Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was proclaimed a national monument on January 6, 2009, by U.S. President George W. Bush The monument includes endemic trees, grasses, and birds adapted to life at the equator, the rare sea turtles and whales and Hawaiian monk seals that visit Johnston Atoll, and high-quality coral reefs. U.S. federal law prohibits resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping, and commercial fishing in the monument areas. Research, free passage, and recreation are allowed. On June 17, 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama proposed using his executive powers to expand the marine protected area to . Sport fishing is exempt, and public comments were solicited. He then signed a proclamation on September 25, 2014, expanding the monument to six times its original size, resulting in 490,343 square miles (1,269,982 square kilometers) In September 2017, Trump Administration U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that the U.S. government reduce the monument's boundaries by an unspecified amount. By the end of his term in office, in January 2021, former President Trump had not followed this recommendation. In March 2023, President Biden directed the Secretary of Commerce to consider making the monument and additional areas within the U.S. EEZ a National Marine Sanctuary, as well as to study a renaming of the monument, its islands, and their related national wildlife refuges. Following a collaborate process with Pacific Island communities and report published in March 2024, Biden renamed the monument as Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument on January 2, 2025, to recognize traditional voyages and cultural connections in the region. On April 17, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order removing protected status from areas of the national monument. The executive order restored commercial fishing access from 50 to 200 nautical miles (the limit of the U.S. EEZ) from the land. Previously the area had been the largest marine protected area in the world. == Geography ==

Location and area The following islands form the basis of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument: • Baker Island, an atoll in the North Pacific Ocean southwest of Honolulu, coordinates , about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The atoll has a total area of 129 km2, of which 2.1 km2 is land and 127 km2 is water. • Howland Island, an island in the North Pacific Ocean southwest of Honolulu, coordinates , about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The island has a total area of 139 km2, of which 2.6 km2 is land and 136 km2 is water. • Jarvis Island, an island in the South Pacific Ocean south of Honolulu, coordinates , about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. The island has a total area of 152 km2, of which 5 km2 is land and 147 km2 is water. • Johnston Atoll, an atoll in the North Pacific Ocean southwest of Honolulu, coordinates , about one-third of the way from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a total area of 276.6 km2, of which 2.6 km2 is land and 274 km2 is water. • Kingman Reef, a reef in the North Pacific Ocean south of Honolulu, coordinates , about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. The reef has a total area of 1,958.01 km2, of which 0.01 km2 is land and 1,958 km2 is water. • Palmyra Atoll, an atoll in the North Pacific Ocean south of Honolulu, coordinates , about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. The atoll has a total area of 1,949 km2, of which 3.9 km2 is land and 1,946 km2 is water. • Wake Island, an atoll in the North Pacific Ocean west of Honolulu, coordinates , about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu to Guam. The atoll has a total area of 13.86 km2, of which 7.38 km2 is land and 6.48 km2 is water. South of the monument is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, with a size of , which was created by the government of Kiribati. Climate Because the islands are scattered throughout the ocean, the climate is different on each island. Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands have an equatorial climate, with scant rainfall, constant wind, and burning sun. Johnston Atoll and Kingman Reef have a tropical climate but are generally dry, with consistent northeast trade winds with little seasonal temperature variation. Palmyra Atoll has a hot, equatorial climate. Because the atoll is located within the low-pressure area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone where the northeast and southeast trade winds meet, it is extremely wet with between of rainfall each year. Researchers found that by 2060, warmer temperatures will attract skipjack tuna from the Western Pacific to the protected waters of the monument, away from areas that are heavily fished. == Population ==

Although the islands have no permanent residents, the seven islands that make up the marine national monument are stepping stones that connect Hawaii to Micronesia and other Polynesian sea voyaging cultures. The voyage from Hawaii to the neighboring Marshall Islands once included a stop at Johnston Atoll. Wake Atoll is geographically, culturally, and historically linked to the people who live in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Kingman, Palmyra, Jarvis, Howland, and Baker are connected to the Republic of Kiribati. Voyaging and culture link all of these islands. , 2014 Wake has a current transient population of ca. 125 military personnel and contractors. Johnston Atoll had a peak population of 1,100 military and civilian contractor personnel in 2000, but it was evacuated by 2007. From 2010 through 2021, volunteer biologists lived and worked on the island in groups of 5, but since May 2021, the island has had no permanent inhabitants. Four to twenty Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff live at Palmyra Atoll. The four other islands are usually uninhabited. Public entry to the islands is by special-use permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is generally restricted to scientists and educators. Only Wake Island and Palmyra Atoll have serviceable runways; Jarvis, Johnston Atoll, Baker, and Howland Islands had airstrips in earlier times but they have long been abandoned and are no longer operational. ==See also==