Obama to Create World's Largest Ocean Preserve

[hue]

Source: abcNEWS



President Barack Obama is looking to create the largest marine preserve in the world by protecting a massive stretch of the Pacific Ocean from drilling, fishing and other actions that could threaten wildlife, the White House said.

Aiming to protect marine wildlife, Obama will also direct the government to create a program to deter illegal fishing. The executive steps come as Obama is searching for ways to leave his second-term mark on the environment despite opposition from many Republicans in Congress.

Obama was to announce the steps Tuesday in a video message to those participating in an "Our Ocean" conference that the State Department and Secretary of State John Kerry are hosting.

Officials said Obama is considering a massive expansion to the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The protected waters surround a group of mostly uninhabited islands, controlled by the U.S., that sit between Hawaii and American Samoa.

But the White House hasn't settled on the final boundaries for the preserve. The administration said it planned to solicit input from fishermen, scientists, politicians, experts in conservation and others before the new protections take effect.

The White House's Council on Environmental Quality said the waters in the south-central Pacific Ocean contain "some of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/obama-create-worlds-largest-ocean-preserve-24171159

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Thank You President Obama!!!

[Champion Jack]

1. Great news

[olddad56]

2. saying it is one thing, doing it is quite another.

that being said, I wish him the best.

[Doctor_J]

7. Amen

rec for this proposal, but I will wait until implementation to thank anyone.

[certainot]

23. wish us the best. this is an extremely important first step and the rw media machine

will make a big stink about it.

[chervilant]

3. My first impulse was to observe

"too little, too late;" but I remain hopeful that our generation will make a substantial effort to recover our environment -- for our younglings.

[L0oniX]

4. ...but fuck the GOM ...cause it already been BP fucked.

[Dustlawyer]

13. +1! You got that right!

I am working exclusively on the BP oil spill litigation and have been up and down the Gulf Coast 40 since 4/20/2010. BP has bought off everyone except the victims and their attorneys. They sunk the oil with Corexit just to hide it so their fine would be reduced. They knew from Prince William Sound that the Corexit would sterilize and mutate the sea life, which it has. Everything in this country is for sale, including Justice!
Notice that the MSM does not report on the tragedy except for the 60 Minutes fluff piece that failed to explain that BP is actually very happy with the settlement that they wrote because it avoids having to pay 10's of thousands of claims while they may have to pay a few hundred claims who's losses were not caused by the spill. They then used those few cases to play the victim and tie everything up on appeal for 10 months!
Check out www.theamericanzombie.com to hear more behind the scenes dirt!

[Tikki]

5. For every reason on Earth this is amazingly grand news.

YAY....President Obama


Tikki

[sheshe2]

6. KnR

Thanks hue.

[Sunlei]

8. good news! should be the same for most of USA oceans and the gulf.

and the large waterways inside the USA.

[DippyDem]

9. Great news...love the ocean but...

Just wait for the GOP heads to explode.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. that would be an excellent way to reduce human overpopulation.

Srsly

[certainot]

24. when a cat sees a republican...

[riqster]

10. Cue the "never enough" chorus in 3...2...1...

From where I sit, this is a very good week for the Prexy: caught a Benghazi perp, protected federal LGBT contractors, and now this.

And it's only Tuesday.

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. Too late.

[Arkana]

11. Can he do this? How much of the Pacific is US territory?

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Leonardo Dicaprio

Spoke after President Obama's video this morning. He just pledged 7 Million to ocean conservation projects over the next two years.

You know - our 'millionaires' on the left are so much better than theirs. Just saying . . .


#OurOcean2014

[hue]

14. Thanks JustAnotherGen! Here is the link...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/17/obama-leonardo-dicaprio-vow-efforts-to-protect-the-ocean/

Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio vow efforts to protect the ocean

Both President Obama and actor Leonardo DiCaprio pledged Tuesday to help protect the ocean and challenged other nations to undertake bold initiatives of their own before it's too late.

Speaking via video at a State Department conference, Obama stressed that the sea is more than an alluring landscape -- it's also a source of food and economic growth. Climate change, overfishing and pollution now threaten to degrade that resource, the president said. "We cannot afford to let that happen," he said. "That’s why the United States is leading the fight to protect our oceans."

Obama said he would use his executive authority "to protect some of our nation’s most precious marine landscapes." While the president did not specify what parts of the sea he would put off-limits, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that he plans to expand the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument, a grouping of seven islands and atolls in the south-central Pacific Ocean.

"But for this effort to succeed, it has to be bigger than just one country," Obama cautioned.

Other global leaders gathered at the conference have also been pressing for stricter enforcement of maritime rules. The European Union has prohibited four countries -- Belize, Cambodia and Guinea -- from selling fish in its market because they engage in illegal fishing practices. And the EU has warned another eight nations that they could face a similar ban: Ghana, Curaçao, South Korea, Fiji, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Thanks

I follow Big D on twitter because he is so passionate about the environment and how animals/humans fit into it. So it popped up on my twitter and I posted.

[blm]

17. DiCaprio has been working quietly with Kerry on this for some time now.

Glad to see it happening at long last.

[MBS]

31. me, too.n/t

[babylonsister]

16. This is a BFD!!

And if drilling in the ocean could/does threaten wildlife, it stands to reason in my mind it could threaten wildlife and people on land.

So...what's he waiting for?

[bigwillq]

19. That's cool.

[Cha]

20. Thanks Obama!

thanks hue!

[hopemountain]

21. can her add the santa barbara channel to the preserve?

please.

[Overseas]

22. K&R. Yes please!

[flvegan]

25. And he'll enforce it...how?

Sea Shepherd can only be in so many places at so many times making up for the vast failures of politicians to live up to their promises.

That said, I applaud Obama for even considering this.

[Jamastiene]

26. Nice!

K&R

[blkmusclmachine]

28. Is there OIL there??

[dotymed]

29. This is great

I wonder if this will include (or if it can w/out stopping the sonar) the Navy's sonar which is killing our whales and dolphins who navigate and much more using their natural sonar?

[MBS]

33. The sonar issue is indeed disturbing--Navy has been pushing this terrible idea for at least 20 yrs

despite the fact that the evidence for devastation of Navy sonar to marine mammal life keeps mounting.
Would be so wonderful if Hagel would/could just order the Navy to stop it.
There are a number of petitions out there to sign (and I've signed them); direct letters could be even more effective.

[MBS]

35. One petition is here

http://www.savebiogems.org/save-whales-from-sonar/

Note that the campaign is not even asking the Navy to stop tests completely, but merely to institute safeguards (avoiding tests in areas that are known breeding grounds and migratory paths for whales, among other measures) to reduce the harm of these tests to marine mammals. Several courts have already ordered the Navy to cease and desist, but they nevertheless continue to fight in court rather than putting energy into devising ecologically responsible solutions to the problem.

As a way to summarize the issues (see also url above), here is the Natl Resources Defense Council-suggested text for individual petition letters to Sec Hagel :

I am appalled at the Navy's five-year plan for training and testing with sonar and explosives, which would needlessly kill or maim thousands of whales and other marine mammals. The Navy should be putting safeguards in place that will dramatically reduce the threat to whales without compromising military readiness. But, instead, the Navy is preparing to defend its unconscionable plan in court.

Please direct the Navy to abandon its courtroom defense and move instead to protect whales from needless suffering and death during routine training. Most importantly, the Navy should put vital areas for marine mammals off-limits to sonar and explosives. According to the scientific community, that is the most effective means of reducing harm.

The evidence is clear: the Navy can continue to protect our national security AND protect marine mammals at the same time. I urge you to direct the Navy to do so.

Go to the url and sign this petition , if you care about ocean life!

[MBS]

30. Kerry's remarks during the Our Ocean conference

Sec. Kerry gave several excellent and knowledgeable talks during the State Dept's international "Our Ocean" conference on Monday and Tuesday, but I thought I'd point out some of the remarks that he made yesterday, introducing the afternoon session (much of this is also cross-posted as a reply in a discussion in the John Kerry group):


http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/06/227692.htm

My favorite part (bold highlights are mine):

Over the past day and a half, some of the world’s very best and most knowledgeable scientists and most influential leaders in both the public and private sectors have been here telling us about inspiring efforts that are underway to address various challenges of our ocean, and importantly not just defining the challenges but laying out the solutions, the things we know we can do.

What’s interesting about the challenges we face, I might add – and is not just about the oceans – but so many of the challenges that are confounding the world today actually have pretty obvious solutions that are staring us in the face. It’s not as if we’re sitting around scratching our heads saying, “How do we solve the problem?” It’s really a question of, “How do we find the political will? How do we get people to move – to sometimes move back very vested, powerful interests that like the status quo because change means reinvesting or changing the way you do business, even though in the long run it will save everybody a lot of money and a lot of grief?”

It’s pretty obvious about where we are. The solution to climate change, which is a serious problem with respect to the oceans, as we have all seen, is very simple, actually. It’s called energy policy. Energy policy is the solution to climate change. . . The irony of it all is that the energy market that is staring us in the face is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users today, which will grow to nine billion users over the course of the next years. Just think about that. It’s the mother of all markets.

And what we need are the triggers that excite the investment and excite the marketplace itself to move. It’s happening in some places; we all see that – some solar breaking through, more and more windmills. . . . But not happening fast enough, not happening significantly enough. . . .

So there’s not – there is nothing that we’re looking at that doesn’t have a solution – acidification, nitrate overload, dead zones. We have to change the politics. And that’s part of the mission that’s got to come out of here.. . the summary of everything that we’re going to hear today is that we have to change the political will and start to make the decisions that put the money into enforcement, into science, into all the things that can actually save the oceans. . .

Sec. Kerry's general introduction to the conference was also excellent. (Watch for some droll passing commentary on the Oct 2013 gov shutdown):
http://www.c-span.org/video/?319978-1/state-department-ocean-conference
You can find more video and transcripts on CSPAN and state.gov websites.

By the way, this conference was spearheaded by Kerry, who has had a sustained commitment to environmental issues, and a particular passion for the ocean, for his entire career. As the C-SPAN video makes obvious, the man knows his stuff, and he cares.

Special note to the cynics, complainers and defeatists who so love to comment on this website: Obama and Kerry are serious about making something happen. How about thanking them, and helping them and their allies, in and out of government, to make it happen?

[blm]

34. Kerry's been working on this pro-actively for decades. He needed the CLOUT to make it happen.

Sad that so many who CLAIM to be concerned about this issue don't even know that much about it to know who in DC has been sticking their necks out to do something about it.

[slipslidingaway]

32. Report on expansion of Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument ...

http://www.marine-conservation.org/media/filer_public/filer_public/2014/06/17/primnm_expansion_report.pdf

[Nihil]

36. Congratulations!

Here's hoping that the US makes a better job of implementing & enforcing it
than the British government did with their grand proclamation in 2009 ...

At least it's a start though!