Bush creates three Pacific marine sanctuaries

Obama asked to 'finish the job'
But McPhetres vowed to lobby President-elect Barack Obama, "starting from the day he is sworn in ... to come in and finish the job. We set out to protect an entire ecosystem and that is what we intend to do."

The Obama administration will also hammer out how the areas will be managed, and make sure the prohibitions are enforced.

The Friends of the Monument said it had petitioned Bush to designate a large area where fishing and mining would be banned. It collected more than 6,000 signatures from islanders, as well as hundreds of letters from students, island leaders and businesses.

In August, the White House said Bush had directed federal agencies to assess several sites in the Pacific for increased conservation and protection. 

The areas are in U.S. territorial waters and already managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

'Generations will benefit'
White House press secretary Dana Perino said the designation will not conflict with U.S. military activities or freedom of navigation.

"The public and future generations will benefit from the science and knowledge gained" from the areas, she said.

The move is a boost to the environmental record of a president who has been criticized for not doing enough against air pollution and global warming. He also lifted a moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

"We and others in the environmental community have been at odds with this administration on lots of things, but if one looks at this one event it is a significant conservation event," said Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, which lobbied for the monuments' designation.

"In a more symbolic level, it sends a message that we have finally arrived at a point where we are beginning to think about the sea in the same way we have thought about the land — that there are special places under threat that need to be protected," Reichert said.

Two years ago, the president made a huge swath of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, barring fishing, oil and gas extraction, and tourism from its waters and coral reefs.

At the time, that area was the largest conservation area in the world. The three areas to be designated Tuesday are larger.

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