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Obama to expand Pacific Ocean preserve to 6 times the size

 
Corals in the Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean would be protected as part of an expanded marine preserve President Barack Obama is carving out, putting the waters off limits to drilling and most fishing in a bid to protect fragile underwater life. The expanded Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument will broaden the George W. Bush-era preserve to cover 490,000 square miles, an area about three times the size of California. It will become the largest marine preserve in the world.
Corals in the Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean would be protected as part of an expanded marine preserve President Barack Obama is carving out, putting the waters off limits to drilling and most fishing in a bid to protect fragile underwater life. The expanded Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument will broaden the George W. Bush-era preserve to cover 490,000 square miles, an area about three times the size of California. It will become the largest marine preserve in the world.
Published Sept. 25, 2014

UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama is carving out a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean for an expanded marine preserve, putting the waters off limits to drilling and most fishing in a bid to protect fragile underwater life.

The revamped and expanded Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument will cover 490,000 square miles — about three times the size of California — and will be the largest marine preserve in the world. Millions of seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals live in the bio-rich expanse included by the new monument, which will also add new protections for more than 130 "seamounts" — underwater mountains where rare or undiscovered species are frequently found.

The move to broaden the George W. Bush-era preserve is made as Obama seeks to show concrete presidential action to protect the environment, despite firm opposition in Congress to new environmental legislation.

Obama will sign a memorandum expanding the ocean preserve today, the White House said.

The memorandum bans commercial fishing, deep-sea mining and other extraction of underwater resources, but recreational fishing will be allowed.