Natural History Wanderings

The New York Times reports

Loss of Federal Protections May Imperil Pacific
Reefs, Scientists Warn
Fisheries officials call the marine national monuments
unnecessary, and their boundaries are said to be under review by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration is considering rolling back federal protections for 10 national monuments, including two in the central Pacific. The Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument and the Rose Atoll National Marine Monument protect the waters around a handful of islands, most uninhabited, to the south of the Hawaiian Islands.

The shore reefs of the islands have long been protected from commercial fishing; the monument designations extended that protection to 50 miles from shore in some cases and 200 miles in others.

Read full story at Loss of Federal Protections May Imperil Pacific Reefs, Scientists Warn