- Target:
- President Donald Trump
- Region:
- United States of America
Hi,
The Trump administration’s review of marine national monuments and sanctuaries will determine whether the monuments created by President George W. Bush and later expanded by President Barack Obama are canceled, shrunk, or have significant aspects of their management plans changed (e.g., opening up to commercial fishing inside the reserves). U.S. marine monuments in the Pacific are massive, encompassing around 411 million acres, or about 1.5 times the size of Texas. Covering almost 25% of the U.S. exclusive economic zone, the loss of these highly protected marine reserves would seriously impact our oceans and send a terrible signal to the rest of the world as it tries to reach 10% of the ocean protected from extraction.
That's why I created a petition to President Donald Trump.
The country’s marine national monuments and sanctuaries, home to a tremendous diversity and richness of ocean life, are of significant scientific, historic, and cultural value. Designated under the Antiquities Act, these National Monuments and sanctuaries constitute the first generation of blue parks bestowed on our nation.
An attempt to roll back protections in order to allow energy and mineral exploration or commercial fishing in any one of these monuments and sanctuaries imperils our country’s cultural and scientific legacy and natural heritage. We strongly urge you to maintain the current protections for all marine national monuments and sanctuaries.
Our diverse U.S. marine monuments and sanctuaries protect a rich array of ocean species and their habitats, including deep sea ecosystems considered to support some of the rarest and unique ecological communities in the world. These habitats in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts are home to sperm whales, Atlantic puffins, and lush deep sea coral gardens, including one of the planet’s oldest organisms, black corals. Other species may contain chemical compounds of biomedical importance. The Pacific monuments protect hundreds of seamounts (underwater mountains), which are hotspots of biodiversity, and places like the Marianas Trench are home to hydrothermal vents, active volcanoes, and the deepest trench on the planet. These sensitive ecosystems are some of the least explored in the world. Maintaining these monuments and sanctuaries’ boundaries allows for the continued discovery of new deep sea species in addition to providing nursery and spawning habitats for commercially valuable fish while also protecting thousands of threatened species.
I am confident that your review pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order will find that each marine national monument and sanctuary was established with broad public support and adequate consultation with Federal, State, and tribal governments.
I write to add my voice and show the strong public desire that monuments and sanctuaries not be altered or eliminated, and that the U.S. maintain all of the current protections for these diverse marine ecosystems. These unique places benefit all Americans, including future generations.
I urge you to support the following list of marine national monuments and sanctuaries and recommend the boundaries and protections remain as they are today. Please consider all enclosed documents as official public comment for Docket No. NOAA-NOS-2017-0066.
AMERICAN SAMOA
Rose Atoll
National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa
CALIFORNIA
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
HAWAII
Papahānaumokuākea
Pacific Remote Islands
MARIANA ISLANDS
Marianas Trench
MICHIGAN
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
NEW ENGLAND
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Save OUR Marine Monuments and Sanctuaries petition to President Donald Trump was written by Amanda Johnson and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.