One Step Forward for Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.  Your help still needed ...

Ever since an Executive Order established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in 2000, Environmental Defense has worked with the NWHI Reserve Advisory Council on a plan for managing and protecting the 84 million-acre reserve. At every step of the way the U.S. Department of Commerce has attempted to weaken the proposed management plan. And at every step of the way, the Reserve Council has fought to re-insert strong conservation language, mandated by law, back into drafts of the plan. Last summer, close to 4,000 of you wrote to the Department of Commerce urging them not to weaken the management plan. As a result of the public uproar, they agreed to go back to the drawing board. This summer, we were successful in helping the Reserve Council finalize and submit a very strong conservation plan to the Department of Commerce. This is a significant step forward. But we suspect that Commerce will greatly weaken this plan before presenting it for final public comment. Your role will be crucial here when they present their final draft for public comment. Every letter counts. Stay tuned.

The Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council (Wespac), a tiny yet extraordinarily powerful interest group under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, has promoted NWHI coral harvesting, coral reef fisheries, and harvesting of the depleted NWHI lobster population -- all in a fragile region which is home to the world's remaining population of 1,400 endangered Hawaiian monk seals. This June, Wespac presented for public comment the latest versions of their Fishery Management Plans which are not in compliance with Reserve conservation regulations. While nearly 1,200 of you wrote to protest, sending a strong message, it remains to be seen what the Department of Commerce will do. Will they enforce existing NWHI regulations? Or will they try, yet again, to weaken the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve? Two things are clear: (1) Without your letters, this battle would have been lost long ago. (2) The NWHI will definitely need your support over the coming months. Please stay tuned for alerts. Every letter you write makes a huge difference.

For more information about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, visit Environmental Defense online.