    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 128, 113th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    PROCLAMATION 9173--SEPT. 25, 2014

    Proclamation 9173 of September 25, 2014

    Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    Through Proclamation 8336 of January 6, 2009, the President established
    the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (``Monument'') to
    protect and preserve the marine environment around Wake, Baker, Howland,
    and Jarvis Islands, Johnston and Palmyra Atolls, and Kingman Reef for
    the care and management of the historic and scientific objects therein.
    The Monument is an important part of the most widespread collection of
    marine- and terrestrial-life protected areas on the planet, sustaining
    many endemic species including corals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals,
    seabirds, water birds, land birds, insects, and vegetation not found
    elsewhere. The Monument includes the lands, waters, and submerged and
    emergent lands of the seven Pacific Remote Islands to lines of latitude
    and longitude that lie approximately 50 nautical miles from the mean low
    water lines of those seven Pacific Remote Islands. The islands of
    Jarvis, Howland, and Baker were also the location of notable bravery and
    sacrifice by a small number of voluntary Hawaiian colonists, known as
    Hui Panala`au, who occupied the islands from 1935 to 1942 to help secure
    the U.S. territorial claim over the islands.

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    The area around the Monument includes the waters and submerged lands to
    the extent of the seaward limit of the United States Exclusive Economic
    Zone (``U.S. EEZ'') up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline from
    which the breadth of the territorial sea of these seven Pacific Remote
    Islands is measured. The U.S. EEZ areas adjacent to Wake and Jarvis
    Islands and Johnston Atoll (``adjacent areas'') contain significant
    objects of scientific interest that are part of this highly pristine
    deep sea and open ocean ecosystem with unique biodiversity. These
    adjacent areas hold a large number of undersea mountains (``seamounts'')
    that may provide habitat for colonies of deepwater corals many thousands
    of years old. These adjacent areas' pelagic environment provides habitat
    and forage for tunas, turtles, manta rays, sharks, cetaceans, and
    seabirds that have evolved with a foraging technique that depends on
    large marine predators.
    A significant geological feature of the adjacent areas is the undersea
    mountains. A seamount is a mountain rising from the seabed that does not
    reach the sea surface. Most often seamounts occur in chains or clusters.
    Nearly all of the seamounts in the adjacent areas are volcanoes: some
    are still erupting actively, and others stopped erupting long ago. The
    Monument includes 33 seamounts; the adjacent areas include approximately
    132 more. The additional seamounts provide important opportunities for
    scientific exploration and study. Estimates are that 15 to 44 percent of
    the species on a seamount or seamount group are found nowhere else on
    Earth. Roughly 5 to 10 percent of invertebrates found on each survey of
    a seamount are new to science. Some seamounts have pools of undiscovered
    species. The approximately 132 seamounts in the adjacent areas provide
    the opportunity for identification and discovery of many species not yet
    known to humans, with possibilities for research, medicines, and other
    important uses.
    The adjacent areas also provide an important ecosystem for scientific
    study and research. The pristine waters provide a baseline comparison
    for important scientific research that monitors and evaluates impacts of
    global climate change, including benchmarking coral bleaching and ocean
    acidification. The scale of the adjacent areas significantly enhances
    opportunities for such scientific research beyond the Monument
    boundaries established in Proclamation 8336.
    The available scientific information indicates that the adjacent areas
    include important deep-coral species. For example, sampling from the
    U.S. Line Islands has identified deep-sea coral species not previously
    recorded from the central Pacific. Tropical coral reefs and associated
    marine ecosystems are among the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of
    climate change and ocean acidification. Protection of the ecosystem in
    the adjacent areas will provide the scientific opportunity to identify
    and further study the important deep sea corals.
    The adjacent areas provide significant habitat and range for species
    identified in Proclamation 8336. They include waters used by five
    species of protected turtles. In addition to the Green and Hawksbill
    turtles that use the near-shore waters of the Monument, the adjacent
    areas include waters used by the endangered leatherback, loggerhead, and
    Olive Ridley turtles. All five species use the adjacent areas for their
    migratory paths and feeding grounds.
    The adjacent areas provide the foraging habitat for several of the
    world's largest remaining colonies of Sooty Terns, Lesser Frigatebirds,

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    Red-footed Boobies, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, and other seabird species.
    Many of these wide-ranging species make foraging trips of 300 miles or
    more from their colonies on the Monument's islands, atolls, and reefs.
    For example, since the Monument was established, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
    Service biologists have documented the return of seabird populations
    once absent at Johnston Atoll, including Great Frigatebirds, Sooty
    Terns, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, and other species that are known to feed
    as much as 300 to 600 miles offshore. Jarvis Island alone has nearly
    three million nesting pairs of Sooty Terns, which forage more than 300
    miles from shore even when rearing chicks on the island. These seabirds
    forage, in part, by seeking schools of tuna and other large marine
    predators that drive prey fish to the surface. Black-footed and Laysan
    Albatross, species that forage across the entire North Pacific, recently
    recolonized Wake Atoll, making it one of the few northern albatross
    colonies outside of the Hawaiian archipelago. At Jarvis Island, the
    Monument and its adjacent area provide an important undisturbed
    ecosystem that supports many rare seabird species, including the
    endangered White-throated Storm-petrel.
    Manta rays are abundant around the Monument's reefs. Since the Monument
    was established, scientific research on manta ray movement has shown
    that manta rays frequently travel over 600 nautical miles away from the
    coastal environment, and well outside of the Monument boundaries
    established in Proclamation 8336. Scientific study of the multi-species
    ecological cycle at the Monument illustrates a very diverse and balanced
    habitat used by manta rays, many of which are found in the adjacent
    areas.
    The ecosystem of the Monument and adjacent areas also is part of the
    larger Pacific ecosystem. The Monument land and atoll groups and the
    adjacent areas share geographic isolation, as well as climate,
    bathymetric, geologic, and wildlife characteristics that define them as
    individual biogeographic regions. However, the Pacific Remote Islands
    area, including the adjacent areas, is tied together by regional
    oceanographic currents that drive marine species larval transport and
    adult migrations that shape the broader Pacific ecosystem.
    WHEREAS the waters and submerged lands surrounding Jarvis and Wake
    Islands and Johnston Atoll from the lines of latitude and longitude
    depicted on the maps accompanying Proclamation 8336 to the seaward limit
    of the U.S. EEZ of the three Pacific Remote Islands contain objects of
    historic or scientific interest that are situated upon lands owned or
    controlled by the Government of the United States;
    WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C.
    431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in his
    discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks,
    historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or
    scientific interest that are situated upon lands owned or controlled by
    the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to
    reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all
    cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper
    care and management of the objects to be protected;
    WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve the marine environment,
    including the waters and submerged lands, in the U.S. EEZ adjacent to
    the Monument at Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll

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    for the care and management of the historic and scientific objects
    therein;
    WHEREAS the security of the United States, the prosperity of its
    citizens, and the protection of the ocean environment are complementary
    and reinforcing priorities; and the United States continues to act with
    due regard for the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea enjoyed
    by other nations under the law of the sea in managing the Pacific Remote
    Islands Marine National Monument and adjacent areas, and does not
    compromise the readiness, training, and global mobility of U.S. Armed
    Forces when establishing marine protected areas:
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
    America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Antiquities
    Act, do hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated
    upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government
    of the United States to be part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine
    National Monument Expansion (``Monument Expansion'') and, for the
    purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as a part thereof all lands
    and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government of the
    United States within the boundaries described on the accompanying maps
    entitled ``Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion''
    attached hereto, which form a part of this proclamation. The Monument
    Expansion includes the waters and submerged lands of Jarvis and Wake
    Islands and Johnston Atoll that lie from the Pacific Remote Islands
    Marine National Monument boundary established in Proclamation 8336 to
    the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ (as established in Proclamation 5030
    of March 10, 1983) of Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll. The
    Federal lands and interests in lands reserved consist of approximately
    308,316 square nautical miles, which is the smallest area compatible
    with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
    All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the
    Monument Expansion are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms
    of entry, location, selection, sale, leasing, or other disposition under
    the public land laws to the extent that those laws apply. Lands and
    interests in lands within the Monument Expansion not owned or controlled
    by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the Monument
    Expansion upon acquisition of title or control by the United States.
    Management of the Marine National Monument
    Nothing in this proclamation shall change the management of the Pacific
    Remote Islands Marine National Monument as specified in Proclamation
    8336. The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary
    of Commerce, shall have primary responsibility for management of the
    Monument Expansion pursuant to applicable legal authorities. The
    Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
    Administration, and in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior,
    shall within the Monument Expansion have primary responsibility with
    respect to fishery-related activities regulated pursuant to the
    Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801
    et seq.), and any other applicable legal authorities. The Secretaries of
    the Interior and Commerce shall not allow or permit any appropriation,
    injury, destruction, or removal of any object of the Monument Expansion
    except as provided for by this proclamation and

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    shall prohibit commercial fishing within the boundaries of the Monument
    Expansion.
    The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce shall take appropriate
    action pursuant to their respective authorities under the Antiquities
    Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and
    such other authorities as may be available to implement this
    proclamation, to regulate fisheries, and to ensure proper care and
    management of the Monument Expansion.
    The United States shall continue to preserve the freedom of the seas
    (i.e., all of the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea
    recognized in international law enjoyed by all nations, including the
    conduct of military activities, exercises, and surveys in or over the
    exclusive economic zone), and to protect the training, readiness, and
    global mobility of U.S. Armed Forces as U.S. national interests that are
    essential to the peace and prosperity of civilized nations.
    The Secretary of Defense shall continue to manage Wake Island and
    Johnston Atoll as specified in Proclamation 8336.
    Regulation of Scientific Exploration and Research
    Subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior or
    Commerce, as appropriate, deems necessary for the care and management of
    the objects of the Monument and Monument Expansion, the Secretaries may
    permit scientific exploration and research within the Monument
    Expansion, including incidental appropriation, injury, destruction, or
    removal of features of the Monument Expansion for scientific study, and
    the Secretary of Commerce may permit fishing within the Monument
    Expansion for scientific exploration and research purposes to the extent
    authorized by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
    Act. The prohibitions required by this proclamation shall not restrict
    scientific exploration or research activities by or for the Secretaries
    of the Interior or Commerce, and nothing in this proclamation shall be
    construed to require a permit or other authorization from the other
    Secretary for their respective scientific activities.
    Regulation of Fishing and Management of Fishery Resources
    The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce may permit noncommercial
    fishing upon request, at specific locations in accordance with this
    proclamation and Proclamation 8336. The Secretaries shall provide a
    process to ensure that recreational fishing continues to be managed as a
    sustainable activity in the Monument and Monument Expansion, in
    accordance with this proclamation, Proclamation 8336, and consistent
    with Executive Order 12962 of June 7, 1995, as amended, and other
    applicable law.
    Monument Management Planning
    The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce shall, within 2 years of
    the date of this proclamation, prepare management plans, using their
    respective authorities, for the Monument and Monument Expansion and
    promulgate implementing regulations that address any further specific
    actions necessary for the proper care and management of the objects and
    areas identified in this proclamation and those in Proclamation 8336.
    The Secretaries shall revise and update the management plans as
    necessary. In developing and implementing any management

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    plans and any management rules and regulations, the Secretaries shall
    consult and designate and involve as cooperating agencies the agencies
    with jurisdiction or special expertise, including the Department of
    Defense and Department of State, in accordance with the National
    Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and its implementing
    regulations.
    This proclamation shall be applied in accordance with international law.
    The management plans and their implementing regulations shall impose no
    restrictions on innocent passage in the territorial sea or otherwise
    restrict navigation and overflight and other internationally recognized
    lawful uses of the sea in the Monument and Monument Expansion and shall
    incorporate the provisions of this proclamation regarding Armed Forces
    actions and compliance with international law. No restrictions shall
    apply to or be enforced against a person who is not a citizen, national,
    or resident alien of the United States (including foreign flag vessels)
    unless in accordance with international law. Also, in accordance with
    international law, no restrictions shall apply to foreign warships,
    naval auxiliaries, and other vessels owned or operated by a state and
    used, for the time being, only on Government non-commercial service, in
    order to fully respect the sovereign immunity of such vessels under
    international law.
    Emergencies, National Security, and Law Enforcement Activities
    1. The prohibitions required by this proclamation shall not apply to
    activities necessary to respond to emergencies threatening life,
    property, or the environment, or to activities necessary for national
    security or law enforcement purposes.
    2. Nothing in this proclamation shall limit agency actions to
    respond to emergencies posing an unacceptable threat to human health or
    safety or to the marine environment and admitting of no other feasible
    solution.
    Armed Forces Actions
    1. The prohibitions required by this proclamation shall not apply to
    activities and exercises of the Armed Forces (including those carried
    out by the United States Coast Guard).
    2. The Armed Forces shall ensure, by the adoption of appropriate
    measures not impairing operations or operational capabilities, that its
    vessels and aircraft act in a manner consistent, so far as is reasonable
    and practicable, with this proclamation.
    3. In the event of threatened or actual destruction of, loss of, or
    injury to a Monument Expansion resource or quality resulting from an
    incident, including but not limited to spills and groundings, caused by
    a component of the Department of Defense or the United States Coast
    Guard, the cognizant component shall promptly coordinate with the
    Secretary of the Interior or Commerce, as appropriate, for the purpose
    of taking appropriate actions to respond to and mitigate any actual harm
    and, if possible, restore or replace the Monument Expansion resource or
    quality.
    4. Nothing in this proclamation or any regulation implementing it
    shall limit or otherwise affect the Armed Forces' discretion to use,
    maintain, improve, manage, or control any property under the
    administrative control of a Military Department or otherwise limit the
    avail

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    ability of such property for military mission purposes, including, but
    not limited to, defensive areas and airspace reservations.
    The establishment of this Monument Expansion is subject to valid
    existing rights.
    This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
    benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
    any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or
    entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
    Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
    withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the Monument
    Expansion shall be the dominant reservation.
    Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate,
    excavate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this Monument
    Expansion and not to locate or settle upon any lands thereof.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of
    September, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
    ninth.
    BARACK OBAMA

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