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Photo Credit: Palmyra Atoll lagoon by Kydd Pollock TNC

Protecting Pacific Islands Heritage

Pacific Remote Island Map

Since 2014, our Coalition has activated thousands of people, organizations, elected leaders, and more across the Pacific and beyond to protect and honor this special place.

In 2009, President George W. Bush established the monument, protecting 50 nautical miles around each of the five management units Wake, Howland, and Baker Islands,  Johnston Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef.   Our Coalition worked with the Obama administration to successfully expand protections for three of these five management units (Wake, Johnston, and Jarvis) to 200 nautical miles ( the limit of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone) and to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of the Hui Panalāʻau through the monument’s presidential proclamation. President Biden called for the designation of a national marine sanctuary to protect the remaining two management units (Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef, Howland and Baker Islands) to 200 nautical miles. However, these areas remain unprotected today and open to future exploitation.

Along with expanded protections, we asked the Biden Administration to honor the area’s unique history and cultural significance with an inclusive renaming process for the monument and to recognize the Hui Panalāʻau. In 2025, after an eighteen-month process, the area was renamed the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. At our request, he also recognized the sacrifices and bravery of the 135 mostly Native Hawaiian young men whom the federal government sent on a quiet operation from 1935-1942 to “colonize” the uninhabited islands of Howland, Baker, and Jarvis to establish them under U.S. jurisdiction. Both announcements acknowledge the historical and cultural significance that Indigenous Pacific Islanders share with this special place. Our Coalition remains committed to amplifying additional stories of Pacific peoples in this region.

Our Vision for Co-Management

We believe that the area will have the greatest protection when Pacific Island communities are properly represented at the highest levels of the management and decision-making process. As an example, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM), which is jointly administered by four co-trustees that include the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), has been instrumental in establishing avenues for Indigenous communities to participate in ongoing management actions. In that spirit, we envision full protection and a resource management structure for the Pacific Islands Heritage so that traditional ecological knowledge and modern science can be at the forefront of ongoing and future protections for the Pacific.

An 84-page report by 18 co-authors outlining the cultural and biological significance of the proposed expansion.

Our Progress

January 2025

White House announces the new name, the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, following input from more than 25 organizations and 16 states, nations, republics, commonwealths, territories, or countries. Read about the announcement here.

The White House officially recognizes the Hui Panalāʻau. Read about the announcement on U.S. Representative Ed Case’s website.

September 2024

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry calls for urgent action and full protections of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (formerly Pacific Remote Islands) at the event.

June 2024

13th Festival of Pacific Arts engagement and re-naming sessions

May 2023

Public Comment is now open for the proposed sanctuary designation of the Pacific Remote Islands. Join the public meetings in Honolulu (May 10), Hilo ), (May 11), Guan (May 17), Saipan (May 18), Rota (May 19), Tinian (May 20), or American Samoa (May 24), or submit your comments online or by mail by June 2.

Learn More

April 17, 2023

NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries issued a Notice of Intent to Conduct Scoping and to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Designation of a National Marine Sanctuary for the Pacific Remote Islands, launching the designation process.

Get full information on NOAA Sanctuary website

March 21, 2023

President Biden supports advancing the process for a PRI sanctuary designation.

Watch the White House Broadcast on YouTube
Read the media release (PDF)

March 2023

PRI Coalition submits National Marine Sanctuary nomination to NOAA.

Read the Nomination [PDF]

February 27, 2023

Letter from PRI Coalition submitted to President Biden expressing openness to other pathways for protection of PRI.

Read the Letter (PDF).

September 23, 2022

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino sends President Biden a letter supporting the expansion of PRIMNM as proposed by the PRI Coalition.

Read the Letter [PDF]

June 13, 2022

The Honolulu Star Advertiser endorses the expansion of PRIMNM.

Read the Article (PDF).

June 8, 2022

Governor Ige from the state of Hawaii sends President Biden a letter supporting the expansion of PRIMNM as proposed by the PRI Coalition.

Read the Letter [PDF]

May 31, 2022

Congressman Ed Case sends President Biden a letter supporting the expansion of PRIMNM as proposed by the PRI Coalition.

Read the Letter [PDF]

May 31, 2022

PRI Coalition sends President Biden a letter asking to expand the boundaries around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll, and Howland and Baker Island to 200 nautical miles and to honor the area with a new name.

Read the Letter [PDF]

September 25, 2014

President Obama expanded Johnston Atoll, Wake Atoll and Jarvis Island — from 50 to 200 nautical miles. The existing, 50-mile protection around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll, as well as Howland and Baker islands, did not change.

Read the proclamation

January 6, 2009

President George W. Bush established the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument,
with protections around each of the five management units to 50 nautical miles.

Read the proclamation

Frequently Asked Questions

Although there isn’t currently a lot of human activity or exploitation in the area, mining interests have identified PIH’s waters as a high value, and therefore high interest area. Deep-sea mining involves complete removal of the top layer of sediment, resulting in total mortality of deep-sea benthic organisms and the creation of toxic wastewater tailings with widespread impacts on mid-water pelagic communities, including tuna. Industrial fishing is also a threat to this area, which can have intense and lasting consequences for a long-lived species like sharks and whales. As a benefit, expanding protection may actually increase catch in waters outside of the boundary. The final threat to PIH is a global one – climate change. There is clear proof that the ocean is hotter, more acidic and rising. But relatively undisturbed areas like PIH are actually more resilient in the face of these changes, and worth protecting as a result.

More than 130 young men, mostly Native Hawaiian, made up the Hui Panalā’au. Sent to Howland, Baker and Jarvis from 1935-1942, they enabled the U.S. to claim jurisdiction of this area in the Pacific. In their service, three young men – Carl Kahalewai, Joseph Keli‘ihananui, and Richard “Dickey” Whaley – lost their lives. For more information, click here.

MPAs are like the national parks of the sea. They protect nature in perpetuity. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as “a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.” MPAs like PIH are open to cultural practice, including sustenance (non-commercial) fishing.

The Pacific Islands Heritage area is approximately 1500 miles southwest of the Hawaiian Islands, close to the equator.

Currently, the Pacific Islands Hertiage Marine National Monument covers approximately 1.27 million sq km. Fully protecting the area to 200 nautical miles or the full extent of the U.S. EEZ would add approximately 685,000 sq km, making the monument the largest highly protected marine protected area in the world.

Pacific Islands Heritage area is home to many endangered species including:

  • 50+ seabird species
  • 15 endangered/vulnerable shark and ray species
  • 20 dolphin and whale species
  • 5 turtle species (4 endangered)
  • Ancient deep-sea corals and resilient shallow reefs
  • Deep sea species found nowhere else on earth
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