Originally Posted August 31, 2016
Capping a week of 100th anniversary celebrations for the National Park Service, Barack created the largest protected area anywhere on Earth—a half-million-square-mile arc of remote Pacific waters known for both exceptional marine life and importance to native Hawaiian culture.
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, established in 2006 by President George W. Bush, already covered 140,000 square miles of ocean around the uninhabited northwestern islands of Hawaii, Obama’s home state. Obama more than quadrupled Papahānaumokuākea’s size, to 582,578 square miles, an area larger than all the national parks combined.
May this be the sign of things to come.
Extending these no-take areas greatly enhances the chances for the Earth's fish stressed fish populations to rebound - and for species threatened with extinction to find refuge.
To learn more, and to learn how to pronounce Papahānaumokuākea :- ) see this from National Geographic