[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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