Obama Proposes Vast Expansion of Pacific Ocean Sanctuaries for Marine Life

Proposed expansion of a marine monument

President Obama wants to use his executive authority to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, but he won't decide until after getting public input.

SOURCE: Interior Department. GRAPHIC: Patterson Clark. Published June 17, 2014.

washingtonpost.com - by Juliet Eilperin - June 17, 2014

President Obama announced Tuesday his intent to make a broad swath of the central Pacific Ocean off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities.

The proposal, slated to go into effect later this year after a comment period, could create the world’s largest marine sanctuary and double the area of ocean globally that is fully protected.

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