Sanctuary status sought for Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

The federal government is launching its effort to change the deep reefs of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from a unique coral reef ecosystem reserve into a national marine sanctuary.

The western end of the Hawaiian archipelago is a string of reefs, atolls and small rocky islands, all of which comprise wildlife refuges run by either the state Department of Land and Natural Resources or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to management by those agencies, regulatory and law enforcement roles are played by the Coast Guard, National Marine Fisheries Service and its associated agency, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

On top of this confused regulatory framework, the administration of former President Bill Clinton in its final days established by executive order a new overlay, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve.

The reserve is an anomaly: a single-purpose program within the National Ocean Service without a bureaucracy to provide it with stable revenues or political clout.

As a national marine sanctuary, the islands would become part of a different branch of the National Ocean Service, which has more prominence with Congress and administrators.

However, the process of converting one kind of federal creature into another takes time. Reserve coordinator Robert Smith, speaking from his Hilo office, said it would take at least two years. Depending on how the public envisions it, the shape and regulatory framework could change.

"This is as open a process as any I've ever experienced," said Smith, who previously ran the Pacific Islands office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The process follows the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, he said, and starts with 10 meetings on six islands and in Washington for two weeks, starting Tuesday. These will not be public hearings, Smith said. Each will begin with a film and presentation, then break into groups to discuss issues and gather public comments.

Some groups already have expressed concern about the proposed regulatory framework, particularly its potential to inhibit commercial fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which is authorized by Congress to recommend regulatory measures to protect fisheries, is worried that new regulations could suspend fisheries without the scientific basis on which the council tries to base its decisions.

"There are still so many unanswered questions. We don't know if we will be able to fish in the area at all," said veteran commercial fisherman Timm Timoney.

Smith said none of those decisions has been settled yet.

"Public input matters a great deal," he said.

On taking office, the Bush administration announced it was reviewing the Clinton executive order creating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. After a yearlong review, the administration announced in mid-March it had decided to let the reserve stand.

That frees Smith and his team to seek sanctuary status. There are 13 national marine sanctuaries. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, if it joins the group, would be the largest.

The reserve is 1,200 miles long, covering a swatch 100 miles wide and running from 50 miles east of Nihoa Island to 50 miles west of Kure Atoll. It contains 14 million nesting seabirds and 250 fish species, many found only in Hawaiian waters.

The islands also provide resting and nesting areas for Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles. These areas — on and immediately around the reefs and islands — are excluded from the coral reef reserve. The reserve does not include state waters within three miles of shore. A larger area of federal waters around Midway is excluded from the reserve. The 2.7 million acres of coral reef there represents the largest coral reef ecosystem in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

The deep northwestern island reefs are largely pristine, not having been subjected to sedimentation and other forms of pollution plaguing the main Hawaiian islands, and having seen only limited fishing for a few species.

Scientific missions in recent years have discovered a range of unique marine life in the region. Some scientists argue that larvae from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands reefs are a major factor in the re-seeding of overfished reefs in the main islands.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808)245-3074.