Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument falls within the Central Pacific Ocean, ranging from Wake Atoll in the northwest to Jarvis Island in the southeast. The seven atolls and islands included within the monument are farther from human population centers than any other U.S. area. They represent one of the last frontiers and havens for wildlife in the world, and comprise the most widespread collection of coral reef, seabird, and shorebird protected areas on the planet under a single nation’s jurisdiction. At Howland Island, Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef, the terrestrial areas, reefs, and waters out to 12 nautical miles (nmi) are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The land areas at Wake Atoll and Johnston Atoll remain under the jurisdiction of The giant clam, Tridacna gigas, is a clam that is the largest living bivalve mollusk. the U.S. Air Force, but the waters from Photo: © Kydd Pollock 0 to 12 nmi are protected as units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. For all of the areas, fishery-related Marine National Monument, and orders long time periods throughout their entire activities seaward from the 12-nmi refuge of magnitude greater than the reefs near cultural and geological history. These boundaries out to the 50-nmi monument heavily populated islands. Expansive refuges are unique in that they were and boundary are managed by the National shallow coral reefs and deep coral forests, are still largely pristine, though many Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. with some corals up to 5,000 years old, played important roles in the military are found here. These small dots of land and aviation history of our Nation. Only These areas represent the last refugia for in the midst of the ocean are vital nesting two refuges, Palmyra Atoll and Wake fish and wildlife species rapidly vanishing habitat for millions of seabirds and resting Atoll, are accessible by air; the rest from the remainder of the planet, habitat for migratory shorebirds. require ship access. In some cases, it takes including sea turtles, dolphins, whales, up to eight days to reach a refuge from its pearl oysters, giant clams, coconut crabs, This collection of interconnected refuges nearest port, and it may be visited only large groupers, sharks, humphead wrasses, has over geological and recent history once every two years. and bumphead parrotfishes. Fish biomass served as key stepping stones for the at these islands is remarkable and double colonization and dispersal of species From these protected waters, we can gain that found in Papahānaumokuākea between the eastern and western, and knowledge that can be applied elsewhere the northern and southern Pacific Ocean. to improve coral reef management Some of these refuges are also unique in in more populated areas. They are that they benefit from localized upwelling ideal “laboratories” for assessing the from the Equatorial Undercurrent, and effects of climate change without direct others serve as destinations for additional human impacts. And by protecting the species transported from the western Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Pacific by the Equatorial Countercurrent. Monument and the National Wildlife Refuges within it, future generations of All these holdings were uninhabited at the Americans will still have the opportunity time of their “rediscovery” during the past to sense the wonder of the world of nature few centuries and were never occupied for in the midst of the Pacific. Strawberry hermit crab. Photo: USFWS Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, 2 Johnston Atoll One of the most isolated atolls in the world, Johnston is an ancient atoll, and along with Wake, is probably the oldest in the Pacific Ocean. It is the northernmost of the Line Islands. Once claimed by both the United States and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, the atoll was placed under control of the U.S. Navy in 1934. During World War II, it was an Howland sign and beacon. Cindy Newton/USFWS Red-footed booby. Photo: James Maragos important aircraft and submarine refueling Howland, Baker, and Jarvis Islands station; in 2004 it was abandoned after all Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef All three of these refuges hug the equator but one facility was dismantled. Part of the Line Islands chain, Palmyra and were formed as fringing reefs Atoll and Kingman Reef are remnants around islands built by volcanoes some Johnston is an important genetic stepping of volcanoes from some 65-120 million 65-120 million years ago. Although stone from the Line Islands to the years ago. Kingman is known to be the Polynesians were likely the first visitors Hawaiian Islands for invertebrates, fish, most undisturbed coral reef within the to these islands, westerners “rediscovered” and corals. It supports 45 coral species, U.S., complete with a greater proportion them in an uninhabited state in the early including a thriving table coral community of apex predators than at any other 1820s. Claimed by the United States and a dozen species found only in the studied coral reef ecosystem in the world. in 1856 under the Guano Act, colonists Hawaiian and northern Line Islands. helping to consolidate the U.S. claim to Kingman Reef’s lagoon one was an the islands constructed settlements and Large populations of seabirds, sea turtles, overnight stop on the Pan American lived there from 1935 until they were whales, and reef sharks are found at Airways clipper route. Palmyra hosted rescued in 1942 after being attacked Johnston. a 6,000-man Naval Air Station in World several times at the onset of World War II. War II, complete with dock and airfield. Palmyra Atoll has one of the best Amelia Earhart and Fred J. Noonan remaining examples of Pisonia grandis planned to stop over at Howland on their forest found in the Pacific, and a large famous world circumnavigation flight in diversity of fish species (418 species). 1937. Radio contact was lost, the airplane Many nationally and internationally never arrived, and to this day their exact threatened, endangered, and depleted fate is unknown. The Amelia Earhart species thrive at Palmyra and Kingman, Day Beacon on Howland is named in her including sea turtles, pearl oysters, giant honor. Stony coral forms a table-like structure. Photo: clams, reef sharks, coconut crabs, fishes, James Maragos and dolphins. The low coral islands are the crests of Wake Atoll ancient coral reef caps and massive Wake is the northernmost atoll in the Large schools of rare melon-headed underlying volcanoes. They support Marshall Islands geological ridge and whales reside off both atolls, and a shrubs and grasses adapted to the arid perhaps the oldest living atoll in the world. potentially new species of beaked whale climate at the Equator. The islands host Used by early Marshall Island navigators, was recently described. Palmyra supports colonies of 11-15 different breeding and later by a cable station and Pan 11 nesting seabird species, including the seabird species, some with population American Airways, the atoll has been third largest red-footed booby colony in sizes of international significance. primarily used by the U.S. military since the world, the largest black noddy colony Coral cover and biodiversity is much before World War II. During the war, it in the Central Pacific, and large numbers higher compared to Hawai‘i and Florida. was overtaken by Japanese soldiers from of bristle-thighed curlews. Beyond the shallow fringing reefs 1941-1945. More than 300 fish species and and terraces, the slopes of the extinct 100 coral species thrive on shallow coral The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i volcanoes drop off sharply to the deep reefs, and seabirds, giant clams, sea turtles, manages a small research camp at floor of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. and spinner dolphins are found at Wake. Palmyra Atoll for the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium. Through this The Equatorial Undercurrent creates consortium of ten institutions from a localized nutrient-rich upwelling in the United States and New Zealand, the shallows near the islands, resulting scientists conduct research pertaining to in high fish biomasses and a high biodiversity, conservation, natural history, proportion of top predators. Up to 340 ecosystem restoration, marine ecosystem fish species inhabit these reefs, as well as dynamics, biogeochemistry, climate giant clams, sharks, and sea turtles. dynamics, and atmospheric processes. Red-tailed tropicbird. Photo: USFWS.

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