On Tuesday, March 21st, President Biden announced that the U.S. will consider increasing protections for the Pacific Remote Islands by advancing a new National Marine Sanctuary designation.
Secure marine protections and honor Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander culture.
The Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) contain some of the last wild and healthy ecosystems in the world’s ocean. PRI is home to resilient coral reefs, threatened and endangered wildlife, endemic species found nowhere else on Earth, and the waterways of ancient and modern Indigenous voyagers.
PRI is a complex and interconnected ecosystem that highlights the interdependence of pelagic, nearshore, and terrestrial species, including sharks, rays, whales, turtles, sea birds, and fish. In order to ensure the continued health of the land and nearshore areas that are already a part of PRI, we must secure the protections for this area and demonstrate this support across various communities.
Only One has joined forces with the community-driven Pacific Remote Islands Coalition (PRI Coalition) to call on US President Joseph Biden to expand and protect some of the last wild and healthy ecosystems in the world’s ocean. The expansion would also bring the US to successfully protect 30% of their ocean before 2030.