New Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine Reserve

A 140,000 square mile area of the Hawaiian Island chain has been declared a U.S. national marine reserve and national monument called the "North-Western Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve". The reserve includes a 1400 mile long, 100 mile wide region between the largest Hawaiian Islands in the south and Midway Island in the north. The area is a nesting ground for more then 14 milion seabirds and home to more then 7000 marine and land species, more then 25% of which are found nowhere else in the world. Fishing and commercial operations will be phased out of the area over the next five years and visitors will be mostly limited to scientific researchers. There are now thirteen U.S. national marine sanctuaries and this new will be larger then all of the rest of them combined.

Northwest Hawaiian Islands

United States Marine Sanctuaries