Our country needs more—not fewer—marine national monuments
Imagine standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, marveling at ancient layers of rock, the distant ribbon of the Colorado River, and the purity of an immense environment teeming with flora and fauna. Now imagine shrugging and stepping aside as mining and drilling companies move in to destroy eons of geologic artistry.
Almost unthinkable. Yet something similar could happen to some of the country’s most spectacular and biodiverse ocean environments if the Trump Administration follows through on its threats to weaken or eliminate protections in some of our country’s marine national monuments.
According to NOAA, these areas, including those targeted by the White House—the Pacific Remote Islands, Rose Atoll, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts marine national monuments—were created “to protect…abundant and diverse coral, fish, and seabird populations; facilitate exploration and scientific research; and promote public education regarding the value of these national treasures.”
That value is enormous. Marine monuments and other highly protected areas of the ocean are safe havens for sea life to feed, breed, and flourish. Even better, these whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish, corals and other organisms swim and spread outside the protected areas’ boundaries, enriching nearby fisheries and ecosystems.
Scientists tell us the ocean is disproportionately harmed by climate change, absorbing more carbon and in most cases heating up faster than land areas. An increasing number of studies show that the wildlife in safeguarded areas—and in fact, the areas themselves—are more resilient to climate change than are unprotected regions, and that they recover faster after disruptions such as heat waves and hurricanes. With the global climate crisis unfolding in real time, the ocean and its creatures need places to heal and recover. And they need it now.
For coastal residents, tourists, communities, and economies, the benefits of ocean sanctuaries are significant: cleaner seas, more species thriving, and an ecosystem in balance. This in turn helps seafood businesses, anglers, fishing charters, whale watching outfitters, and so many others.
The positive and widespread impact of ocean safe havens calls to mind the words of President Theodore Roosevelt when he designated the Grand Canyon as a national monument in 1908. “You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and all who come after you.”
He was the first of 17 presidents—nine republicans and eight democrats—to use the 1906 Antiquities Act to safeguard extraordinary expanses of land or ocean. These decisions were not made lightly, and many of the designations—including the Grand Canyon—came over the objections of corporate interests bent on exploiting the lands or waters for short-term profit. It is worth pointing out that, over the long term, none of the industries that opposed land or marine protections suffered major declines as a result of losing those fights.
It’s clear that the U.S. needs more, not fewer, marine monuments, and that these areas should cover a broader range of habitats, including seagrass beds, kelp and mangrove forests, deep-sea corals and more. Right now less than three percent of the ocean worldwide is fully protected—meaning that no extractive activity is allowed.
That’s a paltry number, considering what’s at stake. Aside from the benefits noted above, the ocean harbors a mind-boggling array of irreplaceable life. These include the world’s oldest known living organism—a species of black coral that began growing more than 4,200 years ago, around the time ancient Egyptians were building the pyramids. Today that coral is soldiering on in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the northwest Hawaiian Islands, protected—for now—from human destruction. Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, the only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, is home to corals that thrive more than 12,000 feet beneath the surface as part of a diverse and extraordinary ecosystem. The monument’s signature canyons and seamounts conspire to steer currents that carry food for whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, and many more species that live in or migrate through the area.
Those are just a snapshot of the wonders and benefits found within our marine monuments. Although most of us will never stand at the edge of these places and marvel at their beauty, we can all see the value in protecting them—for ocean life and for us, our children, and grandchildren.
By reducing or eliminating existing monuments, our leaders would essentially be putting the interests of a few over the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people and the planet they call home. Americans wouldn’t tolerate that in the Grand Canyon, and we shouldn’t stand for it in our ocean either.