    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [August 25, 2008]
    [Pages 1159-1160]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Potential Marine Conservation Management Areas
    August 25, 2008

    Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior,
    the Secretary of Commerce, and the Chairman of the Council on
    Environmental Quality

    Subject: Potential Marine Conservation Management Areas

        The Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality has advised me there are objects of historic and
    scientific interest in areas under the jurisdiction of the United States
    that may be appropriate for recognition, protection, or improved
    conservation and management under available authorities including by
    executive order or action under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
    Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), Outer
    Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), National Marine
    Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431, et seq.), or the Antiquities Act (16
    U.S.C. 431). These objects include:

          In the central Pacific, coral reefs, pinnacles, sea mounts,
            islands and surrounding waters of Johnston Atoll, Howland, Baker
            and Jarvis Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island,
            and Rose Atoll that are isolated from population centers, mostly
            uninhabited, and support endemic, depleted, migratory,
            endangered and threatened species of fish, giant clams, crabs,
            marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, migratory shorebirds and
            corals that are rapidly vanishing elsewhere in the world. The
            reefs in these areas support unique localized upwelling-based
            productivity, and two of the atolls are repositories of the
            larvae of many marine species transported from the biodiversity-
            rich western Pacific.

          In the western Pacific Ocean, the marine waters around the
            northern islands of Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
            Islands, including the Mariana Trench, that offer an exceptional
            and diverse collection of marine life and habitat.

        Please provide to me your assessment, with relevant supporting
    information, including the views of the territorial and local
    governments and other interested parties, of the advisability of
    providing additional recognition, protection or improved conservation
    and management for objects of historic or scientific interest at these
    islands, coral reefs, geologic features and surrounding marine waters.
        Because Johnston Atoll and Wake Island have supported active
    military bases, and the other areas in the Pacific include areas of
    strategic importance to the United States, any measures your assessment
    recommends should not limit the Department of Defense from carrying out
    the mission of the various branches of the military stationed or
    operating within the Pacific and shall be consistent with freedom of
    navigation and international law. Please also consider cultural,
    environmental, economic, and multiple use implications of any measures
    you recommend, including the extent to which they are compatible, if
    applicable, with sustaining access to: (1) recreational and commercial
    fishing; (2) energy and

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    mineral resources; and (3) opportunities for scientific study.
        With respect to each of these areas, your assessment should further
    identify whether there are opportunities and mechanisms for improved
    coordination of management among relevant agencies in accordance with
    Executive Order 13366 of December 17, 2004.

                                                              George W. Bush