In the central Pacific Ocean lies one of the last wild, healthy marine ecosystems on this planet – with resilient coral reefs, sharks, turtles, seabirds, and deep-sea species found nowhere else on Earth, and home to the waterways of traditional wayfinding voyages.

But this area is facing growing threats from deep-sea mining, climate change, and overfishing. The time to better protect the Pacific Remote Islands against future exploitation is now.

President Biden has embraced the Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) Coalition’s efforts to increase protections for this culturally, historically, and biologically significant place. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has begun the scoping process to advance a designation of a new National Marine Sanctuary to protect this special ocean place – the first step in a public process that depends on your input.

We need NOAA to hear your support! 

Join the PRI Coalition now in asking NOAA to permanently protect the Pacific Remote Islands to the full extent of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, to honor the area’s unique history and cultural significance with a new name, and to adopt a co-management model that includes a broader spectrum of oceanic Indigenous communities – bringing culture, people, and communities together around a shared history and future.  

Please sign now to have your name added to the message below:

"To the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,   

Now is the time to expand protections for the Pacific Remote Islands. This action would honor the cultural and historical legacy of these islands and atolls, preserve the area as an intact cultural voyaging seascape, and protect abundant populations of wildlife such as coral, fish, sharks, turtles, rays, whales, dolphins, birds, and other important marine ocean species in the face of threats like deep-sea mining, climate change, and overfishing.

We, the undersigned, strongly support NOAA’s designation of a new National Marine Sanctuary that: 

1. permanently and strongly protects the Pacific Remote Islands to the full extent of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone; 
2. honors the area’s unique history and cultural significance with a new name; and 
3. adopts a co-management model so that traditional ecological knowledge and modern science can be at the forefront of ongoing and future protections for the Pacific.

Thank you for your leadership in advancing climate resilience and ocean protections that benefit ocean wildlife, Pacific Island communities, and future generations to come."

To learn more about this special place and how to help, visit www.protectpri.com/sanctuary