed-up trash, plastics, fishing nets, and lines from all of the islands. Their efforts are winning some of the battle. Because seventy-percent of the United States’ coral reefs are found throughout these islands, it is a big battle.
