Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Marine monument council holds
inaugural meeting
Members of the Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council gathered yesterday
for its inaugural meeting, marking a historic and defining milestone since the
group's creation following the designation of one of the nation's largest marine
monuments three years ago.
As interest and excitement build up, however,
council members and regular folk are all too aware that it is just beginning and
that the volume of work remains substantial, even as the first of the two-day
meeting proved to be productive, according to participants.
Gov. Benigno
R. Fitial welcomed the advice-giving body composed of U.S. Department of
Defense's Roy Tsutsui, U.S. Coast Guard's Morgan Roper, CNMI's Arnold Palacios,
Benigno M. Sablan, and Dr. John Joyner.
The meeting, held at the Azucena
II Room of Fiesta Resort & Spa in Garapan, also saw the attendance of
officials and representatives of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In his opening remarks,
Fitial laid down his expectations for the 96,714 square miles of the nation's
most pristine marine environments, with the fulfillment of the six key
components of the Marianas Monument Agreement and the promised “full traditional
indigenous access and practices in the Islands Unit.”
Fitial also sought
the “full cooperation and support” of the national government for the conveyance
up to 3 miles of nearshore submerged lands for all islands in the Commonwealth.
He requested the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Interior to
“honor” their role in the agreement to develop provisions that would authorize
mineral exploration and extraction and other activities that would bring in
income for the CNMI.
“We have many difficult challenges facing us and I
have instructed the [advisory council] members to immediately start work in
achieving the monument vision mutually agreed to by the people of the Marianas
and the Bush administration,” said Fitial.
Part of the meeting was the
election of council officials. Chosen were Sablan as chair, Joyner as vice
chair, and Roy Tsutsui as secretary/treasurer. Palacios also officially received
his appointment to the council yesterday.
Tuesday's meeting concluded
with five action items that the council members will need to work on and report
about today.
Superintendent Susan White of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Pacific Reefs said that the council was finally able to organize itself,
although the process of finally convening the body took longer than
expected.
“This is the foundation on which the rest of the advisory
council will continue to operate,” she said.
Lisa Ku'ulei Croft, deputy
regional administrator for NOAA NMFS, said the council will be working on
establishing the frequency of its meetings.
Sablan, for his part, said
that with the inaugural council meeting comes the “beginning of understanding”
of the importance of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
“We're
moving forward to make our people not only understand but really appreciate the
context of a proclamation of this magnitude and its advantages for many future
generations,” he added.
Palacios, who is also the secretary of the
Department of Land and Natural Resources, noted the need to engage the community
in the planning and implementation of the management plan for the
monument.
“We are certainly looking at the interest of the Commonwealth
notwithstanding national interests,” he said.
