June 29, 2021 — A new agreement will improve recreational and subsistence access to a central Pacific marine monument, but commercial fisheries will still be shut out.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and managers of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument agreed last week to work together at a meeting in Honolulu. The two entities agreed to develop a draft management plan ahead of the formal sanctuary proposal process scheduled to start this fall. In December 2020, President Trump signed a funding bill that would strengthen protections for the monument by designating it as a national marine sanctuary, the Council said in a press release.