Nature Conservancy Magazine: Summer 2009

Go Deeper

Palmyra Atoll
Its pristine waters harbor five times as many coral species as the Florida Keys, and its shores offer one of the few nesting areas for seabirds within 450,000 square miles. Palmyra's islets offer an untouched sanctuary to many rare and endangered species.

Palmyra Atoll, a remote group of Pacific islands owned by the Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been given broad protections as one of the new marine national monuments created by President Bush in the final days of his administration.

The new monument status will limit commercial uses such as fishing and oil drilling. All told, the new designation protects 195,280 square miles of ocean, an area larger than the states of Oregon and Washington combined.

The designation protects 13 million acres of water around Palmyra, including the nearby Kingman Reef. Previously, only 500,000 acres surrounding the islets were protected. Palmyra is one of the most spectacular marine wilderness areas on Earth and a scientific treasure that is just being explored, says Suzanne Case, director of the Conservancy's Hawaii program, which facilitates research at the atoll.

“There were no longer enough adult clams to make baby clams,” says Conservancy scientist Carl LoBue. “They were too far away from each other.”

In marine conservation, large is lovely and huge is best, says Rod Salm, the Conservancy's director of marine conservation in the Pacific. He hopes the designation will set a precedent for more ocean protection a key conservation priority. Even counting these new Pacific marine monuments, less than 1 percent of the world's ocean surface area has been protected.

— Curtis Runyan