By Jonee Leināʻala Kaina Peters
About 934 miles west-southwest of Hawaiʻi is a remote group of seven small, uninhabited islands and atolls spread out over some 495,000 square miles of ocean: Baker, Howland, Jarvis, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Atoll.
These low-lying islands and atolls in the Central Pacific have no aquifers or freshwater resources, so they are not suitable for human habitation.
However, the region is renowned for its extraordinary biodiversity. Its islands are home to colonies of at least a dozen different endemic seabird species and its nutrient-rich shallows support countless species of coral, fish, giant clams, sea turtles, reef sharks and giant clams.
Beyond the reefs, dolphins, sharks, whales and other threatened and depleted species thrive in the deep water between the islands – including rare melon-headed whales and a possible new species of beaked whale. It is a region of deep seamounts and other unique ecosystems, much of which remains unexplored.
U.S. Activities in the Central Pacific
In the mid-19th century, America laid claim to these islands – known until recently as the Pacific Remote Islands – via the Guano Islands Act of 1856. Guano, a byproduct of seabird excrement, was a valuable resource used for fertilizer and, to a lesser degree, gunpowder.
Just prior to World War II, America used these islands again – this time for a secret seven-year project to secure the region as a stop-over location for its military planes.
“Colonists” (known as Hui Panalāʻau) were recruited from Hawaiʻi to inhabit Baker, Jarvis and Howard islands. About 130, mostly Native Hawaiian, young men were sent there so America could prove the islands were resident-occupied by United States citizens.
The ill-conceived project resulted in the tragic deaths of three of the young men and was terminated in February 1942 after the U.S. entered the war.
Meanwhile, Johnston Atoll, despite being designated as a seabird refuge in 1926, was used by the U.S. military between 1958-1962 as a launch site for extremely high- altitude (outer space) nuclear weapons development and testing. A series of three nuclear missile test accidents during this period left portions of the atoll contaminated with plutonium.
Then in 1971, the military built a chemical weapons storage facility on Johnston Atoll, which at one point housed nearly 7% of America’s chemical weapons arsenal, including various nerve agents and 1.8 million gallons of Agent Orange – nearly 30,000 gallons of which leaked into the soil of Johnston Atoll over a five-year period.
Eventually, a chemical agent disposal system was built on Johnston Atoll to destroy the arsenal there. The facility was closed in 2000 and its use as a bird sanctuary resumed. Nevertheless, portions of the atoll remain contaminated.
Efforts to Heal and Protect the Region
Recognizing the region’s rich biodiversity, in the early 2000s, conservation scientists began advocating to establish the area as a protected marine sanctuary. The islands of Baker, Howard and Jarvis had already been designated as National Wildlife Refuges in 1974 and by 2001, Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll were similarly designated.
In 2009, U.S. President George W. Bush designated the region as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) establishing management areas of 50 nautical miles around each set of islands and atolls.
The management area was later expanded to 200 nautical miles for three of the islands (Johnston Atoll, Wake Atoll and Jarvis Island), making it one of the largest protected areas in the ocean.
Although Hawaiʻi is the closest inhabited island group to the region, it is known to, and was used by, other Pacific peoples. For example, both Johnston Atoll and Wake Island were used by ancient navigators from many cultures as a resting stop during their voyages. Thus, efforts to expand protections to 200 nautical miles for the remaining islands has continued with involvement from Indigenous Pacific Island nations
In January 2025, the PRIMNM was renamed the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (PIHMNM) to respect the region’s cultural and historical importance to all Pacific Island nations, and the sacrifice of the young men of Hui Panalāʻau was formally honored.
Clear and Present Dangers
Despite its status as a marine national monument and its critical importance to the biodiversity of the Pacific, the PIHMNM remains endangered.
In March, the Department of the Air Force announced its intent to build “two commercial rocket landing pads” on Johnston Island for its Rocket Cargo Vanguard program which aims to develop the technology to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo anywhere on Earth using non-military commercial rockets.
Scientists and environmentalists are speaking out against this plan citing – in addition to the atoll’s obvious protected status – the biohazards and contamination remaining on the atoll from the military activity there in the 1960s and 70s.
In a press release, American Bird Conservancy President, Michael J. Parr, said that “installing rocket landing pads on Johnston Atoll cannot occur without significantly disrupting wildlife and harming the important bird colonies found there.”
Despite the protests, the Department of the Air Force and Space Force released a draft of its Notice of Intent to advise the public of the pending environmental assessment.
Then in April, the commercial fishing ban in PIHMNM was reversed by executive order – a veritable one-two punch to conservation scientists and ocean protectors.
“This undermines decades of work to protect and preserve public lands and waters, endangered species, and cultural heritage in favor of commercial interests,” said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. “This is one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world [and it] already faces dire threats from climate change and ocean acidification.”
The primary advocate for commercial fishing in the PIHMNM is the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council headed by Executive Director Kitty Simonds who has long opposed the establishment of marine protected areas across the Pacific, advocating on behalf of commercial fishing interests despite the council’s congressional mandate via the Magnuson-Stevens Act to protect fish stocks, habitats, and protected resources as well as to prevent overfishing and ensure sustainable fisheries.
“Scientific studies have shown that [establishing] marine protected areas increases the amount of fish available to commercial fishers in waters outside the protected areas,” explained marine biologist Bob Richmond. “By raiding what amounts to our children’s marine bank accounts, we are denying them a future of sustainable food from the ocean.”
U.S. Congresswoman Amata Radewagen, who represents American Samoa, has also been extremely vocal about allowing industrial tuna fishing in the protected region.
American Samoa is located 2,124 miles south of the PIHMNM. Tuna fishing and processing is a key part of its economy. The Starkist cannery employs about 5,000 people and canned tuna accounts for some 99.5% of American Samoa’s exports.
However, overfishing in waters near American Samoa has adversely affected fish populations, threatening the industry – one reason why the territory has aggressively pursued commercial fishing in the PIHMNM and challenged the scientific rationale for even having marine protected areas.
Although the executive order purports to restore American competitiveness in the seafood industry, the iconic Starkist Charlie Tuna cannery in American Samoa is actually owned and managed by Dongwon, a South Korean conglomerate.
Despite past extractive and abusive human activities, the oceans encompassing the PIHMNM remain one of the last intact oceanic ecosystems in the world and must be protected.
Solomon Kahoʻohalahala, chair of the Pacific Island Heritage Coalition said in a statement that, “opening this sacred place for exploitation is short-sighted and does not consider current or future generations of Pacific people who rely on a healthy ocean and know this special ocean space as our ancestral home.”
Jonee Leināʻala Kaina Peters is the executive director of the Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi. She is Kanaka Maoli, a cultural practitioner, and a conservationist from Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu. Her uncle, William Kaina, was a part of Hui Panalāʻau.
