PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ENDS TUESDAY MAY 7, 2024 at 5:59pm HST 
YOU can help protect unique marine ecosystems, endangered keystone life like manō (sharks) & help this sanctuary become a global model with YOUR comments by Electronic Submission.
TO COMMENT https://www.regulations.gov  Search for docket NOAA-NOS-2021-0114-0076
Click 'Comment', complete the required fields, and enter your comments.

YOUR comments help for the strongest possible protection of Papahānaumokuākea
🪸 Protect endangered keystone marine life like manō (sharks) & unique ecosystems
🌎 Advocate a global model marine pristine (#30x30) NO fish zone sanctuary
🌊 Choose the big boundary alternative (582K square miles)
 

Comments can include request for:
-*Preferred sanctuary boundary area - maximum sanctuary area alternative 582K square miles

- Strict Monitoring & Enforcement on marine debris, fishing line, fishing gear to eliminate entanglement of endangered marine life in marine protected area; NO longline fishing

- Strict regulations: NO non-commercial fishing, NO sustenance fishing in marine protected area to eliminate entanglement of marine life in this protected area

-NO exemptions for marine mining activities or other human impact damaging activities
-NO submarine activity

-maintain access for sacred cultural practices that are not in any way affecting ecosystems including integrating Mai Ka Pō Mai

-create protection regulations, monitoring & enforcement for keystone marine life like manō (sharks), corals, cetaceans, etc. - NO unnecessary/harmful to life scientific research
 

Below Information from NOAA https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/papahanaumokuakea/


The name Papahānaumokuākea commemorates the union of two Hawaiian ancestors – Papahānaumoku and Wākea – who gave rise to the Hawaiian Archipelago, the taro plant, and the Hawaiian people.

Papahānaumokuākea’s status as a marine national monument would not change under a sanctuary designation. The addition of a national marine sanctuary would provide regulatory and management tools to augment and strengthen existing protections for Papahānaumokuākea ecosystems, wildlife, and cultural and maritime heritage resources. The monument’s joint management structure, a hallmark feature, would remain. The sanctuary designation process is being conducted in collaboration with the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, the state of Hawaiʻi and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs — the four agencies that share in the management of the monument.

The proposed sanctuary would have a Native Hawaiian program specialist on staff and the sanctuary advisory council would include Native Hawaiian seats. The communication and engagement team would develop events and outreach materials specifically to involve the Native Hawaiian community across the islands, including products in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

NOAA is proposing a sanctuary area approximately 582,250 square miles. The agency’s preferred boundary overlaps with the marine portions of the monument. The boundary includes the marine environment surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from the shoreline of the islands and atolls seaward to 200 nautical miles, including all state waters and waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, Midway Atoll and Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuges, and state of Hawaiʻi Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Refuge. Large-scale conservation areas such as this are important to protect highly mobile species, such as sharks and marine mammals. They also protect entire ecosystems, preserving critical ecological functions and conserving biodiversity.

Learn More at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/papahanaumokuakea/

Below information from Shark Stewards https://sharkstewards.org/support-the-papahanaumokuakea-national-marine-sanctuary/
 

Located in the culturally and ecologically sigificant islands Northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is unique.  The Monument is one of the few intact, large-scale predator-dominated reef ecosystems left in the world.  It is home to more than 7,000 marine species.  The islands and atolls—Kure (Hōlanikū), Midway (Kuaihelani), Pearl and Hermes (Manawai), Lisianski (Kapou), Laysan (Kamole), Maro Reef (Kamokuokamohoali’i), Gardner Pinnacles (‘Ōnū nui and ‘Ōnū iki), French Frigate Shoals (Lalo), Mokumanamana, and Nihoa—provide breeding areas for Hawaiian monk seals and four species of sea turtles, nesting sites for more than 14 million seabirds, and more than 5,000 square miles of coral reefs.  Because this region is remote—nearly 3,000 miles from the nearest continent—life forms evolved here that exist nowhere else on earth.  Researchers working in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument continue to encounter new species: since 2000, scientists have discovered scores of new species of fish, coral, invertebrates, and even algae.  Remarkably, on a 2015 expedition, scientists from NOAA and other institutions found that some deep reefs in Papahānaumokuākea were inhabited only by endemic species.  This is the only known marine area where all resident species are endemic.  
 

At least 23 species protected under the US Endangered Species Act inhabit the Monument, two national wildlife refuges, and two state-protected areas within its boundaries.  For example, Papahānaumokuākea provides nearly the entire Hawaiian nesting habitat for the threatened green turtle. On the undisturbed beaches, the turtles come ashore to bask in daylight, a behavior not seen in most other parts of the world.
 

A 2022 study published in Science found that the world’s largest no-fishing zone, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, has increased the catch rate of yellowfin tuna by 54% in nearby waters. Catch rates for bigeye tuna (also known as ʻahi) increased by 12%; catch rates for all fish species combined increased by 8%.