Northwestern Hawaiian Islands must be protected

June 7, 2005 | Honolulu Advertiser | Letters and Commentary

By MCBI Chief Scientist Lance Morgan

A recent article ("Plan for marine refuge opposed," May 23, by Jan TenBruggencate) reported on the unhappiness of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council with Rep. Ed Case's proposal for a marine refuge around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). In recent years the NWHI lobster fishery has twice been closed and remains so under court order, black coral around Hawai`i shows declines that have led to a proposed harvest moratorium, and the critically endangered monk seal continues toward extinction.

Under WesPac oversight, we are now witnessing declines of some key fishery indicators for bottomfish in the NWHI. Furthermore, we do not even possess the data necessary to properly evaluate the status of many populations.

The Hawai`i public has repeatedly shown its overwhelming support for full protection in the NWHI. Protections in federal waters should match the full protection recently passed in state NWHI waters to ensure that species are not harmed merely by crossing an imaginary boundary.

The NWHI ecosystem is a fragile one, where even a small amount of fishing could have a high ecological price tag. More to the point, the area has much greater value as a fully protected coral reef ecosystem than as yet another area of economically marginal exploitation.

One-hundred fifty years ago, the seeds of our national park system were planted at Yellowstone. It is high time we started saving our marine Yellowstone.