Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday it will be a challenge for the state and federal governments to protect the ocean ecosystem in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument while also making the islands more accessible so visitors can see its remarkable beauty.

President Bush established the monument in June, creating the world's largest protected marine area along about 1,200 nautical miles of coral islands. An agreement signed yesterday by Lingle, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kemp-thorne and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez makes the state and the two federal agencies co-trustees in managing and protecting the monument.

The state and federal governments will attempt to preserve the distinct fish, wildlife and ocean ecosystem in the monument while also recognizing its cultural significance to Native Hawaiians and its historical importance to the United States.

Lingle said one of the guiding principles of the agreement is to err on the side of resource protection when there is uncertainty about the impact of a new activity. But state and federal officials also are supposed to enhance public appreciation of the monument.

"There's some of us who feel in order to enhance public appreciation it has to be more than just telling people about it or writing about it," she said. "People have to have the ability to see this resource, and yet we know we can't allow people to see it in very large numbers. It would be overwhelming."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft plan yesterday that would allow up to 30 overnight guests at one time on Midway by next year with a potentially greater number of visitors in the future. Some private sailboats and cruise ships would also be able to make short stops at the atoll, the only one in the monument now open to visitors. Midway had a tourism program in the mid-1990s and earlier this decade where visitors snorkeled, dived and viewed battlefield sites.

The monument designation ends commercial fishing licenses in the islands after five years but allows Native Hawaiians who visit to fish as part of their traditional cultural and religious practices.

Keiko Bonk, the executive director of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Network, a conservation group, also is urging the federal government to block sustenance fishing by federal or state employees, scientists or others who come to the islands.

"As long as we have federal bureaucrats using the area as a private sportfishing reserve, the NWHI are not fully protected," Bonk said in a statement yesterday.

Federal and state officials said yesterday that sustenance fishing was one of the issues that will be discussed as part of the new agreement. Officials also will consider adopting a Hawaiian name for the monument and decide whether to request new federal spending for oversight and protection.

Federal grants and private-sector money could also be used for the monument. Gutierrez announced a grant of about $30,000 yesterday to help create fishing line recycling centers in Hawai'i and Guam. Marine debris, including fishing line and net, routinely washes up in the islands, along with other garbage.

Kempthorne, the Interior secretary, said Theodore Roosevelt, the late president known for his love of conservation, would likely have approved of the monument with a trademark "Bully!"

"This monument will protect the cultural ties that Native Hawaiians have to these lands and waters," Kempthorne said. "We respect these ties and Hawaiians beliefs. And this monument will safeguard both the natural and spiritual treasures of these islands."

Boyd Mossman, a trustee with the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said there have been some questions in the Hawaiian community about the monument but, overall, Hawaiians want the islands' heritage protected.

"It protects land and ocean that has been part of our culture historically," Mossman said.

TO FIND OUT MORE

On the Web: www.fws.gov/midway/new.html
News release: www.fws.gov/midway/MidwayDIVSPnr.pdf
Send comments by Feb. 6 via e-mail to midway@fws.gov
Or mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Pacific Islands Division of External Affairs and Visitor Services
Box 50187
Honolulu, HI 96850

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.