Despite the local government\u2019s lack of interest in the Marine Monument proposal presented by the Pew Environmental group, the group will continue advocating for a marine monument in the northern islands. <\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, this thing should be supported by the people of the CNMI. We\u2019ve presented this to leadership\u2014the Legislature, the Senate, and the governor. And we will continue to do presentations to this,\u201d said Beautify CNMI!\u2019s Angelo Villagomez. <\/p>\n
The group is pushing for the designation of the northernmost islands of Farallon de Pajaron (Uracas), Maug, and Asuncion and the waters surrounding these islands as a national monument, similar to last year\u2019s designation by President Bush of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. <\/p>\n
The project is seen as a means to preserve the area as a protected marine habitat. All three islands are uninhabited and volcanic, but the waters surrounding them teem with life and as yet to be discovered new species of marine creatures.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Arnold Palacios has strongly spoken out against having the northern islands in the CNMI turned into a marine national monument. <\/p>\n
Also, a letter from Gov. Benigno R. Fitial opposed the marine monument designation \u201cat this time.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fitial stated in his letter to Pew project director Jay Nelson that, although he appreciates Pew\u2019s interest in the CNMI, \u201cthe government must fully consider all options and decide carefully, prudently, and strategically.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pew Charitable Trusts had written to the governor on Dec. 20 of last year urging him to support the creation of the marine monument. <\/p>\n
Pew Manager Matt Rand said the marine monument would bring much media attention from all over the world and create jobs for many local residents. <\/p>\n
Despite these oppositions, Villagomez said the people of the CNMI are \u201cultimately\u201d the ones who must ask the government to do this. <\/p>\n
Nelson said that, if there is any kind of dispute over the designation of a marine monument in the CNMI, the Bush administration would not step into the fray.<\/p>\n
However, Rand said that the CNMI is the \u201cmost special place for the President of the United States to consider having a marine monument located at.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council, \u201cthe $4 billion plus organization was instrumental in having 137,000 square nautical miles surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands proclaimed as the first-ever marine national monument and closing down the eight vessel limited entry bottom fish fishery located over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villagomez said presentations on the marine monument proposal will be shown to whoever is interested in learning more about it. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey can call me and we\u2019ll schedule something for those who want to see it,\u201d Villagomez said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite the local government\u2019s lack of interest in the Marine Monument proposal presented by the Pew Environmental group, the group will continue advocating for a marine monument in the northern islands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}