Group to Bush: Don’t scale down marine monument

Friends of the Monument, the group that is supporting President Bush’s plan to create a national marine monument in the CNMI’s northernmost islands, is urging the president not to scale down the project.

In a recent letter to the Council for Environmental Quality, Ignacio Cabrera, chairman of the Friends of the Monument, reiterated that what the people of the CNMI want is what they have accepted and endorsed—a monument as it was originally proposed.

Reports earlier indicated that President Bush may scale down the area.

Cabrera’s group told CEQ chair James Connaugthon that people in the Commonwealth want a very large no-take reserve that will put the CNMI on the international map. The group said they do not want weakened protections and that the area designated must not be reduced.

The group urged Bush to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the largest no-take monument, which would include the full exclusive economic zone surrounding the islands of Uracas, Maug and Asuncion, encompassing the water column, the sea life and the geological features at the bottom.

Except for traditional subsistence fishing, the group is also proposing that both commercial and recreational fishing be prohibited in the area, along with other extractive uses such as deep-sea mining.

“We believe the best use of the treasures in this region is as a protected zone for future use in research, tourism and education, not extraction,” Cabrera said.

“Given the distance from Saipan and the small number of people who travel to these islands, we believe this limited exception to the no-extraction regulations would best be managed by the local indigenous people to ensure both that our rights are protected and this privilege is not abused,” the group told Connaughton.

The group believes that the no-extraction area should extend to the entire EEZ so that it includes the full convergence zone of the Pacific Plate and Philippine Plate, including the seamounts, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, submerged volcanoes, coral reefs, the famed Mariana Trench and all other sea life and habitat in-between.

The group said that these habitats, from the surface down to the deepest darkest place on Earth, are all intertwined.

“Many bottom-dwelling creatures depend on the detritus “snow” from dead animals from above, while pelagic fish feed on smaller creatures sustained by deep sea nutrient upwelling. You cannot separate the bottom of the ocean from the water above it. They are all connected as one ecosystem,” the group said.

The group is also asking that modest additions along the Mariana Trench be made to increase the area into the largest no-take marine monument in the world.

Connaughton visited the CNMI over a month ago to meet with various sectors of the community to discuss and gather information regarding the issue.

Cabrera extended his group’s appreciation to the Bush administration for taking seriously the support of the local Northern Marianas people in its upcoming decision on the proposed national monument.

The issue, Cabrera told Connaughton, has engaged the CNMI community for more than a year, debated several times in public, discussed, analyzed and argued over.

“Both sides have been on TV and the radio many times and more than 150 letters have been published in the local papers, most of them in favor by the way,” Cabrera noted.

Cabrera said his group had conducted over 115 public meetings with over 3,300 people attending. “We have also held uncounted individual discussions. You witnessed firsthand the widespread community interest and support at the CEQ-sponsored meeting,” noted Cabrera.

He said that the 400 residents in attendance made it one of the largest public meetings in CNMI history.

The group gathered 6,000 signatures from local residents in support of such project.

“That’s an unheard of number and dwarfs the 2,300 votes of the top vote getter in the recent election for our first congressional delegate,” Cabrera told Connaughton.

He also noted that some 206 business owners and managers have signified their support.

“The tourism industry and business community know what we believe to be true, that the monument will be an environmental crown jewel for the CNMI and the U.S., and will also boost our visitor industry and offer a significant contribution to the economy of the CNMI,” Cabrera said.

A recent poll, Cabrera noted, showed that residents support the monument by an overwhelming 2:1 ratio.