The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:19 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papah%C4%81naumoku%C4%81kea_Marine_National_Monument wrote: <<In August of 2016, President Barack Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument by roughly four times to encompass a total of 583,000 square miles. After the expansion, the monument is the largest marine protected area in the world. It is internationally known for both its cultural and natural values as follows:
"The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is one of the largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world.">>
