Maybe He Is A Uniter After All

Well, let's not go that far. But NPR News reports today that President Bush continues to demonstrate his favorite color is blue as he considers an unprecedented marine conservation program that could create the world's largest network of marine protected areas. This would build on his 2006 achievement in proclaiming the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

On the table for consideration are a variety of marine monument proposals that include deep sea reefs in the South Atlantic, coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, Rose Atoll in American Samoa, and more than 600,000 square miles of protected area around small, mostly uninhabited islands in the Central Pacific islands and atolls of Palmyra, Howland and Baker. The waters here are biologically rich in coral reefs and are home to huge seabird colonies. If implemented, the remote islands reserve would be among the largest in the world and about three times as large as the Hawaiian monument.

MBSL&S readers will also be familiar with another proposal under consideration: the 100,000 square miles of waters around the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Western Pacific. You'll remember that our distant pal Angelo Villagomez has been spearheading the outreach and support-building for this important addition to the marine reserve program. The proposed monument area includes a portion of the 36,000-foot-deep Marianas Trench, the deepest location on the earth's crust.

I've just gotta guess that WESPAC flunkies and lobbyists are scrambling from office to office on The Hill this week working their special magic to see very little in the way of additional marine protection in the Pacific. The thought of an outgoing President who already has a fondness for ocean protection must give them spontaneous paroxysms.

Despise the perplexing lack of support for the monument from the CNMI legislature, you can bet I'll be rooting for the Mariana Trench National Marine Monument to get a thumbs-up from the Administration. I look forward to sporting my You'll Love How Deep We Go t-shirt in celebration.

Hat tip to David Malakoff for the news.