Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 123.djvu/3602

 123STA T . 3 58 2 PROCL A M AT I O N 833 6—J AN. 6, 2 0 0 9Proclam a ti o n83 3 6 o fJ an u ar y 6 ,20 0 9Establi s hmen t — the P a c i f ic R em o te I slan d s M a r ine N ational Mon u ment BythePr e sid e n t of the U nited S t a tes of Am eri c a A Proc l amation ThePacif ic R e mot e Isl a nd sa r ea consists of W a k e ,B aker, H o w land, and J ar v is Islands, Johnston A toll, K in g man Reef, and Palm y ra Atoll, which lie to the so u th and west of Hawaii . With the e x ce p tion of Wake Is - land, these islands are administered as N ational Wildlife Refuges b y the U nited S tates F ish and Wildlife Service of the D epartment of the Interior. These refuges are an important part of the most widespread collection of marine- and terrestrial-life protected areas on the planet under a single country ’ s j urisdiction. They sustain many endemic spe- cies including corals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds, water birds, land birds, insects, and vegetation not found elsewhere. Wake Island, to the west of Honolulu, Hawaii, is the northernmost atoll in the M arshall Islands geological ridge and perhaps the oldest living atoll in the world. Though it was substantially modified by the United States to create a military base before and after World War II, its major habitats are the three low coral islands consisting of shells, coral skele- tons, and sand, supporting atoll vegetation adapted to arid climate. Wake Island supports 12 species of resident nesting seabirds and 6 spe- cies of migratory shorebirds, including 2 species of tropicbirds, 3 spe- cies of boobies, G reat Frigatebird, Sooty Tern, Brown Noddy, and Wedge-tailed Shearwater. Black-footed Albatross and L aysan Albatross recently recoloni z ed Wake Island, making it one of the few northern albatross colonies outside the Hawaiian archipelago. Shallow coral reefs thrive around the perimeter of Wake Island. Fish populations are abundant and support at least 323 species, including large populations of the Napoleon wrasse (C helin u s ) , sharks of several species, and large schools of the Bumphead parrotfish (Bol b ometa p on), all of which are globally depleted. Beyond the shallow reefs, the outer reef slope descends sharply to great depths. Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands were first formed as fringing reefs around islands formed by C retaceous-era volcanoes (approximately 12 0–75 million years ago). As the volcanoes subsided, the coral reefs grew upward, maintaining proximity to the sea surface. These low coral islands consist of coral rock, shells, and sand that support trees, shrubs, and grasses adapted to the arid climate at the e q uator. All three are surrounded by shallow coral reefs to depths of 100 meters, below which the reef slope descends steeply to great depths. Deep coral for- ests occur below photic zones of all three islands at depths below 200 meters, especially at Jarvis where surveys have revealed living colonies of precious and ancient gold coral up to 5,000 years old. The waters surrounding Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands have fish biomass double that of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, and 16 times that of the main Hawaiian Islands, due to the E quatorial Undercurrent that moves from west to east along the equa- tor, creating localized nutrient-rich upwellings in shallows next to the islands. These are three of only six islands in the entire Pacific O cean