IN the US, President Barack Obama has signed a proclamation which will make the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument the largest marine reserve in the world.
According to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument falls within the Central Pacific Ocean, ranging from Wake Atoll in the northwest to Jarvis Island in the southeast.
The reserve will now be nearly 490,000 square miles, about three times the size of California and six times larger than its previous size.
Australia’s anglers will no doubt take note that while this proclamation bans commercial fishing, deep-sea mining and other commercial extraction methods, recreational fishing will be allowed, with permits.
“Going back to his first campaign, the President has said that his agenda regarding access to public lands is going to be one that ensures the outdoors is available to the next generation,” said American Sportfishing Association President and CEO Mike Nussman.
“Acknowledging that recreational fishing is a sustainable use of a public resource, especially in one as pristine and special as this area of the Pacific, is a distinction for which the recreational fishing community has been advocating for many years. We thank the administration for making the distinction between a recreational activity that millions of Americans enjoy each day and commercial fishing.”
The expanded monument will continue to be managed by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration respectively. According to the administration, the agencies will develop management plans for the area pursuant to their respective authorities under the Antiquities Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and other relevant authorities to ensure proper care and management of the Monument.
Nussman further said, “By permitting recreational fishing, the administration recognizes that it is a compatible and sustainable activity and ensures that recreational fishing will continue to be managed as such. Recreational fishing in freshwater has long been embraced by natural resource managers as an appropriate use of this public resource. I’m pleased that the administration is bringing the same understanding to our nation’s saltwater resources.”
With the recent unsuccessful push by green groups led by Pew to close the Coral Sea to rec fishing, the question has to be asked why this enlightened example of marine parks policy, which bans destructive forms of commercial fishing while allowing sustainable rec fishing, can’t be adopted in Australia?
