Vast expansion of refuge welcome

President Barack Obama’s plan to vastly expand the Central Pacific marine sanctuary President George W. Bush created via executive order in 2009 bodes well for the health of the planet and therefore the health of mankind. Opposition from commercial interests should not scuttle this important environmental advancement.

Oceans cover 71 percent of Earth’s surface and produce 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe. Yet less than 2 percent of all waters are protected from overuse, with the rest of these fragile marine ecosystems under constant pressure from pollution, overfishing and other commercial activities, including the extraction of oil, minerals and other natural resources.

The United States governs more of the world’s oceans than any other nation — 13 percent of seas not designated as international waters — and consumes seafood at a rate second only to China. Given this outsize role, it is only right that it lead the way in marine preservation, not only to mitigate harmful activities already in full effect, but to prevent further degradation — which in the Central Pacific centers on tuna fishing and the rising demand for seabed ore and mineral deposits.

Mining companies are exploring the region for rich undersea deposits of copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and rare earth metals essential to the production of smartphones and other technological devices. The number of companies seeking to develop deep-sea mines in international waters of the Central Pacific has tripled in the last few years, with large-scale commercial operations likely less than five years away, according to the International Seabed Authority.

Scientists, including from Hawaii, have spoken out about the grave risks these enterprises pose to the ocean floor and related marine ecosystems, which are among the most pristine in the world.

As the economic pressure to exploit these and other natural resources increases, so, too, does the likelihood that deep-sea disruptions caused by commercial operations could spill over to protected areas. That makes it vital to preserve more of the Central Pacific before large-scale seabed mining operations get underway, providing a much larger buffer zone for diverse marine life including corals, fish and mammals.

Obama’s plan would essentially double the amount of ocean across the globe that is fully protected, by expanding the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to 782,000 square miles from the current 87,000 square miles. The waters surround seven islands and atolls controlled by the U.S.; commercial activities would be restricted within 200 miles of shore, up from the current 50.

That means the designation would cover the full U.S. exclusive economic zone in a region that accounts for 3 percent of U.S. tuna fishermen’s annual catch in the Western and Central Pacific, and this economic threat underlies some fishermen’s opposition to Obama’s plan. U.S. fishermen deserve a fair hearing, and they will get one as the federal government gathers feedback to the plan over the summer. However, their concerns should not outweigh the broader public issues; any exemptions granted should be limited.

In the last 50 years, populations of large predatory fish have declined by 90 percent or more worldwide, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Scientists discovered during a 2005 expedition to the Pacific Remote Islands’ Kingman Reef that top predators such as sharks together outweighed their collective prey, a troubling "inverted biomass pyramid" that signaled a serious depletion of marine life.

Vast ocean preserves like the one so laudably proposed can help restore marine species we have overexploited, and save unique, pristine deep-sea ecosystems from ever being put at risk.