President Bush will create three national monuments in the Pacific Ocean today, protecting waters near U.S.-controlled islands that contain some of the world's richest diversity of corals, fish and other sea life as well as unusual geological formations in the deepest undersea trench.
Jarvis Island, where blue plate coral thrive, is part of the national marine monuments being created by President Bush and is home to Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. Shallow reefs surround the island, but a broad submerged reef terrace extends off the eastern shore. Live coral covers about 50 percent of the reef terrace, and about 50 species of corals have been reported at Jarvis, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A researcher counts fish near a coral reef at Palmyra Atoll, south of the Hawaiian Islands. The monument designations will ban most commercial fishing and will vastly limit recreational fishing, or fishing by indigenous people or researchers. In all of the protected areas, seafloor mining will be prohibited
Jarvis Island, where blue plate coral thrive, is part of the national marine monuments being created by President Bush and is home to Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. Shallow reefs surround the island, but a broad submerged reef terrace extends off the eastern shore. Live coral covers about 50 percent of the reef terrace, and about 50 species of corals have been reported at Jarvis, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A researcher counts fish near a coral reef at Palmyra Atoll, south of the Hawaiian Islands. The monument designations will ban most commercial fishing and will vastly limit recreational fishing, or fishing by indigenous people or researchers. In all of the protected areas, seafloor mining will be prohibited
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