"It certainly could change," Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher Jr. said in an interview yesterday about prospects for the 1,200-mile swath of water, islands, atolls and shoals.

While environmentalists and some government officials have interpreted Clinton's executive order as setting a minimum for environmental protection when he designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, Lautenbacher said other concerns, including the needs of commercial fishermen, will be considered as NOAA creates the sanctuary.

"The executive order isn't necessarily going to be the final rule," Lautenbacher said. "I can't predetermine what that would end up being. You have to look at alternatives."

The process of creating a marine sanctuary process will take two to three years. It has been a contentious issue since Clinton, in two executive orders, created the reserve and mandated establishment of a marine sanctuary that would "supplement or complement" the reserve.

In a novel step, he laid out a management regimen for the reserve, including specific reef areas where fishing and other activities would be restricted, and even set forth catch limits based on the fishermen's previous five years' landings.

Lautenbacher said discussions now ongoing could change those protected reef areas, which bottom fishermen have complained are some of their best fishing spots. Reopening the lobster fishery and prospecting for precious corals, both foreclosed by Clinton's order, are also on the table, he said.

"Everything is open for discussion," Lautenbacher said. "People are really locked in to the executive order and they are worried that if anything will change, that it's undermining the cause. I don't look at it that way."

Stephanie Fried, senior scientist for Environmental Defense Hawaii, expressed dismay when told of Lautenbacher's comments and accused the administration of "flip-flopping" after recently announcing that President Bush would not overturn Clinton's order.

"If the marine sanctuary is going to represent a Trojan horse for undoing these popularly supported protections, then the Department of Commerce is going to have a big fight on its hands," she said.

Lautenbacher indicated that he sees Clinton's management rules as governing the reserve, but they may not apply once it is converted to a marine sanctuary. The sanctuary could end up being more or less restrictive than Clinton laid out, depending on science and public interest, he said.

He also noted that the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which oversees fishing policy in the region, has its own draft management plan for the coral reefs. That plan is less restrictive than Clinton's order.

While the Commerce Department has decreed that Clinton's executive order trumps any conflicting decisions by the fishery council regarding the reserve, that "wouldn't necessarily be true for the sanctuary," he said.

"The fishery management council out here has an opportunity to deal with the rules that apply within that sanctuary," he said. "So by trying to expedite the national marine sanctuary process we're giving a voice to those interests with a very definite concern in the outcome of the process. That's a critical element."