U.S. President George W. Bush has taken historic steps to protect and preserve the oceans. Invoking legal authority granted the Presidency by the little-known Antiquities Act of 1906, the Mr. Bush has proclaimed approximately 139,793 square miles of emergent and submerged lands and waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a National Monument, affording Federal protection to the species-rich marine environment.
The protected area, from which all commercial fishing will be ended within five years, is larger than Germany and about 2/3 the size of France.
The Presidential proclamation can be viewed here, and newspaper reporting on President Bush’s decision and reaction to it here.