‘NMI govt still has right over marine resources’

Despite losing an appeal asserting ownership of the Northern Marianas’ submerged lands, the Commonwealth government still retains the power to enforce regulations that prohibit the taking of marine resources from designated sanctuaries.

The Superior Court has ruled that the CNMI government could regulate the taking of marine resources regardless of the outcome on the dispute over the ownership of submerged lands, saying that regulation is a matter of self-government.

The court also ruled that Public Law 12-46, which designated certain areas as marine sanctuaries, is not related to the CNMI’s claim to some 264,000-square miles of submerged lands in the Northern Marianas.

“This court finds that Public Law 12-46 does not violate the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and is not dependent on either the Commonwealth’s Submerged Lands Act or Marine Sovereignty Act regardless of whether these acts are found to be legitimate or not by the Ninth Circuit,” said associate judge Kenneth Govendo.

“Regulating the taking of reef fish, crabs and lobsters is an internal affair and entirely a matter of local self-government,” Govendo said.

The judge handed down the ruling in a criminal case that lodged charges against Maynard Hilbert and Kinny Recherii for allegedly poaching in marine resources at a sanctuary. The defendants had asked the court to dismiss the charges against them on the grounds that the CNMI government lacks jurisdiction over submerged lands and that it lacked authority to enact and enforce P.L. 12-46.

Govendo said the legislative authority to enact a local conservation law is governed by Covenant Section 103, which guarantees the CNMI’s right to self-government.

He said the public law in question was enacted pursuant to the requirements of the CNMI Constitution–which was approved by the federal government–and that the statutory provision prohibiting poaching on marine life is clear. The law provides that “destruction, harassment and/or removal of plants, wildlife…fishing in any form, operation of jet skis, walking on exposed sections of the reef, harvesting or removal of fish, shellfish or marine life in any form is prohibited within the confines of these areas designated as a sanctuary.”

“It is important to note that litigation involving submerged lands between the federal government and various state governments has had nothing to do with fishing, fishing rights or the extraction of reef fish, sea crabs and lobsters,” Govendo said.

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit earlier affirmed a decision by Saipan’s federal court that the United States has sovereignty over the islands’ submerged lands.

The Ninth Circuit said that the CNMI lost its title to submerged lands when it agreed to U.S. sovereignty, a similar decision in the claims of other territorial jurisdictions such as California, Texas, Louisiana and Maine.