Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion, 58645-58650 [X14-10929]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 188 (Monday, September 29, 2014)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 58645-58650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X14-10929]



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Vol. 79

Monday,

No. 188

September 29, 2014

Part VII





The President





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Proclamation 9173--Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument 
Expansion


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 79 , No. 188 / Monday, September 29, 2014 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

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                Proclamation 9173 of September 25, 2014

                
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument 
                Expansion

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Through Proclamation 8336 of January 6, 2009, the 
                President established the Pacific Remote Islands Marine 
                National Monument (``Monument'') to protect and 
                preserve the marine environment around Wake, Baker, 
                Howland, and Jarvis Islands, Johnston and Palmyra 
                Atolls, and Kingman Reef for the care and management of 
                the historic and scientific objects therein. The 
                Monument is an important part of the most widespread 
                collection of marine- and terrestrial-life protected 
                areas on the planet, sustaining many endemic species 
                including corals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, 
                seabirds, water birds, land birds, insects, and 
                vegetation not found elsewhere. The Monument includes 
                the lands, waters, and submerged and emergent lands of 
                the seven Pacific Remote Islands to lines of latitude 
                and longitude that lie approximately 50 nautical miles 
                from the mean low water lines of those seven Pacific 
                Remote Islands. The islands of Jarvis, Howland, and 
                Baker were also the location of notable bravery and 
                sacrifice by a small number of voluntary Hawaiian 
                colonists, known as Hui Panala`au, who occupied the 
                islands from 1935 to 1942 to help secure the U.S. 
                territorial claim over the islands.

                The area around the Monument includes the waters and 
                submerged lands to the extent of the seaward limit of 
                the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (``U.S. 
                EEZ'') up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline from 
                which the breadth of the territorial sea of these seven 
                Pacific Remote Islands is measured. The U.S. EEZ areas 
                adjacent to Wake and Jarvis Islands and Johnston Atoll 
                (``adjacent areas'') contain significant objects of 
                scientific interest that are part of this highly 
                pristine deep sea and open ocean ecosystem with unique 
                biodiversity. These adjacent areas hold a large number 
                of undersea mountains (``seamounts'') that may provide 
                habitat for colonies of deepwater corals many thousands 
                of years old. These adjacent areas' pelagic environment 
                provides habitat and forage for tunas, turtles, manta 
                rays, sharks, cetaceans, and seabirds that have evolved 
                with a foraging technique that depends on large marine 
                predators.

                A significant geological feature of the adjacent areas 
                is the undersea mountains. A seamount is a mountain 
                rising from the seabed that does not reach the sea 
                surface. Most often seamounts occur in chains or 
                clusters. Nearly all of the seamounts in the adjacent 
                areas are volcanoes: some are still erupting actively, 
                and others stopped erupting long ago. The Monument 
                includes 33 seamounts; the adjacent areas include 
                approximately 132 more. The additional seamounts 
                provide important opportunities for scientific 
                exploration and study. Estimates are that 15 to 44 
                percent of the species on a seamount or seamount group 
                are found nowhere else on Earth. Roughly 5 to 10 
                percent of invertebrates found on each survey of a 
                seamount are new to science. Some seamounts have pools 
                of undiscovered species. The approximately 132 
                seamounts in the adjacent areas provide the opportunity 
                for identification and discovery of many species not 
                yet known to humans, with possibilities for research, 
                medicines, and other important uses.

[[Page 58646]]

                The adjacent areas also provide an important ecosystem 
                for scientific study and research. The pristine waters 
                provide a baseline comparison for important scientific 
                research that monitors and evaluates impacts of global 
                climate change, including benchmarking coral bleaching 
                and ocean acidification. The scale of the adjacent 
                areas significantly enhances opportunities for such 
                scientific research beyond the Monument boundaries 
                established in Proclamation 8336.

                The available scientific information indicates that the 
                adjacent areas include important deep-coral species. 
                For example, sampling from the U.S. Line Islands has 
                identified deep-sea coral species not previously 
                recorded from the central Pacific. Tropical coral reefs 
                and associated marine ecosystems are among the most 
                vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change and 
                ocean acidification. Protection of the ecosystem in the 
                adjacent areas will provide the scientific opportunity 
                to identify and further study the important deep sea 
                corals.

                The adjacent areas provide significant habitat and 
                range for species identified in Proclamation 8336. They 
                include waters used by five species of protected 
                turtles. In addition to the Green and Hawksbill turtles 
                that use the near-shore waters of the Monument, the 
                adjacent areas include waters used by the endangered 
                leatherback, loggerhead, and Olive Ridley turtles. All 
                five species use the adjacent areas for their migratory 
                paths and feeding grounds.

                The adjacent areas provide the foraging habitat for 
                several of the world's largest remaining colonies of 
                Sooty Terns, Lesser Frigatebirds, Red-footed Boobies, 
                Red-tailed Tropicbirds, and other seabird species. Many 
                of these wide-ranging species make foraging trips of 
                300 miles or more from their colonies on the Monument's 
                islands, atolls, and reefs. For example, since the 
                Monument was established, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
                Service biologists have documented the return of 
                seabird populations once absent at Johnston Atoll, 
                including Great Frigatebirds, Sooty Terns, Red-tailed 
                Tropicbirds, and other species that are known to feed 
                as much as 300 to 600 miles offshore. Jarvis Island 
                alone has nearly three million nesting pairs of Sooty 
                Terns, which forage more than 300 miles from shore even 
                when rearing chicks on the island. These seabirds 
                forage, in part, by seeking schools of tuna and other 
                large marine predators that drive prey fish to the 
                surface. Black-footed and Laysan Albatross, species 
                that forage across the entire North Pacific, recently 
                recolonized Wake Atoll, making it one of the few 
                northern albatross colonies outside of the Hawaiian 
                archipelago. At Jarvis Island, the Monument and its 
                adjacent area provide an important undisturbed 
                ecosystem that supports many rare seabird species, 
                including the endangered White-throated Storm-petrel.

                Manta rays are abundant around the Monument's reefs. 
                Since the Monument was established, scientific research 
                on manta ray movement has shown that manta rays 
                frequently travel over 600 nautical miles away from the 
                coastal environment, and well outside of the Monument 
                boundaries established in Proclamation 8336. Scientific 
                study of the multi-species ecological cycle at the 
                Monument illustrates a very diverse and balanced 
                habitat used by manta rays, many of which are found in 
                the adjacent areas.

                The ecosystem of the Monument and adjacent areas also 
                is part of the larger Pacific ecosystem. The Monument 
                land and atoll groups and the adjacent areas share 
                geographic isolation, as well as climate, bathymetric, 
                geologic, and wildlife characteristics that define them 
                as individual biogeographic regions. However, the 
                Pacific Remote Islands area, including the adjacent 
                areas, is tied together by regional oceanographic 
                currents that drive marine species larval transport and 
                adult migrations that shape the broader Pacific 
                ecosystem.

                WHEREAS the waters and submerged lands surrounding 
                Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll from the 
                lines of latitude and longitude depicted on the maps 
                accompanying Proclamation 8336 to the seaward limit of 
                the U.S. EEZ of the three Pacific Remote Islands 
                contain objects of historic

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                or scientific interest that are situated upon lands 
                owned or controlled by the Government of the United 
                States;

                WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 
                225, 16 U.S.C. 431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), 
                authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare 
                by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and 
                prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic 
                or scientific interest that are situated upon lands 
                owned or controlled by the Government of the United 
                States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a 
                part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in 
                all cases shall be confined to the smallest area 
                compatible with the proper care and management of the 
                objects to be protected;

                WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve the 
                marine environment, including the waters and submerged 
                lands, in the U.S. EEZ adjacent to the Monument at 
                Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll for the care 
                and management of the historic and scientific objects 
                therein;

                WHEREAS the security of the United States, the 
                prosperity of its citizens, and the protection of the 
                ocean environment are complementary and reinforcing 
                priorities; and the United States continues to act with 
                due regard for the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of 
                the sea enjoyed by other nations under the law of the 
                sea in managing the Pacific Remote Islands Marine 
                National Monument and adjacent areas, and does not 
                compromise the readiness, training, and global mobility 
                of U.S. Armed Forces when establishing marine protected 
                areas:

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 2 of the Antiquities Act, do hereby proclaim 
                the objects identified above that are situated upon 
                lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the 
                Government of the United States to be part of the 
                Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument 
                Expansion (``Monument Expansion'') and, for the purpose 
                of protecting those objects, reserve as a part thereof 
                all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by 
                the Government of the United States within the 
                boundaries described on the accompanying maps entitled 
                ``Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument 
                Expansion'' attached hereto, which form a part of this 
                proclamation. The Monument Expansion includes the 
                waters and submerged lands of Jarvis and Wake Islands 
                and Johnston Atoll that lie from the Pacific Remote 
                Islands Marine National Monument boundary established 
                in Proclamation 8336 to the seaward limit of the U.S. 
                EEZ (as established in Proclamation 5030 of March 10, 
                1983) of Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll. 
                The Federal lands and interests in lands reserved 
                consist of approximately 308,316 square nautical miles, 
                which is the smallest area compatible with the proper 
                care and management of the objects to be protected.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries of the Monument Expansion are hereby 
                appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, 
                location, selection, sale, leasing, or other 
                disposition under the public land laws to the extent 
                that those laws apply. Lands and interests in lands 
                within the Monument Expansion not owned or controlled 
                by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the 
                Monument Expansion upon acquisition of title or control 
                by the United States.

                Management of the Marine National Monument

                Nothing in this proclamation shall change the 
                management of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine 
                National Monument as specified in Proclamation 8336. 
                The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the 
                Secretary of Commerce, shall have primary 
                responsibility for management of the Monument Expansion 
                pursuant to applicable legal authorities. The Secretary 
                of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and 
                Atmospheric Administration, and in consultation with 
                the Secretary of the Interior, shall within the 
                Monument Expansion have primary responsibility with 
                respect to fishery-

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                related activities regulated pursuant to the Magnuson-
                Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
                U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), and any other applicable legal 
                authorities. The Secretaries of the Interior and 
                Commerce shall not allow or permit any appropriation, 
                injury, destruction, or removal of any object of the 
                Monument Expansion except as provided for by this 
                proclamation and shall prohibit commercial fishing 
                within the boundaries of the Monument Expansion.

                The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce shall take 
                appropriate action pursuant to their respective 
                authorities under the Antiquities Act, the Magnuson-
                Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and 
                such other authorities as may be available to implement 
                this proclamation, to regulate fisheries, and to ensure 
                proper care and management of the Monument Expansion.

                The United States shall continue to preserve the 
                freedom of the seas (i.e., all of the rights, freedoms, 
                and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international 
                law enjoyed by all nations, including the conduct of 
                military activities, exercises, and surveys in or over 
                the exclusive economic zone), and to protect the 
                training, readiness, and global mobility of U.S. Armed 
                Forces as U.S. national interests that are essential to 
                the peace and prosperity of civilized nations.

                The Secretary of Defense shall continue to manage Wake 
                Island and Johnston Atoll as specified in Proclamation 
                8336.

                Regulation of Scientific Exploration and Research

                Subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary 
                of the Interior or Commerce, as appropriate, deems 
                necessary for the care and management of the objects of 
                the Monument and Monument Expansion, the Secretaries 
                may permit scientific exploration and research within 
                the Monument Expansion, including incidental 
                appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of 
                features of the Monument Expansion for scientific 
                study, and the Secretary of Commerce may permit fishing 
                within the Monument Expansion for scientific 
                exploration and research purposes to the extent 
                authorized by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
                and Management Act. The prohibitions required by this 
                proclamation shall not restrict scientific exploration 
                or research activities by or for the Secretaries of the 
                Interior or Commerce, and nothing in this proclamation 
                shall be construed to require a permit or other 
                authorization from the other Secretary for their 
                respective scientific activities.

                Regulation of Fishing and Management of Fishery 
                Resources

                The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce may permit 
                noncommercial fishing upon request, at specific 
                locations in accordance with this proclamation and 
                Proclamation 8336. The Secretaries shall provide a 
                process to ensure that recreational fishing continues 
                to be managed as a sustainable activity in the Monument 
                and Monument Expansion, in accordance with this 
                proclamation, Proclamation 8336, and consistent with 
                Executive Order 12962 of June 7, 1995, as amended, and 
                other applicable law.

                Monument Management Planning

                The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce shall, 
                within 2 years of the date of this proclamation, 
                prepare management plans, using their respective 
                authorities, for the Monument and Monument Expansion 
                and promulgate implementing regulations that address 
                any further specific actions necessary for the proper 
                care and management of the objects and areas identified 
                in this proclamation and those in Proclamation 8336. 
                The Secretaries shall revise and update the management 
                plans as necessary. In developing and implementing any 
                management plans and any management rules and 
                regulations, the Secretaries shall consult and 
                designate and involve as cooperating agencies the 
                agencies with jurisdiction or special expertise, 
                including the Department of Defense and Department of 
                State, in accordance with the National Environmental 
                Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and its 
                implementing regulations.

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                This proclamation shall be applied in accordance with 
                international law. The management plans and their 
                implementing regulations shall impose no restrictions 
                on innocent passage in the territorial sea or otherwise 
                restrict navigation and overflight and other 
                internationally recognized lawful uses of the sea in 
                the Monument and Monument Expansion and shall 
                incorporate the provisions of this proclamation 
                regarding Armed Forces actions and compliance with 
                international law. No restrictions shall apply to or be 
                enforced against a person who is not a citizen, 
                national, or resident alien of the United States 
                (including foreign flag vessels) unless in accordance 
                with international law. Also, in accordance with 
                international law, no restrictions shall apply to 
                foreign warships, naval auxiliaries, and other vessels 
                owned or operated by a state and used, for the time 
                being, only on Government non-commercial service, in 
                order to fully respect the sovereign immunity of such 
                vessels under international law.

                Emergencies, National Security, and Law Enforcement 
                Activities

                    1. The prohibitions required by this proclamation 
                shall not apply to activities necessary to respond to 
                emergencies threatening life, property, or the 
                environment, or to activities necessary for national 
                security or law enforcement purposes.
                    2. Nothing in this proclamation shall limit agency 
                actions to respond to emergencies posing an 
                unacceptable threat to human health or safety or to the 
                marine environment and admitting of no other feasible 
                solution.

                Armed Forces Actions

                    1. The prohibitions required by this proclamation 
                shall not apply to activities and exercises of the 
                Armed Forces (including those carried out by the United 
                States Coast Guard).
                    2. The Armed Forces shall ensure, by the adoption 
                of appropriate measures not impairing operations or 
                operational capabilities, that its vessels and aircraft 
                act in a manner consistent, so far as is reasonable and 
                practicable, with this proclamation.
                    3. In the event of threatened or actual destruction 
                of, loss of, or injury to a Monument Expansion resource 
                or quality resulting from an incident, including but 
                not limited to spills and groundings, caused by a 
                component of the Department of Defense or the United 
                States Coast Guard, the cognizant component shall 
                promptly coordinate with the Secretary of the Interior 
                or Commerce, as appropriate, for the purpose of taking 
                appropriate actions to respond to and mitigate any 
                actual harm and, if possible, restore or replace the 
                Monument Expansion resource or quality.
                    4. Nothing in this proclamation or any regulation 
                implementing it shall limit or otherwise affect the 
                Armed Forces' discretion to use, maintain, improve, 
                manage, or control any property under the 
                administrative control of a Military Department or 
                otherwise limit the availability of such property for 
                military mission purposes, including, but not limited 
                to, defensive areas and airspace reservations.

                The establishment of this Monument Expansion is subject 
                to valid existing rights.

                This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the Monument Expansion shall be the dominant 
                reservation.

                Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not 
                to appropriate, excavate, injure, destroy, or remove 
                any feature of this Monument Expansion and not to 
                locate or settle upon any lands thereof.

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                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                ninth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

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