09/25/2014 11:09 AM EDT
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today applauded President Obama for his action to designate the largest marine reserve in the world to protect the pristine waters from commercial resource extraction including commercial fishing.
The proclamation expands the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, one of the most intact, ecologically sound marine environments in the world, to six times its current size, resulting in 370,000 square nautical miles (490,000 square miles) around these islands and atolls in the south-central Pacific Ocean.
To learn more, click here: http://on.doi.gov/Yba0JF
Top photo: Jim Maragos – USFWS
Bottom photo: Erik Oberg/Island Conservation