Greenpeace

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument was created in 2006 and encompasses 138,000 square miles. It is the largest marine reserve in the world. Since it's creation the U.S. coast guard has caught four ships illegally fishing in it's protected waters. They each could be fined up to $130,000. The coast guard uses airplanes to monitor the protected area. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has the authority to order any ship caught to stop and return to port. The most recent ship caught was in June 2009. When the monument was created in 2006 it was decided that all fishing will be phased out over five years. At the present moment eight fishing vessels are licensed to fish in some parts of the reserve. It was one of these vessels that was caught illegally fishing in a protected area of the reserve off limits to fishing in June of this year. A coast guard ship, army divers, and NOAA removed 32 metric tons of marine debris from the reserve in July of 2009. It is estimated that 50 metric tons of marine debris wash into the reserve each year. Since 1996, 540 metric tons of marine debris have been removed from the reserve. I can't tell you what a world-class ecological jewel the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument is. It protects 7,000 species of living things, a quarter of which are found nowhere else in the world.