Taotao Tano position on proposed marine monument: Part II

Further review of the Pew Charitable Trust and Friends of the Marianas issues as to why they fully support the marine monument proposal is the report of illegal fishing activities taking place around and in the exclusive economic zone at our northernmost islands, especially long-liner vessels from Asian countries. Recent reports of the U.S. Coast Guard intercepting illegal foreign fishing vessels further support their concerns and at times the blame was pointed at our local government for not monitoring these areas. We would like to point out further our concerns and issues regarding this matter which reflects back to the Paramount Doctrine we mentioned earlier in terms of sovereignty, foreign affairs and defense matters as being the sole reason we lost our rights to ownership over our submerged lands as indigenous Northern Mariana-descent Chamorros and Carolinians.

Taotao Tano would like to bring everyone’s attention back to our Covenant Agreement in Political Union with the United States, specifically Section 104. This section provides that the United States will have complete responsibility for and authority with respect to foreign affairs and defense of the Northern Mariana Islands. This section had been included in order to make very clear that the United States will have this authority. The concept of sovereignty is closely tied to foreign affairs and defense matters. Throughout the American political family, foreign affairs and defense is a federal responsibility, as made explicit in the U.S. Constitution and the Paramount Doctrine. Again, it totally contradicts the issues as to why a monument should be substituted in place of foreign affairs and defense matters, especially with our three northernmost islands. Our government has long been mistakenly blamed for not being able to do anything such as patrol our borders around our northernmost islands and uninhabited islands but border control is a federal responsibility as stipulated in the Paramount Doctrine and Section 104 of our Covenant Agreement. Our government is bound by the U.S. Constitution to act on any local legislation seeking to take back our submerged lands, and in fact questions are still lingering between the difference of “submerged lands and real property,” which was not clear in our Covenant Agreement.

Therefore, we must hold off on this monument proposal until clarity is achieved, and a solid agreement is made and that everything being said, offered, negotiated, or promised is put down in black and white and signed by both our government and the federal government to ensure that we strike a balance, understanding and respect for one another. We must be given the opportunity to retain our submerged lands and the waters surrounding them within a reasonable distance such as a 9-12 mile ownership.