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WOW!!! this guy is scarey
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to
protect fragile marine life, President Barack Obama announced plans
Tuesday to create the largest ocean preserve in the world by banning
drilling, fishing and other activities in a massive stretch of the
Pacific Ocean.
Using presidential authority that doesn't require new action from Congress, Obama proposed to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which President George W. Bush
designated to protect unique species and rare geological formations.
The waters are all considered U.S. territory because they surround an
array of remote, mostly uninhabited islands that the U.S. controls
between Hawaii and American Samoa.
Carbon
pollution is making the world's oceans more acidic, pollution is
threatening marine life and overfishing could wipe out entire species,
Obama warned as he vowed to expand the sanctuary during an ocean
conservation conference hosted by the State Department.
"If we
ignore these problems, if we drain our oceans of their resources, we
won't just be squandering one of humanity's greatest treasures," Obama
said in a recorded video message. "We'll be cutting off one of the
world's major sources of food and economic growth, including for the
United States. We cannot afford to let that happen."
In a related
environmental move, Obama vowed to take steps to curb the black market
for fish and to combat fraud that hides the origin of seafood products.
Obama hasn't settled on the final boundaries for the preserve. The White House
said Obama planned to solicit input from fishermen, scientists,
politicians, experts in conservation and others before the new
protections take effect.
But conservation groups the potential reach could be massive.
Under
maritime law, nations have exclusive economic control over waters that
extends 200 nautical miles from its coast. Drawing on an geographic
analysis of U.S. possessions in the region, the Pew Charitable Trusts
determined that Obama could protect more than 780,000 square miles —
almost nine times what Bush set aside when he created the monument. If
Obama were to also protect the waters around the Northern Mariana Islands, the sanctuary could grow to roughly 1.5 million square miles, Pew said.
The executive steps, first reported by The Washington Post,
come as Obama is searching for ways to leave his second-term mark on
the environment despite opposition from many Republicans in Congress.
Presidents
have authority to phase out commercial fishing and other activities
from U.S. waters under the 1906 Antiquities Act, the same law that
allows for land-based national monuments to be created by executive
order.
Still, the moves could rankle some GOP lawmakers who say
Obama is exceeding his authority by going around Congress to promote his
agenda on issues like the environment, immigration and gay rights.
Earlier this month Obama unveiled sweeping new pollution limits on U.S.
power plants amid signs that Congress wouldn't act soon to combat the
heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming.
Obama also vowed to
create a government program to combat black market fishing and seafood
fraud, in which seafood products are mislabeled to hide their origin.
The White House said 20 percent of the wild marine fish caught each year
are part of the black market, at a cost of $23 billion to the
legitimate fishing industry.
"President Obama's announcement is a
historic step forward in the fight against seafood fraud and illegal
fishing worldwide," said Beth Lowell of the conservation group Oceana. "This initiative is a practical solution to an ugly problem and will forever change the way we think about our seafood."
The
practical effect of the expanded marine sanctuary could be modest. At
present, very little commercial fishing is conducted in the waters Obama
is seeking to protect, and there are no signs that drilling in the
waters is imminent. But conservation groups said it was crucial to take
proactive steps to prevent those activities going forward.
"Anywhere
there are fish to be extracted or minerals or resources, these
locations are under threat form commercial extraction," said Matt Rand,
who runs Pew's global ocean legacy project.
Obama, in his public
comments, indicated the significance was partially symbolic. By taking
the lead on ocean conservation, the U.S. can encourage the rest of the
world to protect resources for future generations, he said.
"For this effort to succeed, it has to be bigger than any one country," Obama said.
Let God lead the way!
Give a man a fish he eats for one day, teach him to fish he eats forever!
