Largest Marine Conservation Area in the World

Presidential Proclamation 8031, signed on June 15, 2006, established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as the Papahäumokuäkea Marine National Monument. The monument, situated in the northwestern portion of the Hawaiian Archipelago, northwest of the Island of Kaua'i and the other main Hawaiian Islands, comprises a complex array of small islands and atolls surrounded by extensive coral reef and deepwater marine ecosystems. These ecosystems support a diversity of life and serve as the primary breeding and nesting areas for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, green sea turtles, and seabirds in the Hawaiian archipelago. These natural resources, together with a rich Native Hawaiian cultural and maritime heritage, give this monument a unique place as one of the most significant and largest marine conservation areas in the world.

Since 2003, Tetra Tech has been providing management planning, regulatory consulting, and environmental impact analysis support to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its efforts to establish the monument. Working closely with NOAA, Tetra Tech is preparing the Monument Management Plan and related National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses.

The Monument is managed by three co-trustees—NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State of Hawai'i—and represents a unique opportunity for implementing an integrated and ecosystem approach to management. Tetra Tech has demonstrated experience working with these agencies and other stakeholder groups to develop a management approach that will facilitate collaboration, the development of common objectives for improved ecosystem management, and the sharing of resources, with the goal of achieving more effective coordination, less duplication, and more effective management under limite budgets.

Tetra Tech has been recognized as providing state-of-the-art marine and coastal planning and regulatory services to government and local stakeholders in the United States and internationally for more than 30 years. We are privileged to have provided support to NOAA in the establishment of the largest marine conservation area in the world.

Highlight:
“Today is an extraordinary day in the history of conservation…. We are establishing a new blueprint for the protection and conservation of one of the world’s beautiful and unique ecosystems.” –U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne