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.