It was a Success! Workshop on Building Board of Directors’ Skills - Provided by National Wildlife Refuge Mentors

In June, as a result of a successful application for mentoring assistance, we were visited by Cheryl Hart (also a Board member of the National Wildlife Refuge Association) and Barbara Volke through a grant sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Friends Mentoring Program.. They provided an ambitious program over four days, covering board member duties, developing a vision and mission statement, as well as helping us develop an action plan to carry forward after the workshop. We were joined by Tammy Summers, the new Project Leader, currently stationed in Guam, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Mariana Islands Refuges and Monument Complex which includes the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and its associated Refuges. Many of you may know Tammy as she has previously worked in CNMI on sea turtle conservation issues. We congratulate Tammy on her new position and are looking forward to collaborating with her and her staff on important ocean conservation issues facing the Marianas. 

After 10 years since the Monument designation, we are now working on updating our vision and mission statements and developing a strategic plan that will carry us through the next decade. Other action items include increasing our website and social media presence, and to continue to provide outreach programs for the community. Barbara and Cheryl will be helping to guide us for another 12 months as we work through our action items. Here are some of the comments from the participants of the Building Board of Directors’ Skills Workshop:

“The functional exercises for capturing everyone's point of view was useful and created animated discussion. As they say, the devil is in the details and the group exercises really helped bring a few things into focus. I especially enjoyed doing the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Though I am familiar with this tool, it was great to have an outside facilitator structure the dialogue. It made for a better outcome. I would have liked a more tangible outcome, but the action item list at least gave us priorities for the many things we already knew that we need to address.”

“I liked that I was able to understand the organization better, and it helped me realize how I can help given my limited capacity."

“…what I liked the most about the workshop was the part where each one of us had to tell a story on why the listener has to support/join our cause or mission and try to persuade or convince them on our story.”

“I liked that I was able to join remotely even if it was only for part of the Program. I am excited to help with the grant writing so we can get some new projects going!”
“I was most excited about getting to become better acquainted with the members of the Friends of the Marianas Trench Monument. I am looking forward to working with them to inspire future CNMI marine scientists.”

“It was a privilege to work with the dedicated Friends of Marianas Trench Board members and the FWS Project Manager as one of their mentor team. They are passionate about their mission to protect this unique area and to help others develop a conservation ethic that will ensure its preservation for future generations. I sincerely hope others will join them in this critical endeavor.”

Who are the NWRA Friends? The NWRA Friends are among the most powerful voices that speak on behalf of their local refuges and the National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System) in their communities and even with decision-makers in Washington. The NWRA successfully mobilizes friends groups and private citizens to address the challenges facing our national wildlife refuges and marine monuments. The NWRA provides training workshops, communications networks, partnerships, and advocacy to help generate support for public lands and vital wildlife habitats at the local and national levels. According to NWRA, more than 230 Friends organizations work in support of wildlife refuges across the nation, with 36,000 volunteers contributing 1.4 million hours a year to the Refuge System. With Refuge System funding declining, the need to recruit and train additional volunteers is more pressing than ever! 

We are excited about bringing additional support from partnership activities with the NWRA Friends to CNMI in the future. As a result of another proposal submission to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, several board members of Friends of the Mariana Trench, along with our USFWS partner, Tammy, will be attending a peer-to-peer workshop in September to learn from and share our story with other Pacific Region-based Friends groups. 

Thanks to everyone for taking time from their personal schedules to help make our workshop possible. Special thanks to Barb and Cheryl for endeavoring to work with us with our complex circumstances. Thanks to Tammy for getting onboard quickly and making it to Saipan to attend. Thanks to Dave for securing the conference room. Thanks to Ike and Edson for the ice chest and drinks. 

Are you interested in joining us as we move forward? All you need is a love for the ocean and its abundant resources! There are no membership dues. Use our online membership inquiry form or contact us at marianamounment@gmail.com to apply for regular membership for the Friends of Mariana Trench. 

Ten Years of Scientific Research Conducted in the Mariana Trench: A brief summary

DEAR Friends of the Mariana Trench,

When we are out and about in the community when often make references to the increased volume of research in our Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. In a recent board discussion, we thought you might enjoy a few more details "about all this additional research" that has taken place since the declaration of the monument. It's also fitting as we are observing the monument's 10-year anniversary, that everyone might like to know what's been going on down there!

The following was prepared by Dr. Larisa Ford, FOMT board member and recently retired National Wildlife Refuge manager for the Guam and Mariana Trench refuge complexes.

Since the Mariana Trench was declared a Marine National Monument ten years ago, scientific research has been conducted not only by United States researchers from universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but also groups from Japan, Korea, China and Russia. Special Use Permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in coordination with NOAA and CNMI DLNR are required for research conducted within the Monument boundaries. Foreign entities must also be granted approval for their research via the U.S. Department of State for activities conducted within the larger U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Mariana Trench has been a major source of new and interesting discoveries and we thought this was a good time to provide a brief summary.

Over 3,000 research studies have been published in the last decade concerning some aspect of the Mariana Trench, almost half of those studies included the discovery of new species of bacteria from the Trench or studies explaining unique characteristics of these bacteria. Bacteria living at extreme depths produce specialized enzymes that help them exist in the deep sea. These enzymes may have commercial application for development of chemicals and medicines and may have potential to help degrade plastic and toxic compounds (Fang and Kato, 2010; Sekiguchi et al., 2011; Morohoshi et al., 2015).

Pseudoliparis swirei (Gerringer et al., 2017)

Of course, the diversity of fishes within the Mariana Trench and the fishes’ adaptations to living at great depths have also been an area of intensive study. For example, a new species of snailfish, Pseudoliparis swirei (see photo), has been described and collected from 6,898 to 7,966 m in the Mariana Trench, and may be the deepest fish that has been collected with verified depth data (Gerringer et al., 2017). Other animals have been studied in the Mariana Trench including, from large whales (Fulling et al., 2011) to unusual enzymes in sea cucumbers that could be used for pharmaceuticals (Li, et al., 2019), to the small, world’s deepest dwelling animal- an amphipod (lan et al., 2017).

Another significant area of study includes the formation of the Mariana Trench itself and related geological properties, volcanic activity and island formation. Various environmental factors have been reported to affect the development and structure of the trench including tectonic processes, depths, slopes, as well as, bottom sediment thickness (Lemenkova, 2018). Other researchers have concentrated on studying the hydrothermal activity at the seafloor and how this activity contributes to the ocean chemical makeup, how seafloor spreading centers are important in providing a variety of elements including minerals to sediments, and how these processes effect the distribution life around hydrothermal vents (Reagan et al., 2013; Ishibashi et al., 2015; Kojima and Watanabe, 2015).

Finally, a few researchers have reported on various economic and social aspects of resources of the Mariana Trench and the Marine National Monument declaration. Studies included analyses of historical and current use of the waters, culturally significant events and the implications of associated regulations, attitudes about marine protected areas, and suggestions for improved collaboration between local partners (Iverson, 2010; Richmond and Kotowicz, 2015; Kotowicz, and Allen, 2015; Kotowicz et al., 2017).

Hopefully, this summary has reinforced the uniqueness of the Mariana Trench and the value it holds for all of us and fills you with pride that the people of the CNMI is one of the protectors of this great and amazing resource.

You can see "10 Years Of Science And Stewardship In Pacific Marine National Monuments"in our Pacific Marine National Monuments from NOAA Fisheries Service here.

We plan to continue keeping everyone updated on new information coming from the Mariana Trench through outreach events and our blog (marianamonument.blogspot.com). 

If you want to learn more about the Mariana Trench or want to learn how to protect ocean resources, please send an email to us at marianamonument@gmail.com.

You might also be interested in becoming a member and can find our membership survey here.

Citations:

1. Fang, J., & Kato, C. (2010). Deep-sea piezophilic bacteria: geomicrobiology and biotechnology. Geomicrobiology: Biodiversity and Biotechnology, 47-77.
2. Fulling, G. L., Thorson, P. H., & Rivers, J. (2011). Distribution and Abundance Estimates for Cetaceans in the Waters off Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands1. Pacific Science, 65(3), 321-344
3. Gerringer, M. E., Linley, T. D., Jamieson, A. J., Goetze, E., & Drazen, J. C. (2017). Pseudoliparis swirei sp. nov.: A newly-discovered hadal snailfish (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the Mariana Trench. Zootaxa, 4358(1), 161-177.
4. Ishibashi, J. I., Tsunogai, U., Toki, T., Ebina, N., Gamo, T., Sano, Y., ... & Chiba, H. (2015). Chemical composition of hydrothermal fluids in the central and southern Mariana Trough backarc basin. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 121, 126-136.
5. Iverson, T. (2010). The Economic Impact of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 15(3), 319-338.
6. Kojima, S., & Watanabe, H. (2015). Vent fauna in the Mariana Trough. In Subseafloor Biosphere Linked to Hydrothermal Systems (pp. 313-323). Springer, Tokyo.
7. Kotowicz, D. M., & Allen, S. D. (2015). Results of a survey of CNMI and Guam residents on the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
8. Kotowicz, D. M., Richmond, L., & Hospital, J. (2017). Exploring Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. Coastal management, 45(6), 452-469.
9. Lan, Y., Sun, J., Tian, R., Bartlett, D. H., Li, R., Wong, Y. H., ... & Tabata, H. G. (2017). Molecular adaptation in the world's deepest‐living animal: Insights from transcriptome sequencing of the hadal amphipod Hirondellea gigas. Molecular ecology, 26(14), 3732-3743.
10. Lemenkova, P. (2018). R scripting libraries for comparative analysis of the correlation methods to identify factors affecting Mariana Trench formation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.01099.
11. Li, Y., Kong, X., & Zhang, H. (2019). Characteristics of a Novel Manganese Superoxide Dismutase of a Hadal Sea Cucumber (Paelopatides sp.) from the Mariana Trench. Marine drugs, 17(2), 84.
12. Morohoshi, T., Tominaga, Y., Someya, N., & Ikeda, T. (2015). Characterization of a novel thermostable N-acylhomoserine lactonase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermaerobacter marianensis. Journal of bioscience and bioengineering, 120(1), 1-5.
13. Reagan, M. K., McClelland, W. C., Girard, G., Goff, K. R., Peate, D. W., Ohara, Y., & Stern, R. J. (2013). The geology of the southern Mariana fore-arc crust: Implications for the scale of Eocene volcanism in the western Pacific. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 380, 41-51.
14. Richmond, L., & Kotowicz, D. (2015). Equity and access in marine protected areas: The history and future of ‘traditional indigenous fishing’in the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. Applied Geography, 59, 117-124.
15. Sekiguchi, T., Sato, T., Enoki, M., Kanehiro, H., Uematsu, K., & Kato, C. (2011). Isolation and characterization of biodegradable plastic degrading bacteria from deep-sea environments. JAMSTEC Report of Research and Development, 11, 33-41.

Friends of the Mariana Trench 2018 – A Year to Remember!

Dear Friends of the Mariana Trench,

Ordinarily you hear from the Friends of the Mariana Trench chairman, Ike Cabrera. In one of our recent meetings he asked if perhaps, this time, I could give you a review of the projects the Friends spearheaded in 2018. We really had an amazing year!

In the first decade since the Mariana Trench was declared, the most exciting development has been the new discoveries found in the waters surrounding our islands, something we want to share with our people. To accomplish this, the Friends organized several outreach projects to educate our community on the uniqueness and importance of our ocean using the newest science and technologies.

Let me mention here that we are in the midst of a membership drive, and I encourage you to reach out and inquire about joining. Local partnership and support are the most important building blocks for the success of our organization. Also, strong membership allows us to work together and rely on each other to create and complete projects that help teach our children about ocean conservation. We could use your help in organizing activities like these next year and into the future.

Our largest project last year was the underwater robot workshop we organized with co-funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, with in-kind contributions from OpenROV, Blackbeard Biologic, and the Northern Marianas Trades Institute (NMTI). The Marine Ecology via Remote Observation Workshop was facilitated by Dr. Andrew Thaler and Dr. Stacy Baez, visiting scientists from Blackbeard Biologic and Pew, respectively. The scientists conducted two workshops over two weeks and trained 8 community leaders and 18 students from Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam on how to build, operate, and maintain low cost open source remotely operated vehicles. Local organizations and government agencies, including the Okeanos Marianas, NMTI, BECQ, MINA, and University of Guam, were given their own undersea robot at the end of the workshop to be used for their own research and educational programs. Since the completion of our workshop, these instructors and students have since expanded their research and initiated further new projects using their robots.

This project embodied the concept and inclusiveness our organization wants to continue promoting in our community. This project demonstrated collaboration between public and private entities, it ranged in its diversity and reach, both geographically and culturally as well by backgrounds and the varying ages of our participants, and the outcomes were multiple by design – trade skills using tech, capacity building, and tangible resources that stay in the community.

While the robot workshop was targeted towards STEM educators, practitioners, and students, our second project was for the wider community. In 2017 we came up with the idea of launching a photo exhibit of the Mariana Trench. The monument is intangible for many people because it is so far away; it’s hard to connect with what you cannot see, touch, or visit. However, in recent years photos and videos have emerged from the American, Chinese, and Japanese researchers exploring the trench. One of these research cruises was the NOAA Okeanos Explorer cruise, which explored the deeps of the Mariana Trench in 2016.

Together with the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, we selected 50 of the best images taken from the NOAA research cruise and asked followers on our Facebook page to identify their favorites. We also encouraged people to ask questions they had about the many unique creatures. We then worked with the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy who donated the framing of the 32 most popular photos and whose scientists provided answers to all the research questions our followers had. These answers were converted to photo descriptions for the photo exhibit. Once this was accomplished, we engaged with the Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas (HANMI) and the Marianas Visitors Authority to partner on creating a traveling photo exhibit hosted in HANMI hotel lobbies and, upon request, available for outreach in our community. We cannot bring everyone to the monument, so we brought the monument to everyone! We also organized a similar photo exhibit co-sponsored by and hosted at the of Underwater World of Guam in Tumon. This project also embodied the concept and inclusiveness our organization wants to continue promoting in our community. This exhibit is currently at the Fiesta Resort & Spa lobby and free to the public. If you get a chance, I highly recommend visiting!

While the robots’ workshop and the photo exhibit were our signature projects this year, we have also been working closely with the US Fish and Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge Service (NWRS) Guam office and the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA). NWRS Guam co-sponsored a Mentoring Grant for the Friends facilitated by the NWRA. The grant’s focus is to help Friend’s groups organize, re-organize and develop a strong foundation in preparation for becoming a formal partner with the NWRS. This year, our organization tackled several housekeeping items internally while also working with our mentors to visual and prepare for a future working relationship with the NWRS. Additionally, we worked with a NWRS intern and staff member for 10-days in July 2018. We guided these folks in conducting outreach at public events, including a Rotary Club lunch, the Sabalu Market, the Street Market and the Liberation Day parade. The NWRS staff also worked closely with the Friends of the Library during this visit to add a science camp to their summer activities. It was a great experience for the NWR staff to see the interest and engagement from the people of the CNMI!

Hopefully, this recap fills you in on anything that you’ve missed about the Friends activities last year. We are very hopeful and excited for an equally active 2019. We also hope that the second decade of the monument is as exciting as the first, and that the management plans we’ve been advocating for finally come to fruition.

If you are interested in becoming more active in how we protect our oceans and if you want to learn more about the Mariana Trench, please email to marianamonument@gmail.com. You may also be interest in our Ocean-lovers Survey.


Laurie Peterka
As Teo

Ocean-lovers Wanted!

Dear people of the Marianas,

We sincerely hope that whatever was your experience with Super Typhoon Yutu, that you are finding your way back and that life is getting back to some kind of normal for you and your families. In the aftermath of ongoing recovery from Super Typhoon Yutu, we humbly ask you to work with us to do what is possible to keep pushing our vision to protect the ocean.

Through the years, we’ve always considered everyone who cares about the ocean as already a member of the Friends of the Mariana Trench, but today, as our organization grows we need to take the next steps in formalizing our membership. We are conducting a membership drive and ask those who are interested to join us. If you are an ocean-lover, please email us at marianamonument@gmail.com to request an invitation to our application process.

This time last year, our organization was selected to receive a mentoring grant from the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA). We also attended a workshop hosted by the NRWA to give us a chance to learn from other Friends’ groups in the Pacific. In this workshop we were able to identify our challenges and refine a possible pathway for the near future. The next workshop will take place in Alaska later this year.

Working with the NWRA staff, we identified that we are experiencing a typical organizational life-cycle, which is common for NGOs who are 7-10 years old. The NWRA staff indicated that this is not new and that they have a toolbox for exactly this purpose. It’s also why it’s so important for us to network with other friend’s groups in the Pacific. We can share our experiences and learn from each other.

Two NWRA board members were assigned to our Friends group. They are helping mentor us and helping us identify a capacity building plan. We have monthly calls to discuss the progress on our objectives. One of the objectives of this project is recruiting fresh members and formalizing our membership process. Once we reach our target, then the NWRA will send these mentors to help us with training and further planning. We are excited for our mentors to visit us in the next couple of months and for them to help us set out a strategic plan for the next few years. We hope that as an ocean-lover, you too can be a part of this.

Becoming a formal member means that you will help decide the kinds of projects we work on – projects that fit with our vision statement. You can help with planning and staffing outreach events to provide marine conservation education to our community, you can write articles for our blog, you can help design education tools and activities, and you can be an active volunteer at events that we coordinate with the community. As a volunteer you would decide what kinds of projects you want to be involved with and how much time you want to volunteer. We are looking for members with all different kinds of backgrounds who share the common vision that our ocean is our most precious natural resource. We need to help our children and our grandchildren realize the value of what we have so that they can continue to protect it when we are no longer able to do it for them. It is our responsibility to foster the next generation of ocean-loving stewards.

I will leave it here for today. Our next letter or article will talk about our projects and ideas. If you are interested in becoming more active and to help us, again please email marianamonument@gmail.com or fill out our member application survey here.

As always - si yu’use ma’ase, olomwaay, salamat po, thank you, and God bless

Ignacio V. "Ike" Cabrera

I Akgak

Two Paths Forward for Ocean Protection

Dear people of the Marianas,

I am writing today to carry on from my letter last week. Sadly, for the last 10 years, NOAA Fisheries and the US Fish & Wildlife Service have not been able to live up to the expectations of our community. They have had the mandate to come to our islands and deliver conservation. They were supposed to hire staff and engage us with the management of the Mariana Trench, but to date, they have not. For the last decade, all we’ve gotten is waiting, waiting and more waiting. What are they waiting for? The CNMI is tired of waiting. We are ready already.

As I mentioned before, I think we must really concentrate ourselves on what to do now. We can be disappointed, but we cannot give up. For the benefit of our natural heritage and our children, we must make sure the next “monument-decade" is not a repeat of the last. The Friends of the Mariana Trench have been discussing this in our meetings this year and so far, we’ve come up with a couple of things.

In my last letter, I talked about some of the problems with the way the executive order is written. Most importantly, the executive order didn’t include NOAA Sanctuaries as the monument manager. This is important because I want you to understand that what we have is first “the monument that is” and then second, “the monument that could be”. There is the monument that we envision one day having (managed by NOAA Sanctuaries), but there is also the monument that exists today (managed by NOAA Fisheries and USFWS). It is my hope that we continue towards working towards the monument that we want and get the most out of the monument that we have. And hopefully one day we will have all the federal programs from NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Sanctuaries, and USFWS benefiting our community – as happens today in Hawaii, American Samoa, and the Florida Keys, and they didn’t have to wait 10 years.

The way we see it, there are two approaches we can take and see if we can get any movement. First, we want to keep pushing to get the management plan released. Second, we want to continue trying to work with our CNMI leadership to get them to reconfirm their support for the sanctuary program.

First, there is a missed opportunity between our local government and the federal government, which is the Mariana Trench Advisory Council (MTMAC). One way we can try to push for getting the management plan out is using the MTMAC. This council is made up of representatives from our local government and the federal government, and over the years representatives from Guam have even been invited to participate. It’s a place for us to come to the table to discuss our mutual interests and issues. Just like we use the Covenant 902 talks, we can encourage our leadership to use the MTMAC the same way. Our leadership could use the MTMAC to ask the federal government to push formal requests and responses. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that the MTMAC has met in quite some time – like maybe as much as 3-4 years. If we had active, well informed and well-suited members – appointees without conflicts of interest – on the MTMAC, maybe the CNMI could enjoy the benefits that the National Wildlife Refuge has to offer. While these won’t be the same programs and benefits we would get with NOAA Sanctuaries, it would be a step forward. We’ve seen how working with the federal government in these types of councils helps us move forward. The CNMI government needs to try to make the MTMAC work to get us what we were promised. This is our first approach.

Our second approach is continuing to build towards being selected for the NOAA Sanctuary program. To achieve this, might mean that we have to wait for an administration change. In the meantime, we can show our interest and support by making ourselves visible to the NOAA Sanctuaries. We can continue to do projects, write letters, and talk to each other about marine conservation. The more we are active, the better the chance that we can get the monument we want. Every citizen who cares about our ocean and the future of our people and our culture should call on our leaders to bring the sanctuary program to our islands

These are a couple of things we’ve come up with and welcome your ideas for reaching our goals too. If you are interested in becoming more active and to help us more hands on, please email to marianamonument@gmail.com.

As always - si yu’use ma’ase, olomwaay, salmat po, thank you and God bless

Ignacio V. "Ike" Cabrera

I Akgag

Mariana Trench: More Waiting

Dear people of the Marianas,

I have promised to keep you informed about the Mariana Trench MNM and here is the latest information I have recently learned. The nomination to the bring the sanctuary program to the CNMI is stalled. I think it’s important for the community to understand how important it is to have the NOAA Sanctuaries as our monument manager. The best way I can think of to share this with you is to give you the history. For some of you, I might be repeating myself, but for others, I hope that this would give you a better understanding.

Ten years ago, in October 2008, the Friends of the Mariana Trench wrote a letter to then President George W. Bush and asked him to designate a marine national monument. We specifically proposed, “that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, through its National Marine Sanctuaries Program, be the federal agency that administers, co-manages, and enforces the monument, along with the CNMI.” I quote this from our original vision letter to Bush on October 15, 2008.

We made this “Vision Statement” for a proposal. It described our hopes and goals for management and enforcement, culture and tradition, conservation, education, research, and economic development. It is widely published on the web or if you haven’t already seen it, you can also contact me, and I will give you a copy. The letter was drafted through the effort of several members of our community and it took 3-4 weeks for us to complete it. We discussed a lot and worked hard to make sure that all voices were included.

10 years ago, when the monument was declared by Proclamation 8335, we celebrated and hoped that this was the beginning of our journey to achieve our vision. But, when we had the chance to read the details of the monument declaration, we immediately noticed that it didn’t follow our vision statement proposal. Our first concern was that the CNMI was not given “co-management” and the NOAA Sanctuaries office was not given management of the monument. Instead, NOAA Fisheries and US Fish & Wildlife Service were made the managers and the monument was to be managed “in consultation with” the CNMI. It was in 2009 that the Friends wrote to newly elected Delegate Sablan and asked him to help correct these issues. We knew the monument as it was declared would never result in the benefits we had all hoped for. We have been saying this for a decade now.

For the next 10 years, we spent our energy trying to convince the Obama Administration to bring the NOAA Sanctuary program to the CNMI. Then the same when the Trump Administration began. We have a paper trail documenting these communications and would be happy to share the letters. We first approached the federal government in 2009, and the NOAA Administrator told us no. We approached them again in 2010, and again they told us no. In 2013, Delegate Sablan approached the Administration. By now four years had passed and there hadn’t been any progress on the monument. They again said no, because the monument management plan was due out “next year.” That was five years ago. Then in 2016, Delegate Sablan and Governor Torres approached the Administration again; and this time they listened. The White House asked the delegate and the governor to submit an official nomination, and they in turn asked us to write one.

So, in December 2016, as the Chairman of the Friends of the Mariana Trench, we submitted a nomination for a Mariana Trench Marine National Sanctuary – something we’ve been working towards for more than a decade. The process to nominate a sanctuary is transparent and open and is outlined on the NOAA website (https://nominate.noaa.gov/). NOAA Sanctuaries accepted our nomination in March 2017. The nomination is now on the inventory of possible sanctuaries (which can be viewed online). The next step is to begin a sanctuary process, a transparent and open process that engages the community on how they want ocean conservation to take place in our community. When this process begins, NOAA Sanctuaries has told us that they would open an office and hire local staff – something that after 10 long years USFWS and NOAA Fisheries have not done.

As we have said from the time of the original proposal, the vision of the Friends for the Mariana Trench monument is not possible without the partnership of NOAA Sanctuaries. The agencies assigned by the Proclamation 8335 in January 2009, NOAA Fisheries and National Wildlife Refuge, do not have the same mandate or mission to do the activities or set up a visitor’s center like NOAA Sanctuaries does. While the Friends have very good working relationships with both assigned agencies, it doesn’t matter how much we try, they don’t have the mandate or authority to help us get those things that we envisioned. This is why we continue to ask NOAA Sanctuaries to accept our nomination. Like many people in our community, including our lawmakers, we too want to see the vision come true.

However, despite our decade of advocacy, in June of this year the Trump Administration decided not to start the sanctuary process in our community. The reason given by NOAA Fisheries officials in Hawaii is that the monument management plan is coming “next year” – this is the same excuse they’ve used every year since 2013 and it blocks us from the sanctuary nomination going forward.

There are likely several reasons why the sanctuary process is not starting, but it really does not help that our local government sends the federal government mixed signals about our goal to protect our ocean. Governor Torres says he wants the federal spending of the sanctuary program, but then he stands next to Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke and says he wants to open our waters to industrial fishing boats – boats that would compete with our local fishermen.

So yet again, we find ourselves stuck. We are not going to achieve our vision of conservation with the current monument, but the federal government will not fix the monument because they say NOAA Fisheries and USFWS are going to publish a management plan “next year.” Yet, they haven’t done their job in 10 years, haven’t hired any local staff in 10 years, and the $1 million annual budget has been used to support operations in Honolulu for the last 10 years. This needs to change.

I will leave the story here for today but promise that I will give you more updates during the coming weeks. There are some things we need to think about and discuss and I look forward to your continued support. If you are interested in becoming more active and to help us more hands on, please email to marianamonument@gmail.com.

As always - si yu’use ma’ase, olomwaay, salmat po, thank you and God bless

Ignacio V. "Ike" Cabrera

I Akgag

Mariana Trench Marine National Monument Photo Exhibit Opening

(Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) –– The Friends of the Mariana Trench (FOMT) together with the Marianas Visitors Authority (MVA) and the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI) are pleased to announce the opening of a photo exhibit featuring 32 photos from the Mariana Trench. The ribbon cutting officially opening the exhibit will be held at the Hyatt Regency Saipan at 10:00am on Friday, September 7, 2018.

“We are really excited to see this project come to life,” said FOMT Chairman Ignacio V. Cabrera. “Our goal with this exhibit is to give our community and tourists a way to interact with our monument and learn more about what we have there.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted exploration missions of the Mariana Trench in 2016. ROV Deep Discoverer (a robot) made daily dives from 250 to 6,000 meters and provided live video feedback to scientists aboard the ship. The photos in this exhibit are still-captures from video footage obtained during those dives. Several possible new species were found during this mission.

"This is fantastic, and we applaud the Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument for undertaking this initiative to bring the Monument to the CNMI community using the Okeanos Explorer information and images from the Marianas expedition," said Heidi Hirsh, Natural Resource Specialist with Marine National Monuments Program based in Hawaii.

The exhibit was coordinated by Laurie Peterka for the Friends of the Mariana Trench and funded by the Marianas Visitors Authority and the Northern Marianas Hotel Association. All images are courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas. Image printing and framing were donated by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Gloria Cavanaugh, HANMI Chairwoman, added “The HANMI is pleased to be involved in showcasing to our people and to our tourist the beauty of the CNMI. We tend to take advantage of the fact that we are surrounded by the deepest waters in the world. Without the Okeanos Explorer project, the beauty in our waters would never have been discovered. We are thankful to NOAA and the Pew Charitable Trusts for bringing these rare images for us and our guests to enjoy.”

The exhibit will move between HANMI member hotels for 24-months and be shared with community outreach partners on request. Inquiries can be directed to Laurie Peterka at marianamonument@gmail.com.

Study Shows Widespread Support of Marine Protected Areas in the Northern Mariana Islands

A scientist conducted research in the Northern Mariana Islands in 2017 and is sharing his results with the community. Danny Morris, who studied at the University of York, published a report titled “Public Perceptions of Marine Protected Areas in the Northern Mariana Islands”. In this new report, Morris presents data on voter opinions on Saipan regarding marine protected areas (MPAs) and the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. Ultimately, the hope is that this work will be able to inform decision makers on the best course for improved MPA management.

A video presentation of the work can be viewed on the Mariana Trench Facebook page: www.facebook.com/marianamonument

Around the Northern Mariana Islands, there are eight MPAs. Five of these are small, coastal strict no-take areas and two are small, coastal limited-take where specific species cannot be extracted. In addition to these coastal protections is the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, which protects the federal waters around the far Northern Islands of Asuncion, Maug, and Uracus.

To get a representative sample of opinions, Morris interviewed 253 people of all ages and backgrounds on the island. The survey took an average of 15 minutes and included open-ended and closed questions. The results of the survey showed that the people of the Northern Mariana Islands overwhelmingly supported MPAs and wanted more protected areas in their waters. When asked how much of the Mariana Islands ocean space should be protected, the average answer was 57 percent.

There were less positive responses when asked similar questions about the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, but they were still overwhelmingly positive. From these results, Morris deduced several steps that could be taken moving forward that could increase the understanding of the monument with the public. He suggested that the benefits and successes of the monument should be better communicated to ensure a well-informed public opinion. Morris also suggests that there should be better representation of the local people on the Advisory Council, which currently is only three people. Further, he recommends that CNMI obtain co-management with the US government and the completion of the long overdue management plan.

Marine protected areas have long been proven to be a powerful tool in effectively managing marine resources and ecosystems. They are the oldest form of fisheries management tool, and have existed in the Pacific for centuries. These survey results show that MPAs are also overwhelmingly supported by the community and the creation of new protected areas would be welcome.

Robot Workshop Organizers Thank Supporters and Participants

Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) –The Friends of the Mariana Trench would like to express sincerest thanks to everyone whose invaluable contribution lead to the success of the Marine Ecology via Remote Observation Workshop last month. 

“The Mariana Trench inspires the next generation of local explorers, engineers, and scientists.” said Laurie Peterka, Secretary for Friends of the Mariana Trench. “But the success of this workshop is owed to our sponsors and partners who provided resources which allowed our eager participants to show up every day to learn.”

Through the support and commitment from many in the community, the Marianas is now home of the largest fleet of underwater OpenROV research robots and some of the most qualified OpenROV operators in the world. The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument was directly responsible for this opportunity being made available to our community. Marine protected areas such as the monument create incentives for scientists to conduct research because they provide a baseline against areas that are unprotected.

OpenROV is short for open-source remotely operated vehicle and is a low-cost robotic underwater drone built with the goal of making underwater exploration, discovery, and education affordable and available to the masses. OpenROV is an open-source hardware project. By providing the list of the submarine parts and instructions on how to assemble them, the project aims to democratize underwater exploration.

The Friends of the Mariana Trench in partnership with Northern Marianas Trades Institute (NMTI) hosted the Marine Ecology via Remote Observation Workshop from April 14-22, led by Dr. Andrew Thaler and Dr. Stacy Baez. During the first week of the workshop eight facilitators learned how to build an underwater robot. These robots can be submerged in the ocean and contain a camera that can be used to observe the marine environment. Representatives from NMTI, Northern Marianas College, PSS (through Micronesia Islands Nature Alliance), CNMI Bureau of Environment and Coastal Quality (BECQ), Okeanos Marianas, Underwater World Guam, and University of Guam Marine Lab were selected as facilitators. After the facilitators were trained, they taught 18 local students how to build and operate the machines. Students were recruited from Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam. Participants built six underwater robots. These robots were donated to the community and will now be in use across the CNMI and Guam.

The Friends would like to thank OpenROV for providing robot building kits. Special thanks to NMTI for workshop space, staff, and transportation assistance. Thanks to Seatouch-Saipan for providing access to its facility in front of the Fiesta Resort and Space, and the Fiesta Resort and Spa for their tremendous support. Okeanos Marianas provided transportation for field operations in the Saipan lagoon, and thanks to the crew who made the experience unforgettable for participants. Finally, thanks to the organizations, businesses, institutions of higher learning, and government agencies who provided facilitators to conduct the student workshop.

The workshop was made possible by a grant awarded to Dr. Thaler and Blackbeard Biologic through the NOAA Marine Educators Training Program. The Friends were selected to be the workshop’s logistical coordinator and facilitated Dr. Thaler with community outreach and participant selection as well as engaging local and community partners.

Robots, Ocean Research and Sustainable Skills Development

The Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument are pleased to announce the selection of twenty students for the second part of our Marine Ecology via Remote Observation Workshop. During this second half of our program, students will receive training in the construction, operation, and maintenance of observation-class remotely operate vehicles (ROVs, also known as underwater drones or underwater robots). These students will be taught by eight local facilitators trained in train-the-trainer portion of our workshop.

Over a span of four days, students from Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam will construct research-grade ROVs and learn skills such as soldering electronics, acrylic fabrication, and building underwater housings while learning the fundamentals of marine ecology using underwater vehicles. Students will then have the opportunity to take the robots out in the field to conduct surveys and gain a greater understanding of how underwater robots can be used to compliment ocean research and monitoring programs. This model provides an intensive STEM-education opportunity for students while establishing a sustainable, long-term robotics program in the CNMI through facilitator training.

At the conclusion of this program, six ROVs will be presented to select community groups within the CNMI, such as the Okeanos Marianas, for community-driven ocean monitoring, research, and exploration. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Northern Mariana Trades Institute (NMTI) as the main host along with other community partners.

The student portion of this workshop will commence April 19 and end April 22. The public is welcome to view field operations in the afternoon on the last day of the workshop – save the date, April 22 – Earth Day! Location will be announced next week.

This workshop is made possible through a NOAA grant awarded to Dr. Andrew Thaler, a Friends member and marine and conservation scientist. The workshop is coordinated by the Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument and hosted by Northern Marianas Trades Institute. Demonstrations and field ops are being hosted by Seatouch-Saipan.

Local Students to Learn About Ocean Exploration Using Robots

(Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) ––Robots have been used to explore the deepest reaches of the Mariana Trench in recent years. This month, local students will have the chance to learn the basics of underwater exploration using drones provided by a federal grant.

The Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument are pleased to announce the selection of facilitators for the Marine Ecology Via Remote Observation Workshop. During this program, facilitators will receive training in the construction, operation, and maintenance of observation-class remotely operate vehicles (ROVs, also known as underwater drones or underwater robots).

Facilitators will then participate in a student-training workshop where they will instruct students from junior high, high schools, Northern Marianas College (NMC) and Northern Mariana Trades Institute (NMTI). Facilitators and students will also have the opportunity to take the robots out for field work at Seatouch in Garapan (and possibly other active research sites in Saipan) to conduct surveys and gain a greater understanding of how underwater robots can be used to compliment ocean research and monitoring programs. This model allows not only an intensive STEM-education opportunity for students in Saipan, but by providing training for local and regional facilitators, helps to establish a sustainable, long-term robotics program in the CNMI.

At the conclusion of this program, six ROVs will be presented to select community groups within the CNMI for community-driven ocean monitoring, research, and exploration. This project is being conducted in collaboration with NMTI as the main host along with other community partners including Seatouch and Okeanos Marianas.

The selected facilitators are:

· Mr. Jerry Joseph, 500 Sails/Okeanos Marianas
· Ms. Erin Derrington, Northern Marianas College
· Mr. David Benavente, Northern Marianas College
· Mr. Claus Bier, Northern Mariana Trade Institute
· Mr. Rodney Camacho, CNMI Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality
· Mr. Robert Jordan, Koa Consulting LLC
· Mr. Roy Adsit, Saipan Southern High School
· Ms. Julia Berg, University of Guam Marine Lab

The workshop will commence April 14 and end April 22 – Earth Day!

This workshop is made possible through a NOAA grant awarded to Dr. Andrew Thaler, a Friends member and marine and conservation scientist.

National Wildlife Refuge Association Friends Workshop

Hafa Adai and Tiirow from Saipan!

January was a busy month for Friends of the Mariana Monument Chairman Ignacio V. Cabrera and Secretary Laurie Peterka who were invited to attend the National Wildlife Refuge Association Friends workshop in Kaui’I. The invitation was in conjunction with having been awarded a Mentoring Grant from the same organization.

The Friends worked together with the National Wildlife Refuge manager in Guam to make the application for the grant in mid-December 2017.  The purpose of the mentoring grant is to help the Friends become more familiar with the way the National Wildlife Refuge and Friends relationships work and get both prepared for a future memorandum of understanding. The MOU will solidify the relationship and allow goals to be set for community outreach and special projects.

Visiting the closed area of the refuge up above Kilauea Point where the lighthouse is located. This is a very diverse group of folks who volunteer at refuges in Alaska, Hawaii and the CNMI. Some are also NWR employees. All are passionate about wildlife and connecting people with their refuge. — with Ilana Nimz, Ann Bell, Nicole Galase, Desiree Sorenson-Groves, Jennifer Waipa, Lamar Gore, Helen Fields, Joanna Webb, Crystal Leonetti, Heather Tonneson, Caroline Garrett Brouwer, Ignacio Cabrera and Chelsea McKinney and others at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.

The purpose of the workshop was to bring all the Friends groups in the Pacific together to work on a mutual agenda established at the 2016 meeting. This is only the second time the group has met. The workshop lasted five full days and included Friends board members giving presentations about their respective locations, hearing from the National Wildlife Refuge staff, facilitator-led working sessions to help Friends groups re-center, and field trips to three different Kaua’I Refuge complexes.

“We learned from the other Friends groups that we have similar issues,” said Cabrera. He added, “I was grateful for the Hawaiian chants they used as part of the process and the connection that the Hawaiian people have with their history and culture of protecting the ocean and the resources for our future generations. I would like to see more of this in the CNMI.”

“The days were 12-hours long and intense,” commented Peterka. “There were several ‘Ah ha!” moments for us on the third day when we did this half day exercise that helps drill down to finding the core reasons why our Friends group is so important for the world,” she added.

The Friends of the Mariana Trench now carry on for the rest of 2018 meeting with mentors appointed by the NWRA board to re-align itself and come up with plans that will help the community be more aware of everything about the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.

Scientists want to know more about CNMI ocean protections

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, September 25, 2017 – As islanders, we are very appreciative of the ocean. We enjoy seafood, boating, swimming and all the other benefits our oceans provide. But how many of us really know about marine protected areas around the CNMI? Or about our very own Mariana Trench Monument, a marine protected area that is internationally recognized? Well a scientist from England, Danny Morris, also wanted to learn about our oceans, and he spent this past July and August on Saipan gathering data on this topic.

Danny is working towards his master’s degree at the University of York in England under the guidance Dr. Callum Roberts and Dr. Julie Hawkins, leading researchers in the field of ocean sciences. These scientists study the ocean and marine life all over the world. Dr. Roberts is an expert on coral reef biology and he also studies the relationship between humans and marine ecosystems. While Dr. Hawkins researches the environmental benefits of marine protected areas. Since the Mariana Trench Monument here in the CNMI is one of the world’s most unique marine protected areas, having animals that are not found anywhere else, Danny wanted to learn how we felt about ocean protection.

According to Danny, the Mariana Trench Marine Monument is very special and it was the CNMI’s conservation ethic that drew him to Saipan to conduct his research.

“Having a highly diverse ecosystem with many species in the deep waters that are yet to be discovered by scientists is so unique,” he explained. “And I wanted to see some of that for myself.”

“The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument was declared over 8-years ago, and was one of the first very large marine protected areas on the planet,” he continued. “I wanted to come learn about how that is viewed in the community.”

While Danny was on Saipan, he interviewed over 200 U.S. citizens to gain a better understanding of their view of marine protected areas around the Northern Mariana Islands. He spoke mainly to Chamorros, Carolinians, Filipinos, and other Micronesian ethnicities. People who were not citizens were not allowed to be surveyed.

He spent time in public places speaking to passersby, maybe you were able to speak with him and be interviewed for his scientific survey? He asked general questions about ocean protection, and more specific questions on marine protected areas and the Mariana Trench Marine Monument.

Danny’s work on the island is significant as ocean protection is important for maintaining our community and safeguarding our cultural legacy. According to scientists, at least 30 percent of the world’s ocean must be protected. While the Mariana Trench Monument seems to be a large protected area it is actually less than 5 percent of US waters. Scientists say that marine protected areas like the monument provides sanctuary to many marine animals so they can reproduce and move to other areas. They also say that marine protected areas are important to safeguard fragile animals like corals, and to protect species that are found nowhere else.

Many were pleased that Danny was able to conduct research here. Ignacio V. Cabrera, Chairman of the Friends of the Monument (FOM) said that he was happy to hear from Danny.

“It made me smile to know that these young scientists are taking an interest in what we have here,” Ike added. When not conducting his surveys, Danny spent time with various families in the community. Auntie Chailang Palacios and Uncle Bob Power hosted Danny at their home for several weeks.

“He’s a wonderful and polite young man,” said Chailang. “It was great fun for us to have him with us”, she added. While staying there, he was introduced to a variety of people including Agnes McPhetres, a co-founding chair of the FOM. Auntie Agnes was also delighted that Danny was here to study.

Danny is now home in England finishing his thesis to complete his Masters of Science degree in Marine Environmental Management. We expect to learn more about the results of Danny’s study in the coming weeks.

Scientists From Across the Globe Support Marianas Trench UNESCO Nomination

Dr. Andrew Thaler (left) with Saipan Southern High School My Wave President Reynafe Aniga (center) and Rick MacPherson (right).

Early this December, the National Park Service announced that the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument made the short list for UNESCO World Heritage designation. Though hidden beneath the water’s surface, the Mariana Trench, a unique geologic and ecologic landmark and a natural treasure, dwarfs the Grand Canyon in scale and scope.

Yesterday, a cohort of 55 members of the deep-sea research community, representing 46 institutions and 19 nations, delivered a letter in support of the nomination.

“The Marianas Trench is one of the most well-known and spectacular geological features on the planet,” said Dr. Andrew Thaler, who recently visiting the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. “Global recognition is long overdue.”

The Mariana Trench is more than a mile deeper than Mt. Everest is high and hosts Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth. It is also home to numerous sites of exceptional scientific value, including submerged volcanoes that host deep-sea hydrothermal vents, the largest documented mud volcanoes, coral atolls and fringing reef ecosystems that support apex predators like sharks and whales, as well as habitat-forming stony corals.

The Marianas Trench Marine National Monument would be the first World Heritage site to include unexplored ecosystems, including geologically active sites that promise new species, scientific discoveries, and insight into biological processes in the deepest ecosystem on earth.

Marianas Trench Sanctuary

There is a story in the Marianas Variety today regarding the Marianas Trench.  I've noticed that over the years the archives of the local Saipan newspapers tend to get deleted, so I'm posting it here in its entirety, both for your reading pleasure and posterity's sake:

Rota lawmakers ask US to designate marine sanctuary process for Marianas Trench monument

MEMBERS of the Rota Legislative Delegation have introduced a resolution asking the U.S. to develop a marine sanctuary process that will strengthen protections for the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

Signed by Rep. Glenn Maratita, Sens. Teresita Santos, Paul Manglona, Steve Mesngon, Rota Legislative Delegation Commemorative Resolution 19-10 states that the monument, which was created by President George Bush in Jan. 2009, provides permanent protection for approximately 95,216 square miles of submerged lands, waters and deep sea in the Pacific Ocean.

The Marianas waters have been scientifically determined to be the single greatest marine priority for conservation in U.S. waters, the resolution says, adding that the threat of climate change makes protection of the monument a priority for the CNMI.

According to the resolution, the monument’s protection would benefit Northern Marianas residents who rely upon an intact and preserved marine ecosystem for cultural uses such as ocean voyaging.

“The president of the United States has been asked to initiate a marine sanctuary designation by Gov. Ralph Torres and Delegate Gregorio Camacho Kilili Sablan. [But] the existing management structure of the Mariana Trench Marine Monument does not prioritize educational programs and a visitor center….

“The Rota Legislative Delegation respectfully requests that sanctuary management plans include and highlight research, education, enforcement and visitor center elements particularly on the island of Rota.”

As this story develops, I encourage you to watch and share this video of the 20 minute poster session for the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument from the IUCN Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii back in September.  It features several speakers from the federal management of the monument and Angelo Villagomez from The Pew Charitable Trusts talking about the culture of the monument:

 

Advisory council urged to make visitors center a reality

The Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council finally adopted its long-awaited bylaws in governing the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument yesterday, even as concerned citizens and even a member of the council urged it to make the promised visitors center a reality.

Department of Land Natural Resources Secretary Arnold Palacios said that since the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council and the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library hosted a forum on the monument, he has received a number of comments criticizing the council for the lack of updates on the visitors center.

Palacios, along with Ben Sablan and Frank Rabauliman, make up the CNMI’s representatives on the council.

Palacios said there’s been a lot of backlash from the community on the slow pace of economic benefits the federal government promised when former President George W. Bush declared the Marianas Trench part of its Blue Legacy.

“There’s been a lot of promises made to the community but so far we’re not able to pull it off…We should do it and, if not, let’s just fold camp and go home,” he said.

NOAA deputy regional administrator Lisa Croft shared Palacios’ sentiments, saying the council should now work together to make sure that the commitments made by the federal government is followed.

She also acknowledged that a lot of promises and commitments made by the federal government have been broken.

The council held its second meeting yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan and among those who attended were Sablan, Rabauliman, Palacios, Department of Defense representative Roy Tsutsui, and representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, and other local and federal agencies.

In the comments portion of the meeting, former representative Rosemond Santos described the designation of the monument in 2011 as “modern day colonialism.”

She said the local community, especially the indigenous people of the CNMI, were not consulted when President Bush placed under federal protection 95,216 square miles of submerged lands and waters in various places in the Mariana archipelago as part of his Blue Legacy.

Cultural historian Genevieve Cabrera, meanwhile, urged the federal government to talk to the community instead of making decisions and policies behind their backs.

“If you show respect then respect will be shown back to you,” she said.

Another former lawmaker, William Torres, also told the council to consider the Northern Marianas College as the location of the monument visitors center.

Attaching the visitors center to the local community college would allow it to apply for federal grants and these will be a much-needed financial boost to NMC, he said.

The CNMI Legislature came out with a joint resolution in April, urging the council to designate Marpi as the site of the visitors center because of its easy access to tourists and residents alike.

Recently, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) made known his preference for the visitors center to be on Rota, to make the island the ecotourism hub of the Commonwealth.

Architect Herman Cabrera just finished a study that plans to use the old Japanese lighthouse on Navy Hill as the site of the visitors center.

Published in the Saipan Tribune

Obama Set to Punch Donut Holes in Bush's Legacy

The United States House of Representatives today passed a bill conferring submerged lands to the Commonwealth and delaying two year's worth of increases in the federal minimum wage.  S.256 passed 415-0.  The bill previously passed the U.S. Senate and now heads to President Barack Obama's desk.

This law, once signed and enacted, opens the most biological diverse region of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument to commercial fishing until such time that the Commonwealth government extends the constitutional protections for the islands to the newly conferred territorial seas.

Government leaders who have called for co-management now have to show they were serious by implementing legislation to protect this important area.  There is nothing to co-manage until such time the area is protected.

The Friends of the Monument called on Delegate Kilili to include co-management language in his bill; the call went unheeded.

Territorial sea bill passes House, now goes to President for signature

Washington, D.C. – A bill conveying ownership of the seabed around each of the Northern Mariana Islands to the Commonwealth government passed the U.S. House of Representatives today by a vote of 415 - 0. The Northern Marianas is the only U.S. coastal state or territory that does not have ownership of these offshore lands, which can be leased for economic activities and managed to preserve environmental resources. S.256 passed the Senate by unanimous consent on August 1, so the bill now goes to the President for signature and enactment into law.


Del. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (MP-00)
423 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202.225.2646

Visit Congressman Sablan's virtual office at www.sablan.house.gov.
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A visitors’ center worthy of the marine monument

As one of the framers of our Constitution, my father knew the value of our natural resources to our culture and argued for permanent protections for Mañagaha, and the three northernmost islands of Asuncion, Maug, and Uracas. He taught me that it is the responsibility of every indigenous person to ensure that these islands are passed down to the next generation in the same condition in which they were passed down to us.

That’s why I worked so hard alongside The Friends of the Monument and The Pew Charitable Trusts to help create the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

It is an indisputable fact that the people of the Northern Marianas support environmental protection and it is no wonder that there was such a tidal wave of support for the creation of the Marianas Trench Monument.

When the monument was declared on Jan. 6, 2009, then governor Benigno R. Fitial, then Senate president Pete P. Reyes, and then House speaker Arnold Palacios led in celebration 6,000 local residents, 500 students, and 206 businesses. As I recall, Governor Fitial was so elated he hugged President George W. Bush right after the signing.

In a letter to the editor, former representative Cinta M. Kaipat wrote that the goals of the monument were to “create federally funded local jobs, give a needed boost to our struggling tourism industry, bring positive worldwide attention to our shores, and most importantly, protect three of our islands and their surrounding waters for generations to come.” (Saipan Tribune, May 1, 2008)

Much has been accomplished toward achieving these goals. In the last five years there has been positive media attention for the islands, renewed interest in scientific exploration of the area, and a federally funded office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration opened in Garapan. But work still needs to be done. Everyone must come together to move ahead with creating the visitor center and bringing to fruition the economic promise of this impressive marine reserve.

In 2009, the same year the monument was declared, Delegate Gregorio Sablan earmarked $220,000 in the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriation Act (HR 3288) for the design of our visitor center. It was a proud moment. Our first representative in the U.S. Congress passed one of his first bills.

The Friends and Pew worked with the delegate’s office and with NOAA, the recipient of the funding, to draft a grant to the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources to “develop a process for engaging input from the public to create a visitor and education center that will incorporate our existing marine protected areas and the new Marianas Trench National Monument.” (Delegate Sablan, letter to DLNR Secretary Ignacio Dela Cruz, Dec. 30, 2009)

The plan was to develop an architectural blueprint so that Delegate Sablan, along with the Friends and Pew, could ask Congress to fund the construction. Although progress stalled at the local level, today we have a new governor, a new DLNR secretary, and from what I understand from media reports, soon we’ll have a new architectural plan for a monument visitor center. This is excellent news, and everyone who had a hand in its completion deserves congratulations.

Soon it will be time to take the plan to Washington, and I know the Friends, Pew and our elected officials will do all they can to help. But there is no guarantee that federal funding will be available. In the meantime, the Friends continue to work with the community on outreach and education. Pew has supported these efforts and continues to engage with CNMI leaders at the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures, Micronesian Chief Executive Summit, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

The people of the Northern Mariana Islands should be proud of what we have accomplished. From the Micronesia Challenge, to the Marianas Trench Monument, and most recently our leadership in global shark conservation, the world is taking notice. Let’s welcome them with a visitor center worthy of these efforts.

Angelo Villagomez is with The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C.

Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council Meeting Sept. 12 at Hyatt Regency Saipan

The Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council (MTMAC) is holding a meeting to provide advice and recommendations on the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument (Monument).

The meeting will be held on September 12, from 8:30am to 4pm at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, Chamolinian Conference Room.

The public is invited to attend the meeting and will have an opportunity to comment from 4pm to 5pm.

Members of the MTMAC and agency representatives from NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be available to answer questions and provide additional information on the planning process for the Monument.